Chapter 4He Proposed to Me With Her Name

The next morning, Dominic and Bianca came into the office together. The open floor plan buzzed with murmurs of congratulations. I kept my eyes on the screen, sorting through my handover documents.

In three years in New York, I had closed deals worth over a hundred million dollars in sales. Since I had already decided to leave, I needed to file all the client records I had managed.

HR Vivian came to my desk with a file in her hand. Her expression was hesitant. "Clara, do you have time this afternoon? I want to talk to you about the headcount for the department promotion."

I looked up. "Promotion?"

"The promotion list for your department has been submitted. Mr. De Luca said the main contributor to that project was Bianca Russo. He requested that she be promoted early to supervisor. But I remember most of the work on that project was yours. I wanted to confirm."

Supervisor was my current position. He was giving my work, my effort, to Bianca.

I was quiet for a moment. "Vivian, I will send the full project record to the company. All the emails, the signing process, the client correspondence. Everything is archived."

My phone buzzed. A message from Dominic: "Bianca just started. Turning down her promotion in front of everyone would be humiliating. Give her this one. I already have your next move lined up. You will be CEO next month. Trust me, I am not forgetting about you. This company answers to me."

I did not reply. I opened the internal system and filed a formal project ownership appeal, attaching the complete records from the project's start to the signed contracts. Within half a day, the appeal was approved, and Bianca's promotion was rejected. When the notification appeared on my screen, I leaned back in my chair and let out a long breath.

Another message from Dominic came through: "If you are done being upset, come home tonight. I made a reservation at that restaurant you like."

That afternoon, when I walked out of the meeting room, the atmosphere in the office had changed. People looked away when they passed me.

A few voices drifted from the kitchen area: "That is her?" "She did not seem like that kind of person."

I went back to my desk and opened my phone. The company's internal chat had been flooded with messages from Bianca. "A certain Ms. Hayes has been harassing my fiancé for a long time. After being rejected, she maliciously reported my promotion application. When will the company deal with this kind of behavior?"

People started guessing. They added screenshots of conversations, edited and cropped. Dominic and I had never made our relationship public. The gossip had been going on for almost an hour, and Dominic had not denied any of it. The screenshots were taken from his phone.

A commotion broke out at the office entrance. Bianca walked in with a cup of hot coffee and came straight to my desk.

She tilted her hand, and the coffee spilled across my keyboard, my papers, my hand. I stood up quickly as the liquid dripped off the edge of the desk onto my skirt. The whole office went quiet. Everyone was watching.

"You took my promotion, and you are still chasing my fiancé," Bianca said, loud enough for the nearby desks to hear. "What else are you capable of?"

I looked down at my hand, already turning red. I looked up and saw Dominic standing two steps behind Bianca. I looked at him. "Are you going to explain?"

He paused for a moment. Then he said, "What Bianca said is true. Please stop contacting us." The murmurs grew louder.

Bianca stood beside him and gave me a smile that only I could see. Dominic leaned in and lowered his voice. "You took her promotion. She is angry. Let her vent. I will make it up to you later. I already told you, CEO is yours next month. That is enough, is it not?"

That phrase, "I will make it up to you later," felt like a wet cloth over my mouth. I opened my phone to find our chat history, but it was empty. My photo album was empty too. The only person who knew my password and could access my phone was Dominic. He had cleared everything to let her have her way.

I sat at my coffee-soaked desk, picked up my mouse, and opened the resignation page. I changed the effective date to today. Submitted.

Then I opened the airline app and changed my flight from tomorrow morning to tonight.

Departure at nine forty. Five hours left before boarding.

I stood up and turned off my computer.