His Three "Do-not-disturb" Rules

My wife, Vivian Lane, is the wealthiest woman. Her assistant had made it clear he had three "do-not-disturb" rules: no messages after work, no calls on weekends, and absolutely no contact when he was in a bad mood.

Because of this, the company lost a major deal—one worth over a hundred million.

Yet the assistant looked completely unbothered. "Sorry, I had no idea one phone call could make such a difference. If something goes wrong and I have to be the one to take the blame, fine—I'm just another cog in the machine."

My wife snapped, "Who said anything about blaming you? You did exactly what you were told."

She shot me a look of pure irritation.

"You take the profits from the project, and when things fall apart, you dump it on the regular employees? Is that how you run a business? If your company folds over something this small, it just proves you're not fit to be in charge."

It suddenly clicked, and I let out a quiet laugh.

So she thought this project belonged to my company?

I didn't bother correcting her. To be honest, I couldn't really hold it against her—after all, it wasn't my company going under.

Seeing how composed I was, Vivian Lane hesitated for a moment. But in the next second, a smug, almost mocking smile curled at the corner of her mouth.

"Ethan, are you trying to act all noble in front of me, hoping I'll feel sorry for you? Don't think I don't know what's really going on. You've been pushing Lesley around behind his back—dumping all the grunt work and exhausting tasks on him. Classic workplace bullying. You're just another old-timer taking advantage of the new guys."

Lesley Gerard immediately played the victim, gently tugging at Vivian's sleeve in protest.

"Vivian, please don't say that. Ethan only does it for the company... and for you. I don't mind the hard work—I'm happy to help however I can."

Vivian shot me a look of pure disdain before turning to comfort Lesley.

"He's manipulating you, Lesley. Don't let him fool you."

Lesley widened his eyes in fake surprise. "Wait... I thought Ethan was just asking me to help out for the company's sake. I was even willing to take the blame for him if something went wrong. But to think he's actually that selfish..."

I rubbed my temples, already tired of this charade.

Ever since Lesley joined the company way ahead of schedule, he'd been making one mistake after another. Vivian, however, kept insisting I clean up his mess—and still acted like I was the problem.

She glared at me and spoke with the self-righteous tone of someone playing moral judge.

"Lesley works himself to the bone for this company. How dare you exploit him like that? You have a project bringing in nearly a million in profit. Hand it over to Lesley as compensation."

Like she had every right to make that call.

I couldn't help but let out a sarcastic