Trade Me for a Schemer? Enjoy Your Fall

After I help my boyfriend register his company and successfully land his first deal, he finally decides to make our relationship public.

But his junior from college, who's always had this weird hostility toward me for no reason, beats me to it by sliding into the seat next to him.

She leans against my boyfriend's chest, her voice smug and satisfied. "Didn't you say you'd wait until the company officially launched? So why the rush now?"

My boyfriend says nothing. Instead, he hands her a share certificate and announces to the entire room that she's the company's largest shareholder.

The room explodes. Everyone starts whistling and cheering them on. The junior takes the opportunity to kick me while I'm down, throwing insults my way.

My boyfriend doesn't just fail to stop her. He actually joins in with his own snide remarks. "Sure, you helped me set up the company and brought in our first client, but she's the one who can actually take us somewhere."

I don't get angry. I graciously acknowledge the junior's new position.

I want to see how far they would get without me, their biggest asset and most valuable connection.

When Owen Hayes publicly announced that his college junior, Lila Reed, was the company's largest shareholder, the entire room erupted.

I stood frozen in place. After days of overtime and messed up sleep schedules, my head was buzzing. I even wondered if I'd heard him wrong.

"Look at Charlotte Shaw's face! It's changing colors like a mood ring!"

"She's been with the CEO this whole time and doesn't even have shares, but look at Lila. She's already a major shareholder!"

"Just because she closed a few big deals, she thinks she's above everyone else? She's still just an employee."

"Always complaining about this proposal or that proposal. And now? Ha!"

"She's nothing but a joke."

My colleagues laughed loudly around me, not bothering to hide it from my ears. I knew they were taking this opportunity to mock me on purpose. They were also using this chance to cozy up to Lila and win her favor. Owen wasn't going to stop them anyway.

When Lila heard their comments, she flashed me a smug smile. Her tone, however, dripped with false sweetness.

"Charlotte, aren't you happy for me? You're not clapping, does that mean you're unhappy with something?

"Though I guess that makes sense. If we're talking about seniority, this should really go to you."

She slowly pushed the share certificate across the table toward me.

Owen flinched like I'd stepped on his tail. He immediately snatched the certificate back and placed it firmly in Lila's hands.

His tone was both helpless and doting. "Lila, you're too kindhearted. That's not what the company values."

Then he shot me a cold glance.

"Stop trying to stir up trouble. You failed to close the deal with Cloudview Construction Group and cost us millions! We're already doing you a favor by not firing you. What gives you the right to own shares?"

The two of them played good cop and bad cop like some kind of comedy routine. It almost made me laugh.

Cloudview Construction Group refused to work with us entirely because of Lila's scheming. She was afraid people would find out and blame her, so she made me take the fall.

I didn't want to explain because I thought Owen would believe me. But it turned out he guarded himself against me like I was some kind of threat. Still, I'd gotten used to it by now.

Lila's work abilities were mediocre at best, but she put plenty of effort into landing a rich boyfriend and targeting me. She'd just graduated from college. She knew how to talk sweetly and played up this approachable rich girl image.

A lot of people liked her. Owen treated her differently too.

Every time Lila and I had a conflict, Owen always thought it was my fault. Behind my back, plenty of people said I was aggressive and bullied others.

She constantly twisted stories to ruin my reputation while making herself look pure and innocent. Because of that, my colleagues liked me less and less.

Lila's expression turned pitiful. "But won't Charlotte be upset?"

As she spoke, she burrowed into Owen's arms, pressing tightly against his chest in an intimate gesture.

He glared at me with a dark expression. "Charlotte, what was that face for?

"I made this shareholder decision after careful consideration. It's also the result of everyone's vote. Don't make trouble for yourself here!

"If you really can't stand it, you can resign!"

Everyone started jeering at his words.

I knew Owen too well. He was just speaking thoughtlessly in anger, but it still hurt.

I'd worked tirelessly for this company. I threw up God knew how many times after business dinners and landed in the hospital just to bring in investors. Even the garbage proposals these people submitted were ones I stayed up all night rewriting.

Now they were tossing me aside after wringing me dry? One sentence to dismiss all my achievements and even steal them from me?

I stood up and walked forward.

Lila thought I was going to hit her. She scrambled behind Owen in fear. Owen stretched out his arm to block me, shielding Lila completely as if terrified I'd hurt her.

He looked at me with disgust and caution. "Charlotte Shaw! What do you think you're doing?"

I pulled the company registration contract from my bag and placed it on the table.

"Don't misunderstand. I just think these shares are far too small. Why don't I give her the position of registered owner directly instead? I hope she keeps up the good work."

Lila stared at the contract, her eyes gleaming. Meanwhile, Owen frowned at me but said nothing.

Gasps of surprise rippled through the room.

Everyone knew I'd been working here since the company first registered. I was the hardest worker here. To get the company listed as soon as possible, I desperately cultivated connections and closed our first major contract worth ten million dollars.

I could do the work of an entire team by myself. Whether it was finding investors or handling major internal decisions, I took it all on.

Now many investors knew the company would officially go public once we completed this contract. The shares already showed signs of rising value.

Some of them thought I might ask for shares over this, but no one expected I'd hand over the position of registered owner as well. What they didn't know was that I was also Owen's fiancée.

Owen didn't want people gossiping about us, so we'd never gone public with our relationship. Later, when Lila appeared, I started to panic. I wanted him to acknowledge our relationship.

After I kept bringing it up, Owen finally promised he'd make our relationship public when we signed the first major contract.

Last night, I was so excited I couldn't sleep. But who would have thought Lila would beat me to it by sitting beside him? He didn't even try to refuse her.

Everyone assumed they were a couple, and Owen didn't bother correcting them. Only now did I understand. He didn't want to hide our relationship. He wanted a different relationship entirely.

He remained silent. I didn't want to say anything either, so I turned to leave.

After just two steps, I felt a force on my wrist. I looked back and saw it was Owen.

I was somewhat surprised. I hadn't expected him to stop me.

Usually, he'd just let me walk away. After all, I loved him, and he was certain I'd come back to apologize. But soon I understood why he'd stopped me.

He pressed his lips together. "Charlotte, don't do anything rash. You're being petty right now.

"I didn't want it to come to this, but I owe Lila an answer. The position of registered owner and the shares can only go to Lila."

I couldn't help but laugh. Was he trying to force my hand? Wasn't he basically handing the shares and the registered owner position to Lila by saying this?

If this were before, I probably would have argued with him. But now I just nodded.

My emotions were stable. There were no signs of anger.

Owen had braced himself for me to get angry, so my response caught him off guard. He was about to say something when colleagues started calling him over to celebrate.

Owen glanced at me, then picked up the contract and turned away. I watched his back as he walked toward Lila, then looked away and walked straight out of the banquet hall.

Once outside, I made a phone call. "Dad, I'll take your advice. I'm starting my own company."

Dad owned several hundred companies and consistently ranked among the top on lists of the wealthiest. I was the textbook definition of a trust fund princess.

When I first met Owen, his family was dirt poor. He couldn't afford tuition and walked around every day in shirts washed so many times they'd turned yellow.

But he worked incredibly hard. He was always at the top of his class academically.

By all rights, there was no way we should have attended the same school, but his grades were so exceptional he got a full scholarship. He juggled his studies while working multiple jobs to earn money.

He once told me he couldn't stand those good-for-nothing rich kids who'd never accomplished anything, so I hid my real background from him.

All for love, I gave up my comfortable life to eat food with him that I could barely choke down. I worked those menial jobs alongside him for wages I wouldn't have looked at twice before. I even had a huge fight with Dad over it.

I was an only child. Dad wanted to groom me as his second-in-command to help shoulder the family business. But I refused his plans, choosing instead to live on a measly 2,000 dollar monthly salary.

I must have lost my mind or gone crazy over love. Back then, my head was full of nothing but romance. I thought Owen could give me everything I wanted.

When I helped him start his company, I finally felt like I'd made it through the hard times. I could show him off to Dad and prove I'd found myself a capable man. But that was all it amounted to.

I'd been too naive, naively stupid.

After hanging up, I returned to the apartment Owen and I rented together. The place was decorated warmly and cozily, the result of all the years I'd lived here. On the nightstand was a property deed for a luxury villa.

It was a gift I'd prepared for Owen. I'd planned to surprise him with it after we went public with our relationship. I'd imagined Owen's reaction to the property deed countless times, but I never anticipated Lila becoming a variable in the equation.

I packed everything away and booked a flight for tomorrow at noon. I'd need the morning to hand off all my work responsibilities.

My phone chimed. It was a video from Lila.

In the clip, Owen carried Lila in his arms. Her face was flushed bright red as she clung tightly to his neck, burying her head against his chest. They looked every bit like a couple in love.

Colleagues stood nearby clapping and cheering, egging them on to kiss. The video was quickly deleted. Lila sent a follow-up message.

"Sorry, sent that to the wrong person."

Of course I didn't believe her. I knew perfectly well this was intentional on Lila's part. She'd pulled stunts like this plenty of times over the years.

Usually, I'd get wildly jealous, confront Owen, and then get lectured by him.

"Can you stop being so sensitive? Why don't you put that energy into your work instead?"

At first, I thought maybe I was overthinking things. But then one day when he was sick and delirious, he called out Lila's name. That was when I knew his heart had already shifted toward her.

I didn't feel much about it and blocked Lila without hesitation. Almost immediately, my phone rang. It was Owen.

"Charlotte, did you block Lila?"

He questioned me the moment he picked up, not bothering to ask what Lila had just done to me. I was used to it by now.

"Yeah," I replied flatly.

"Why did you block her? She's still your colleague, no matter what. How is she supposed to work with you after this?

"She thinks she did something wrong and keeps blaming herself. She's been crying nonstop. Unblock her right now and apologize to her."

I laughed bitterly instead of getting angry. "Do you even know what she just sent me?"

The other end of the line went silent for a few seconds. Owen was probably getting the full story. Soon enough, his dismissive voice came through.

"So she accidentally sent you a video. What's the big deal?"

Of course. Whenever Lila did something wrong, Owen always took her side. I let out a cold laugh.

"Owen, Charlotte is probably still upset about what happened today." Lila's crying voice came through the phone.

"I should be the one apologizing to her."

Owen cooed at her gently. "You don't need to. It's not your fault. Let her cool down on her own."

Then he hung up.

It had always been like this. After any conflict, he'd use the excuse of letting me "cool down" to go comfort Lila instead.

This time, though, I didn't feel angry. I simply drafted a resignation letter and sent it to the company's HR. Even though he'd threatened to fire me, the proper procedures still needed to be followed.

After sending the resignation, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I lay down on the bed and slept peacefully.

In the early morning hours, I was woken by my phone ringing. It was Owen.

"Come pick me up. I'm still at the office and haven't left yet."

The background noise suggested he was somewhere lively. Before, I would have jumped out of bed without hesitation to get him. But now I just lazily rolled over.

"Call an Uber. There should be plenty of drivers around."

Owen picked up on my tone immediately. "You were asleep?"

"Yeah."

In the past, whenever Owen stayed out late, I'd worry and wait up for him. But now I just felt relieved.

"I'm hanging up."

I put my phone on silent and went back to sleep. I didn't even know what time Owen came home.

The next morning when I got up to use the bathroom, I found Owen sitting in the living room as if waiting for me. "Charlotte, did you submit a resignation letter last night?"

His tone was accusatory, as if I'd done something unforgivable. I nodded, not wanting to explain further.

"Charlotte, you're being ridiculous. I made Lila a shareholder because she's the heiress to Clearshaw Group! This is how we keep her around so she'll invest her money.

"Besides, I did this for the company. This is the only way she'll see I'm serious.

"We need to maintain company resources. We can't just start a company and then abandon it, right?"

These excuses might fool a child, but after all my years in the business world, I wasn't that naive anymore.

Did he even believe his own lies?

"Save it. If you're done, I need to go to the office and process my handover." I cut him off.

Owen's expression instantly darkened. "Charlotte, have some shame! You'd better actually resign and not use this as some jealous manipulation tactic!

"If your background can't compete with hers, you need to know your place. You think just because you're capable, you can call the shots? You think way too highly of yourself!"

I packed my things while listening to Owen's tirade, nodding along. "Yep, you're absolutely right."

"Don't you dare regret this!"

The door slammed. Finally, some peace and quiet. Owen was pretty childish, wasn't he?

Only now did I realize that without the rose-colored filter I'd placed over him, he was nothing special.

Sitting in the cafe downstairs, I received a phone call.

"Ms. Shaw, I heard you're starting your own company. If that's the case, do you need any investors?"

Had word spread that quickly?

"How did you find out I'm going independent? I haven't announced anything publicly yet."

The caller chuckled. "Ms. Shaw, what happened at your company last night is all over the business circles. But I'm 100% in your corner. If you really do go independent, make sure you give me a call."

The sincerity in their tone was genuinely touching.

"Absolutely. I will." After hanging up, I smiled.

Without me and all my connections, how exactly did they plan to reach greater heights?

I received quite a few calls. Eventually I had someone spread the word that I'd definitely reach out, otherwise I wouldn't be able to finish my handover work all morning.

After taking another call, I headed to the office to process my resignation and hand over my responsibilities.

The moment I walked through the company doors, I saw Lila perched on my desk, surrounded by colleagues fawning over her like she was royalty.

When they spotted me, a colleague immediately approached. "Charlotte, go buy everyone drinks."

"Why should I?"

I checked the time. I wasn't even late. Besides, I was resigning anyway. Being late didn't really matter anymore.

The person smiled smugly. "Mr. Hayes just said whoever gets here last has to buy treats for everyone. You were the last one here."

"Oh, forget it." Lila stepped forward, deliberately smoothing down her dress.

I recognized it. This was the outfit Owen had mentioned buying for her. "How could we possibly make Charlotte run errands for everyone? I'll go instead."

As she spoke, she raised her voice deliberately but made no move to actually leave. Right on cue, Owen emerged from his office.

When he noticed the dress Lila was wearing, his expression flickered for a moment before quickly returning to normal. He deliberately adjusted her hem and smiled.

"It looks even better on you than I imagined."

Everyone else started cheering and teasing them. Lila's face flushed red. She immediately glanced back at me.

Was she worried I'd still get jealous and cause a scene?

She was probably overthinking it. At this point, my heart was like still water. Nothing could stir it.

When I didn't react, Owen seemed dissatisfied. He said coldly, "I just announced that the last person to arrive has to buy treats for everyone. If you're not going to cooperate, what are you even doing here?"

A colleague immediately pointed at me. "Charlotte was the last one to arrive. And she says she's not going!"

Owen had known it was me all along. He sneered. "Go. If you don't, I'll actually fire you."

It seemed he was deliberately hiding and ignoring my resignation letter. He hadn't told anyone?

Seeing this, I stopped playing along. "Whether or not you actually fire me today doesn't matter. I came here to resign anyway."