A Foundation of Lies

"Open your eyes and look closely! Flora and I got married a long time ago!

"What business is it of yours if I'm intimate with my own wife in the office?

"Besides, when did I ever say we were boyfriend and girlfriend?"

The crowd around us instantly exploded, their whispers turning into loud mockery.

"Exactly! The boss and Flora made it official to the company ages ago. They're inseparable and so in love, it's incredibly sweet!"

"How can someone be so shameless, practically begging to be the other woman?"

"They have such a deep bond, there's no way a piece of trash like her could get between them."

"I've barely even seen her around the office. How does she have the nerve to call herself the boss's girlfriend? And claim he's cheating? Is that even possible?"

I stared at the marriage license, biting my lip until it turned white.

The date on it was from seven years ago.

So, this was the reason he had refused to go public with our relationship all these years.

All that talk about waiting for the firm to stabilize, waiting for the right time, waiting until he could give me a secure life before going public—it was all a lie.

Without even knowing it, I had been the other woman.

I forced a bitter smile and looked them both straight in the eye.

"Fine. Okay. I'll leave you two to it."

With that, I bent down, gathered my personal belongings from the floor, and prepared to leave.

"Hold on."

Louis suddenly called out, stopping me.

He held out his hand to me, his tone condescending.

"Hand over all the client files you have, as well as that multi-billion-dollar project you're currently working on.

"These are company secrets. If you take them with you, it's illegal."

I replied coldly, "All the files are on my computer. As for that collaborative project..."

I looked down at the shredded documents on the floor and pointed at Flora.

"She just tore it all to pieces."

Hearing this, Flora immediately averted her eyes and leaned coyly into Louis's embrace, pouting.

"It doesn't matter, darling. They're just some blueprints. I can easily draft seven or eight new versions, and I promise they'll be better than anything this woman drew."

Louis's expression finally softened at that, and he announced to the room.

"Don't worry, everyone. When this project is completed, everyone will get a share of the bonus!"

The office instantly erupted into cheers.

I merely finished silently packing my things, turned around, and walked away.

What they didn't know was that the document Flora had destroyed was the final proposal I had spent an entire month negotiating with a major client.

That client was incredibly deep-pocketed, but ruthlessly nitpicky about the details.

Besides me, very few people could manage to balance all his demands.

It took me a full month to finally produce a result that satisfied him, and he had given it his full approval.

But that proposal had just been shredded.

I couldn't wait to see how they would explain this to him later.

Not long after leaving Walsh & Co., I started receiving offers from major, well-known firms across the industry.

Several CEOs even called me personally, offering exorbitant salaries to bring me on board.

But I wasn't in a rush to answer. I planned to carefully weigh my options before making a decision.

Half a month later, the client for the multi-billion-dollar project called.

On the other end of the line, his voice was laced with fury.

"Rachel, why was the project lead suddenly changed?

"That new girl, Flora, knows absolutely nothing about architectural design! Her drafts are a complete mess, she ignores my requirements entirely, and she’s just making arbitrary changes to the proposal!

"If this keeps up, I'm canceling the contract entirely!"

I calmly explained to him that I had been fired.

He was even more furious after hearing the truth.

"That's absurd! She's utterly incompetent. She can't handle this project at all!

"Which firm are you with now? I will only work with you on this project."

I told him I hadn't settled on a new firm yet and was currently unemployed, so I probably couldn't continue leading the project unless Walsh & Co. hired me back.

The other end of the line fell silent for a moment before he suddenly spoke.

"You don't need to look any further. My son happens to be starting Whitfield Architecture, a new firm under our group's umbrella. Funding and resources are practically unlimited. If you're interested in joining, I'll give you half the shares right off the bat, making you the second-in-command."

I raised an eyebrow. Was there really such a perfect opportunity?

His conglomerate was ranked among the top ten globally. Being able to join and get a piece of that pie was an offer I couldn't find a single reason to refuse.

We arranged an in-person meeting to discuss the details. The conversation went incredibly well, and we finalized the deal on the spot.

Although Whitfield Architecture was founded by his son, it was officially a subsidiary of their group. Our offices were located right inside the Whitfield tower, sharing the same building as the Whitfield Group HQ.

To my surprise, on my very first day at Whitfield Architecture, I bumped into Louis and Flora in the reception room.

Louis looked completely shocked to see me.

"Rachel? Why are you here? What are you doing here?"

Flora looked me up and down and sneered.

"Don't tell me you couldn't find a job and came here to try your luck, only to bomb the interview? How pathetic."

Louis shot me a sidelong glance, looking incredibly arrogant.

"We're here today to discuss project details with Chairman Henry Whitfield. Don't cause trouble here. Make yourself scarce."

It seemed they had no idea the Chairman was already planning to terminate their contract.

Just then, Henry Whitfield—the Chairman of the group and my new boss—slowly walked into the reception room.

Louis and Flora immediately plastered on fawning smiles and hurried over to greet him.

"Mr. Whitfield! As you know, the proposal for this project has been revised over a dozen times now. We have done our absolute best to restore the original version you wanted. Please, take a look."

Only then did I realize that after I left, because Flora had shredded my proposal, Henry had been dissatisfied with everything they produced. He had insisted they recreate the exact version he had finalized with me.

They had been forced to work around the clock, trying every possible method to salvage the shredded proposal.

But Henry didn't even glance at the document. He just slapped a contract down in front of them.

"There's no need. I am here today to discuss the termination of our contract."

Louis's face fell.

"Termination? Why? Who else besides us could possibly handle this project?"

Henry gave him a glacial look, then reached out and pointed directly at me.

"From now on, this project will be exclusively handled by our group's new in-house Chief Architect... Ms. Rachel Knox."