Chapter 1

Ava beamed, her eyes fixed on Ethan, her executive assistant.

"Ethan, this module is a game-changer. You really pulled it off."

I stood beside them, the senior software architect, the one who actually built the damn thing.

Ethan, slick and smiling, just nodded. "Team effort, Ava. But glad I could lead it to success."

Ava squeezed his arm. "Nonsense, you were the driving force."

She turned to me, her smile a little strained. "Liam, you see? This is what I mean about being a team player. Ethan gets it."

This, after three months of her giving me the silent treatment, all because I' d privately questioned Ethan' s competence on a minor project.

She thought her cold shoulder had broken me, made me compliant.

She was wrong.

"To celebrate," Ava announced, her good mood infectious to everyone but me, "I was thinking, Liam, that honeymoon to Hawaii we kept postponing? Let's finally do it."

Hope, a stupid, flickering thing, tried to ignite in my chest. I almost let it.

Then Ethan coughed, a small, pathetic sound.

"Ava, I... I don't know how to say this." He looked down, like a kicked puppy. "I was going to hand in my resignation today. I just feel... so undervalued sometimes."

Ava's face fell. "What? Ethan, no! You're indispensable!"

She shot me a look, a quick flash of annoyance, as if this was somehow my fault.

"Liam, honey," she said, her voice suddenly urgent, "something's come up. A huge investor pitch in San Francisco. We can't go to Hawaii right now. It' s critical."

She didn' t even wait for my response before turning back to Ethan, her hand on his shoulder.

"And Ethan, to show you how much we value you, why don't you take the second Hawaii ticket? A company reward. For all your hard work on this module."

She framed it as a business decision, a strategic move to retain key talent.

I saw it for what it was. Another piece of me, handed over to him.