Chapter 2

The next morning, I went back to Carter to finish my exit paperwork.

The HR representative pushed several documents across the table. She looked uncomfortable.

"Kate, because Atlas hasn't officially signed yet, the performance bonus tied to the project is temporarily frozen."

I looked up.

"I led that project for eight months. There's only one final step left."

"I know."

She paused.

"But you've already been terminated, and the Atlas account lead was changed yesterday. If the deal closes, the credit will be recalculated based on who owns the account at that point."

I understood exactly what she meant.

"Who gets it?"

The conference room door opened.

Paige walked in carrying a file and sat across from me.

"Eric asked me to handle the rest. Atlas is under Strategic Operations now. If the deal closes, of course the credit goes to the new department."

That so-called new department was the one Eric had put Paige in charge of only a few days earlier.

I laughed.

"So I work on the deal for eight months, you take over for a few days, and you get the bonus?"

Paige didn't look the least bit guilty.

"The company rewards final results, not the process."

Now I understood.

They didn't just want me gone.

They wanted to keep everything I had already done too.

Over the past few years, whenever my team landed a difficult client, I never took all the credit for myself.

I knew exactly how far each person had taken a project, how much work they had done, and how the bonus should be divided.

Now that it was my own work, they were telling me the process didn't matter.

"Send the documents for my vested equity and the bonus I've earned under the current milestones to my attorney."

Paige seemed ready for that.

She immediately pulled out another agreement.

"Fine. Sign this first."

I looked through it.

It was a twelve-month non-solicitation agreement.

It covered Carter's current clients and prospects already in active business discussions.

Atlas was on the list.

"I'm not signing it."

Paige raised an eyebrow.

"I assume you're not planning to act unethically and poach Carter's clients. If you're not, why won't you sign?"

"I won't solicit Atlas. But I'm not signing something that lets you call it a violation later if the client makes its own choice."

The smile faded from her face.

"That makes it hard not to wonder whether you've already made other plans."

Footsteps sounded outside the conference room.

Eric walked in a moment later. Once he heard what had happened, he looked irritated.

"You've handled too many of our major clients for us to let you leave without basic protections in place. I don't care where you work next. But you don't touch a single Carter client."

I looked at him.

"And my bonus?"

"Atlas hasn't signed."

"What if they sign next week?"

"You won't be leading the account by then."

"So Paige gets it?"

He said nothing.

His silence answered the question.

I became calmer instead.

"Eric, have you forgotten who brought this client all the way to this point?"

His face immediately darkened.

"This is exactly what I can't stand about you lately. You've started to believe the company can't function without you."

"Atlas is Carter's client, not your personal property. You were paid by the company and used company resources to work on the account. That was your job."

"Fine."

I nodded.

"Then let Paige close it. I'd really like to see whether Atlas is still willing to sign without me."

Paige's expression changed slightly.

Eric gave a cold laugh.

"Kate, do you really think clients will keep following you after you leave Carter? Every client and every connection you've built over the years came through this company."

He looked straight at me.

"Those clients don't prove you built anything on your own. And they're not yours to take with you just because you were engaged to me."

That last sentence made me go completely quiet.

I had spent six years building this company with him.

Every contract I had brought in could apparently be erased with a few words.

So he really believed the company had given me everything.

Even my ability was something he thought belonged to Carter.

Suddenly, I had no interest in talking about Atlas anymore.

"Since you brought up our engagement, let's settle that too."

Eric frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm ending our engagement."

The conference room went silent.

Even Paige looked surprised.

Eric stared at me, as if he were waiting for me to take it back.

"You're sure about that?"

"I'm sure."

His expression quickly turned cold.

"Maybe that's for the best. You're in no state to plan a wedding right now anyway. I'll have someone handle the venue and the other expenses. At least this way, we can keep things civil."

Whatever ridiculous hope I still had disappeared.

He actually thought ending our engagement was some kind of punishment.

I took off the ring and set it on the table.

He had put it on my finger three years ago, after the company completed its first major funding round.

Back then, he told me that once the company was stable, we would get married right away.

I waited for three years.

Now I didn't have to wait anymore.

"Keep it. Consider it the price I paid for a six-year lesson."

I turned and walked out.

I had barely left the building when Daniel called.

"Kate, I just finished a meeting with Paige."

"How did it go?"

He was silent for two seconds.

"She doesn't understand our project at all."

I said nothing.

He continued.

"There's something else I think you should remember. Atlas didn't take this deal this far only because of Carter."