Chapter 4
Early the next morning, before we arrived, Tom had already informed me that Jack and Lily had fired all the senior employees I had personally promoted over the years.
I instructed Tom to give each of the dismissed employees a generous severance package and tell them I would personally invite them back to the company.
When we arrived at the corporate headquarters, an all-staff meeting was underway in the main conference hall.
Lily stood confidently on the stage, holding a projector remote. A stream of my personal spending records flashed across the large screen.
“Take a good look, everyone!” Lily’s voice trembled with feigned grief and indignation.
“This is Ella Hale! While Jack exhausts himself working day and night to sustain this company, she idles at home, spending money without restraint. A single dress costs thousands of euros; a bottle of perfume is worth a small fortune...”
“At this rate, the company will eventually be drained dry by her reckless extravagance! I froze her cards and limited her spending purely for the sake of the company and every employee here!”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd, and most employees nodded in silent agreement.
I leaned casually against the doorframe, my arms folded across my chest, watching her theatrical performance with quiet detachment.
Lily finally caught sight of me. Her eyes lit up with malicious triumph, and she pointed directly at me.
“Ella! How dare you show your face here! Every penny you spend is Jack’s hard-earned money! I demand you repay every cent you have wasted over the years to the company!”
The meeting concluded shortly after. Employees filed past me one by one, staring with judgmental, peculiar glances.
The gaudily dressed woman sauntered over. She was Lily’s distant cousin, Monica, who had secured an administrative position in the company solely through Lily’s recommendation. She rolled her eyes at me, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“If I were you, I’d hide myself away in shame. Living off a man’s money and acting so entitled is utterly shameless. Lily is completely right; you deserve to be driven out for good.”
I stood completely still, saying not a single word in response.
Tom took a tiny, almost imperceptible step forward.
I brushed my fingers against his wrist.
He froze mid-movement, his eyes darting to me, blazing with suppressed fury.
Monica saw my silence as weakness, and her voice rose even louder, shrill with triumph.
“Look at her! She has nothing to say for herself! She knows I’m right! She’s nothing but a useless leech sucking Jack dry!”
She turned directly to me, holding up the envelope for every employee in the hall to see.
“Ella Hale, I am here to formally terminate your employment with this company, effective immediately.”
A collective murmur rippled through the crowd.
She stepped closer, jabbing a finger hard at my chest. “So pack your things and get out. Now. Before you ruin all of our livelihoods.”
Just then, the elevator doors slid open. Jack stepped out hand in hand, looking pleased with themselves. Spotting the commotion and Monica’s triumphant expression, they exchanged a knowing smile and strode over.
“What’s going on here?” Jack asked, feigning perfect confusion.
“Jack, thank goodness you’re here,” Monica gushed, practically bowing to him. “I just terminated Ella.”
Jack turned to me, his face softening into a look of practiced, fake concern. He reached out to touch my arm, but I pulled away sharply.
“Ella, I’m sorry it had to come to this,” he said, his tone dripping with false sympathy.
“But Monica is right. Even though you’re still my wife, you can’t keep behaving like this. I know Lily froze your cards yesterday, and you’re upset, but you really have been spending far too much money lately. And your parents’ private suite at that care facility…”
“It’s just unnecessarily extravagant. We can’t afford to waste money on luxuries like that right now.”
A murmur of approval swept through the crowd.
“Jack is so reasonable,” someone whispered.
“Imagine putting up with a wife like that for three years.”
“He’s way too good to her.”
Lily stepped forward. She looked at me with a mixture of pity and malicious triumph.
“Ella, we’re only doing this for your own good,” she said, her voice sickly sweet. “You’ve been so spoiled your whole life, you don’t understand the value of hard work. Jack has been working himself to the bone to keep this company afloat, and you just sit at home spending his money.”
Jack nodded gravely.
“Now please, Ella, just go home. The investor will be here any minute, and we can’t afford to have them see this mess. The past few months have been tight financially, and if they get upset and pull out, everything I’ve built will be gone. Now, Lily, may I please ask you to call the investor?”
Lily walked away with a triumphant smirk, casting me a contemptuous glance over her shoulder.
Just then, a phone rang.
Every head turned slowly, in unison, toward the sound.
My phone, tucked in the pocket of my simple tailored dress, was ringing.
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