Chapter 5

Chloe's POV

Shivering from the cold, I walked back toward my desk.

Before I could reach my cubicle, I saw Liam asking my colleagues where I was.

I stayed rooted to the spot, watching them without stepping forward.

Liam stood in the doorway of his office, his expression dark and stormy.

The secretarial pool was dead silent; everyone knew who he was asking about.

Chelsea Miller was the first to stand up.

I remembered that she had been with the company for two years and was always butting heads with me.

She had always believed that based on her abilities, the Chief Secretary seat should have been hers long ago.

Yet I held onto it without budging, leaving her harboring a belly full of resentment.

Now that an opportunity had presented itself, how could she let it slip?

"Mr. Sterling, Ms. Vance went to the Design Department after leaving your office this morning, and she hasn't been back since."

She paused, deliberately putting on a sweet smile.

"If you need anything done, just hand it to me. I'll make sure it's handled perfectly."

Liam gave a perfunctory nod, turned back into his office, and slammed the door shut.

The smile froze on Chelsea's face.

Her carefully staged bid for attention had earned her nothing more than a dismissive nod.

Watching from beside her, Leah Quinn let out a sneer.

"Some people just throw themselves out there for nothing. Mr. Sterling didn't even spare you a second glance."

Humiliated and enraged, Chelsea spun around.

"So what if I put myself out there? At least I'm cleaner than some people! Everyone knows how Chloe Vance became Chief Secretary! She's shameless enough to throw herself at him like a whore, but I could never stoop that low!"

"Listen to you."

Leah rolled her eyes.

"You've been hovering around Mr. Sterling for two years just waiting to do the exact same thing. Too bad he hasn't given you the chance."

"Bullshit!"

Chelsea shrieked, her voice rising in fury.

"How could I ever be like her? Not everyone is like that slut, groveling and begging to be used!"

The second the words left her mouth, Leah abruptly clamped shut.

Her gaze drifted over Chelsea's shoulder and locked onto something behind her.

The other secretaries nearby all paled, hastily ducking their heads.

Sensing someone behind her, Chelsea's back stiffened, and she slowly turned around.

They had seen me. I was standing right behind her.

I had just come down from the rooftop. Though I had wiped away my tears, my eyes were still rimmed with red.

Chelsea's heart jumped into her throat.

Talking behind someone's back was completely different from getting caught red-handed to their face.

After all, I was still the Chief Secretary; if I chose to make an issue of it, she wouldn't come out on top.

Yet I showed no reaction at all.

I stood there blankly, like a piece of deadwood devoid of feeling.

After a long moment, I brushed past the two of them as if nothing had happened and walked toward the women's restroom.

The secretarial pool stayed quiet for a few seconds before hushed whispers broke out.

"Did she hear?"

"She must have. She was standing right there!"

"So what if she heard? The whole company already knows anyway. It's hardly news."

"Exactly. Doesn't she know what she is?"

"As long as Mr. Sterling isn't mad, does it matter if she gets upset?"

Someone snickered, only to muffle it quickly.

Her anxiety dispelled, Chelsea curled her lip and sat back down at her desk.

The storm passed just like that.

No one cared whether those words hurt me.

In their eyes, someone like me deserved whatever miserable fate came my way.

At the end of the hallway, my pace quickened.

At first, I walked at a normal pace, but after rounding the corner, it turned into a brisk march. Finally, I broke into a run and bolted into the women's restroom.

I locked the door behind me.

My hands were shaking so hard that it took two tries to slide the latch into place.

Leaning against the door, my strength seemed to drain away all at once. My body slid down along the wood until I was crouched on the floor.

A layer of steam misted over my lenses.

I had heard those words countless times before.

In the break room, in the corridors, in the elevators—the versions changed over and over, but the gist was always the same.

I thought I had grown numb.

Hadn't I just walked past the gossip in the break room this morning without batting an eye?

Yet the humiliation from Liam's office hadn't even faded, the tears I cried on the rooftop were barely dry, and now I had to hear those words again.

I really couldn't take it anymore.

Liam degraded me, my colleagues despised me, and my parents resented me. Not a single person was on my side.

I hugged my knees and buried my face deep between them.

Tears silently soaked into my skirt.

I asked myself in the silence of my heart: Is this the price of loving Liam Sterling?

My dignity, my reputation, even my very self—I had sacrificed it all, only to receive his endless humiliation and hatred in return.

How much longer could I survive days like this?

[Paywall]