Chapter 4

"Yours?"

I finally looked him in the eye, my lips curving into a cold smirk. "Do I need to remind you who used her entire life savings to fund you five years ago when you failed your first startup and had absolutely nothing? Who did it just because she believed in your stupid dream? And who, to protect your fragile, pathetic ego, agreed to sign that proxy agreement and willingly stayed in the shadows to write your business plans?"

I stepped closer to him. Mr. Sterling handed me the documents one by one.

"The name 'Nova Tech' was my idea."

"The core code for your first viral software was written by me during sleepless nights."

"Mr. Harrison—the investor you literally begged on your knees for—was a connection I got for you through my family."

"Carter, without Chloe Vance, you’d still be a nobody eating instant ramen in a rented basement. From the very beginning, the biggest shareholder and the actual brain of the company has been me. You were just a CEO I hired."

Carter stared at the black-and-white documents, his pupils dilating. It was like he was seeing me for the first time.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Right then, the door opened.

A few board directors walked in, accompanied by two police officers.

"Mr. Brooks, Ms. Ward," the lead officer flashed his badge. "We received a formal report with verified evidence regarding grand larceny and corporate embezzlement. Please come with us to the station."

Vivian let out a screech and collapsed to the floor.

Carter looked at me, his eyes filled with disbelief, despair, and rage. "Chloe Vance! You’re heartless! You’re actually throwing me in prison?! What about our five years together?!"

"Our five years?"

I cut him off, finding it incredibly pathetic. "Where was that history when you let Vivian humiliate my parents with garbage food? Where was it when you kicked me to protect her? Where was it when you almost choked my mother to death, or when you gave away her life-saving blood to a girl who faked a headache? Carter, what right do you have to talk about our relationship?"

My voice wasn't loud, but every word cut like a frozen scalpel.

"Between you and me, it’s strictly business now."

The police dragged the hysterical Vivian and the lifeless Carter away.

Mr. Sterling went with them to handle the legal proceedings.

Uncle Richard, a board member who had watched me grow up, sighed and walked over. "Chloe, they’ve run the company into the ground these past few months. Several major projects are dead. Everyone... is waiting for you to come back and lead us."

I looked out the window. The sky was turning grey.

"Uncle Richard, please hire the best private nursing team to take care of my mother 24/7. Then, notify all department heads. Emergency Zoom meeting at 10:00 AM."

With the best medical care money could buy, my mom improved day by day.

During the day, I cleaned up the massive mess at Nova Tech. At night, I stayed in the hospital room with her.

My dad finally stopped sighing. He even smiled occasionally. "I always knew my Chloe was capable. You were just letting that Brooks boy play boss..."

A week later, I got a call from the detention center.

Carter wanted to see me.

I went.

Across the glass partition, he looked like he had aged ten years.

"Chloe... I was wrong. I really was. Vivian manipulated me. She kept telling me you were only with me for my money... I was blinded by my own greed..."

I watched his performance in silence, my heart completely numb.

Seeing no reaction from me, he got desperate. "For the sake of our five years, please drop the charges, okay? I can’t lose the company! That’s my entire life! You loved me so much, you wouldn’t want to see me with nothing, right?"

I finally picked up the phone. My voice was deadly calm. "Carter, you got three things wrong."

"First, Nova Tech is my life’s work, not yours."

"Second, I don’t love you anymore. The moment you chose to sacrifice my mother, we were completely done."

"Third, I will never drop the charges. You’ll get exactly what the law gives you. You and your 'thoughtful' assistant earned every bit of it."

With that, I hung up the phone and walked away, ignoring his desperate screams behind the glass.