Leave Her in the Dust

Zion blinked innocently and voiced a question on purpose.

"What's wrong, Joanna? Was it something I did? Should I spit out the food? I'll do it right now!"

Joanna's expression darkened as well, while the client shouted, "If you keep this man around, there's no need for us to continue!"

I immediately stepped in to smooth things over. "Please don't be angry, Mr. Devon. He's just an intern who doesn't know better. I'll have him apologize!"

Zion acted personally wronged, tearing up immediately. "You're just using this chance to get back at me… Fine, I'll apologize!"

Joanna instantly flew into a rage for his sake and stood up with a flourish. "You're the one who wants to ask for partnership, not me! Our company won't allow you to bully us like this!"

She proudly dragged Zion away, once again leaving me behind alone to clean up after the disaster she caused.

Had she completely lost her mind?

Mr. Devon, the head of Nextech, was one of our company's core clients. Losing him alone would cost the company ten percent of its revenue!

In the past, whenever Joanna offended clients with her cold attitude, I was always the one bowing and apologizing, drinking myself into the hospital just to repair the relationship and secure the deal.

I’d spent years patiently teaching her how to compromise. Seeing how miserable I became cleaning up after her, she had slowly learned restraint.

But now, for Zion's sake, she'd completely lost all reason once more.

Meanwhile, I was no longer the clown who would waste my time stabilizing her position as CEO.

Looking at the furious client, I sighed helplessly and apologized quietly.

Mr. Devon was so angry his chest heaved violently. "This doesn't have anything to do with you! To think that she'd become so arrogant after becoming CEO… I'll reflect this directly to your chairman!"

With that, I knew those two weren't going to get away with this scott-free.

As I left the restaurant, Joanna graced me with her presence once more, graciously unblocking me and sending me a message.

[Comfort the client well, and I'll let you come home tonight. I won't take rent from you anymore, either.]

How could she be so blindly confident, thinking that I'd help her again?

I scoffed, throwing her words to the back of my mind. I wasn't going to return, obviously.

Before I went to bed, I composed an email, detailing the events that happened tonight, before sending it to the chairman. Leaving behind evidence was important, after all.

The next day, at work, Joanna suddenly sent me a file, telling me to finish it and hand it back to her before noon.

The old me would have accepted the quest with a heart full of gratitude, thinking of it as a sign that she, if nothing else, trusted me.

Now, I replied with something else.

[Ms. Vale, this isn't within my job scope.]

The next second, Joanna sent me a message, telling me to go to her office.

I walked inside, expressionless. With my understanding of her, she'd probably called me to shout at me for not knowing what was good for me.

Instead, she awkwardly produced a gift box from her desk drawer, stuffing it into my palm.

I wanted to see what she was up to. The moment I opened the box, I laughed in disbelief.

It was a blue wristwatch, clearly designed for a child. Hell, even the 19.99 dollar price tag was still attached to it!

Seeing my frozen expression, Joanna actually thought I was overwhelmed with happiness.

"There, are you happy now? I nagged Zion and punished him last night, and he even came with me to pick this apology gift up. Can't you two play nice?"

She coughed awkwardly into her fist before continuing:

"Right. The chairman's coming today, so praise Zion in front of him, won't you? Tell him that Zion's the one who assisted you in achieving the results you have now. Wouldn't it be nice if the three of us could call the shots around here in the future?"

Wow, what a plan.

That very morning, Zion had proudly shown off the brand-new Patek Philippe watch on his wrist, bragging that Joanna bought it to comfort him after being "bullied" by a difficult client.

What was that about punishing, again?

I casually tossed the gift box back onto her desk.

"Thanks, but no thanks. This watch fits that kid Zion to a tee. As for my results, there's no reason for me to give them to someone else."

In the past, even a random holiday card from her was enough for me to be happy for days.

Now, for the first time, that trick no longer worked.

Joanna froze briefly before her face flushed red with anger.

"Aren't you getting a little full of yourself, Ethan? You've done nothing but give me attitude since you've come back! Are you really so hung up over what I did?

"Fine, tell your parents to come to the city, and I'll give you gifts too so you can live out your little vain fantasies! Is that good enough for you?

"I thought that you were the only person I didn't have to force an act around, but now even you're pushing me. I'm disappointed in you!"

I was just about to fire back when Zion suddenly pushed open the office door.

"Alright, stop making mountains out of molehills. The relationship between Joanna and I goes beyond romance. It's not what you think!"

Then, he grabbed my hand.

"From now on, we're brothers!"

His act made my skin crawl, and I shook him off immediately.

The next second, his entire body tilted backwards dramatically, crashing towards the unclosed door and falling to the ground, right in front of the colleagues outside.

Naturally, everyone was shocked.

Joanna instantly panicked. Completely disregarding her image, she dropped to her knees beside him and helped him up while glaring at me with reddened eyes.

"Ethan, this isn’t over!"

One time, when I’d drank so much at work, so much that my stomach bled, she was the only one by my side. Yet, even while I was in enough pain to send me into shock, she forced me to unlock my phone and pay to call an ambulance myself, saying that she wanted to "avoid suspicion".

It didn't seem like she cared about that all now, though.

The moment Zion heard Joanna talking about going to the hospital, he immediately panicked at the thought of ruining his chance to impress the chairman, stumbling to his feet immediately.

"I'm alright, Joanna. I can change whatever Ethan dislikes about me. I'll avoid stealing his thunder in the future, too. I’m even willing to give up the vice president position and spend the rest of my life as your little assistant!"

I couldn't help but mock him.

"Since when was the vice president position even close to yours? At this point, I might as well say I'm giving up becoming a billionaire or something."

Several colleagues had already developed a strong dislike for Zion, hating how he threw work onto others while acting like he called the shots due to Joanna's treatment of him. They couldn't help but laugh out loud.

But Joanna shot me a furious glare.

"How dare you form cliques inside the company, Ethan? You lot, don't you dare laugh! CEO's orders! As for you, Ethan, I won't forgive you for causing this serious workplace incident. From today on, you're no longer the vice president!"

At that moment, I actually saw caution and hostility in her eyes.

So, she saw me as the enemy?

The employees were stunned and quickly tried persuading Joanna to calm down. Everyone who genuinely worked at the company knew perfectly well who the real backbone of the business was.

However, Joanna was hell-bent on using this opportunity to crush me.

"If any of you keep defending Ethan, then you can suffer alongside him and get demoted too! I’m cleaning up this toxic workplace culture before the chairman arrives and sees this embarrassment!"

"Do you even have the authority to do that?" I refuted calmly.

The HR manager hurriedly spoke up, "You don't have enough authority to do that, Ms. Vale. Any appointment or removal involving Mr. Yates requires the chairman's approval."

Speak of the devil, that was the moment the chairman, Mr. Hart, walked into the company with a dark expression.

"What's all this nonsense about?!"

Joanna immediately rushed forward and spoke first.

"Mr. Hart! Ethan's harassing his subordinates, and keeping him around is a liability. He doesn't deserve his position, and he should be demoted!"

Zion also put on a pitiful face. "He didn't mean it, sir. It's just enough to dock a few months of his salary!"

The two of them looked at me smugly, as if saying: You're finished!

Instead, the chairman directly slapped a transfer document right into Joanna's face.

"How do you have the nerve to speak? You drove away a major client and ruined our company's investments this quarter! You're the one who doesn't deserve your position!"