Chapter 1

1.

On our wedding anniversary, my husband Grant promised he’d bring home my favorite sunflowers.

I was genuinely excited.

But when he finally showed up, he pulled a Starbucks gift card out of a 7-Eleven bag. "Sorry, babe. Cash flow is a little tight at the company right now. This will have to do, okay?"

I glanced at the card. The balance was ten dollars.

A fire ignited in my chest, but I forced a smile, pretending to be grateful. I knew things were tough.

The next day, I saw a picture on his young assistant Amber’s Instagram.

It wasn't a normal office photo. The entire CEO’s office was flooded with a sea of red roses. She sat in the middle of the floral ocean, holding a card, deliberately flashing Grant’s expensive Patek Philippe watch.

The caption read: "Someone brought the whole garden to me. Is this what it feels like to be spoiled? ???? #Spoiled #MyKing"

So, it wasn't that he didn't have money. He just didn't want to spend it on me.

I didn’t cause a scene. I just quietly liked the post.

A few minutes later, my phone rang. It was Grant. "Claire, don't get the wrong idea. She did a great job on a recent project, this is just a performance bonus."

"Can you please help me clarify that in the comments? Please. I promise I'll come home early tonight to be with you."

I was so tired of his flimsy excuses.

"No need, Grant. Let's get a divorce."

...

Silence. Then, his tone shifted, dripping with annoyance. "I told you, it was just employee motivation! She's been working really hard. Besides, half of this company is yours. Aren't my actions for our mutual benefit?"

"You're being too sensitive, Claire. I think you're under too much stress and need to rest."

"Threatening divorce? That's not a joke. You need to calm down and think before you speak."

He hung up, his voice thick with condescension.

I let out a long sigh and turned to the man sitting across from me. "Mr. Wallace," I said to my lawyer, "How do I get the largest possible share of the assets in the divorce?"

Grant had no idea. I was done. This time, I was serious.

After the lawyer left, I scrolled through my phone.

The comment section on Amber’s Instagram was exploding. Most of the comments were from the top performers I had personally mentored, all defending me.

"Imagine fumbling a queen like Claire for a pick-me girl. ??"

"The #SideChickEnergy is off the charts with this one. We all know who does the real work."

That explained Grant’s frantic call. His little darling was getting dragged online.

They weren't wrong. I knew Amber was more than just his assistant. She was his mistress.

But a small part of me held onto the hope that he still cared about our years together, so I never called him out on it.

He not only broke precedent to hire her, a community college graduate, but he also promoted her and gave her raises again and again, even when she made constant mistakes.

When the office gossip became too loud, I confronted him. He just looked at me with disappointment. "Claire, I thought you cared about team culture. But you're just like them, obsessed with academic backgrounds. This isn't like you."

"Have you forgotten why we started this company? To break the mold and give young people a chance. The way you're acting right now... I barely recognize you."

Back then, I actually felt ashamed. I personally stepped in to squash the rumors for him.

It wasn't until I saw them tangled together in his office with my own eyes that I realized how foolish my trust had been.

Just then, my most trusted subordinate, Leo, sent me a message. "Don't let it get to you, Claire. Grant's the one with bad taste. He doesn't deserve you."

Messages of support from the rest of the team started pouring in.

A warmth spread through my chest as I read their words. I was about to tell them to stop commenting on Amber's post, worried Grant would retaliate against them.

But it was too late. A new notification popped up in the company-wide Slack channel.

It was an @channel announcement from Grant:

"Enough is enough. I need people who are actually aligned with my vision, not dragging their feet. @Amber is taking over the MegaCorp account effective IMMEDIATELY. She’s the only one showing real hustle right now. If you don't like the pace, there's the door."

I saw the message and laughed out loud.

The employees who had liked Amber’s post and commented with "congratulations" were all fine.

But my team and I had just been stripped of our biggest project. My phone immediately blew up again.

It was my team, furious. Leo messaged me directly: "You know what? I quit. I didn't sign up to work for a narcissistic egomaniac."

Others chimed in: "Same here. Claire is the only reason this ship hasn't sunk. If she's out, I'm out."

"Exactly. Good luck to him explaining the Q3 earnings to the board without us."

Their clear, defiant messages broke my heart.

Grant and I had been married for seven years and business partners for ten. He knew my team was my family. He knew I would do anything to protect them.

That's why he always used them against me whenever I didn't do what he wanted.

I had tolerated it time and time again.

But today, I was done tolerating anything.

I made a phone call.

The voice on the other end was thrilled. "Claire! You finally came to your senses? Ready to join us? You're wasting your talent at that sinking ship!"

"I have one more condition," I said.

"Name it. One, ten, a hundred conditions, I don't care. Whatever you want, you got it."

"I want to bring my entire team with me."

He was ecstatic. "That's fantastic! Our new Austin office is just getting started, and we desperately need a solid team. And don't worry about non-competes―our legal team already checked. Grant never had the core team sign enforceable clauses, and they’re notoriously hard to uphold in Texas anyway. This is a golden opportunity for us."

"I'll have HR draw up the offers right now. We'll triple their current packages―salary, benefits, stock options, everything! A battle-tested team like yours is exactly what we need."

Grant seemed to have forgotten that over half of the company's major clients were won by me and my team, one cup of coffee, one brutal negotiation at a time.

Our team’s performance was always number one, but because of me, we were constantly suppressed. We became Grant’s leverage to control me.

Not anymore.