Trade Me for a Schemer? Enjoy Your Fall

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."

The other colleagues looked shocked. A coworker I got along with couldn't help but whisper a warning to me.

"Charlotte, the CEO just gave everyone raises. Resigning now doesn't make any sense. And didn't you hear? He was just joking with you earlier."

My tone remained calm. "I'm not joking. I submitted my resignation letter to HR yesterday."

A flash of delight crossed Lila's eyes. She was about to say something when she caught Owen's look and swallowed her words.

Owen frowned deeply, his gaze at me complicated. "Do you understand the company's situation right now? Do you realize what you're giving up by leaving?"

Of course, I knew. I was giving up stress and feeling trapped.

Lila spoke with a wounded tone. "Charlotte, I get it now. You still have a problem with me, don't you? Maybe I should be the one to leave instead.

"After all, you and Owen have worked together for so many years. Leaving now would be such a waste."

She walked straight toward the door, though her eyes kept sneaking glances at Owen, waiting for him to stop her.

I almost laughed out loud.

Owen either didn't notice or didn't care. He immediately grabbed her hand, his tone doting. "This has nothing to do with you. You're not going anywhere."

Triumph flickered in Lila's eyes.

Perhaps seeing that Owen still hadn't changed his mind, she said reluctantly, "But Charlotte has been with the company for so long. Fine, let me try to talk her out of it."

Lila approached me. "Charlotte, please reconsider. Everyone would miss you.

"Everything before was just us joking around. We all think of you as a good friend, practically like a sister."

As she spoke, she patted my shoulder. But when no one was looking, she viciously pinched it.

Sharp pain shot through me. Without hesitation, I kicked her.

Lila fell to the ground, clutching her stomach and gasping. Owen rushed forward to help her up, his eyes full of concern for her.

When I'd drunk myself to the point of vomiting blood at business dinners, he'd never shown me this kind of care.

Owen slapped me across the face and shouted, "Charlotte, are you insane? Lila was trying to help you and you assault her? This is workplace harassment!"

Just then, someone from HR walked over, apparently to inform Owen about my resignation. Owen didn't hesitate. "Process her paperwork. Get her out of here!"

After signing off on my resignation, he still didn't seem satisfied and added, "The company's making hundreds of thousands in daily profits right now. Only an idiot would leave at a time like this.

"Lila, don't worry. In a few more months, forget houses and cars. You can have whatever you want.

"Same goes for everyone else. Next month, whoever has the best performance gets a house from me directly!"

Lila's eyes lit up. The other colleagues responded excitedly, chiming in their agreement.

Owen grew increasingly arrogant. "But certain people who bully their coworkers and refuse to follow rules? I'll make sure their background checks never pass anywhere!"

The others joined in on cursing at me. Watching their nearly manic behavior, I hesitated for a long moment but ultimately kept quiet.

This morning, Dad had called me and that was when I learned that he was Owen's company's largest investor over the past two years.

After finding out I was resigning to start my own company, Dad did another background check on Owen's company. He wasn't satisfied with the results and had already decided to pull his investment, citing breach of contract.

I knew exactly how significant Dad's subsidiary was in terms of investment capital. Once he pulled out, never mind houses and cars, whether the company could even survive another month was questionable.

Seeing my hesitation, Owen assumed I was having regrets. He rolled his eyes at me and said coldly, "Certain people still have a chance to apologize to Lila. Otherwise..."

Before he could finish, the finance manager, Sheila Moore, rushed over, looking anxious.

"Mr. Hayes, we have a problem. Our largest investor just sent word that they discovered serious issues with our financials. They're accusing us of investment fraud. Not only are they withdrawing their investment, they're suing us for five times the penalty amount!"