Chapter 4

"You married him, and now you want to keep him all to yourself, cut him off from his own sister, from Joy?"

"A filthy mind sees filth everywhere."

"Now your son's been hurt, and instead of looking at yourself, you stand here spouting nonsense, spreading lies about Otis and Joy."

"Eudora, have you no shame at all?"

Joy's eyes went red on cue.

"Sis, so you really do blame me after all."

"I shouldn't have asked Otis to keep me company. But he only wanted to look after me a little, since I've finally come home."

"If you want to hit me or scream at me, then take it out on me. Just stop insulting Otis with words like that."

Otis turned back to her on instinct, that familiar tenderness surfacing in his eyes again.

That one movement was enough to strip away any desire I had left to argue.

I clutched the papers to my chest and shoved past them.

"Eudora, wait for me!"

Otis took two steps after me.

But even by the time I made it back to the hospital, he never showed.

I'd barely finished the paperwork when my subordinate called.

"Ms. Fox, the new contract gets signed today. Why aren't you here yet?"

"My son's in the ICU. I need to take some leave. The contract's already negotiated. Someone else can just sign it."

She rushed to say,

"But Mr. James came in today with your sister. He said you're going to focus on caring for your child, that you're stepping back, and that she'll be taking over your position and your project."

"It didn't sit right with me, so I called you right away."

A chill ran through me. I called Otis immediately.

"What gives you the right to hand my position to Joy?"

His tone was unnervingly calm, as if he'd already worked everything out for me.

"Those things you said earlier were only because Joe got hurt. You were panicking, letting your mind run wild. I know you didn't mean it, and I won't hold it against you."

"But you can't do the job well like this. Staying in that position will only set the project back."

"Better to step down for now and focus on the child. I'm arranging this for your own good."

I was shaking with rage.

"That's a project I spent a whole year landing! What right do you have to take it away?"

Otis sighed.

"It's not taking it away. I'm just asking you to do Joy a favor. Joy's in the middle of a divorce case. She needs a respectable job to fight for custody of her child."

"She'd only hold the lead title temporarily. One less project won't hurt you."

I gripped the phone so hard my knuckles ached.

For as long as I could remember, when Joy wanted my room, I had to move out.

When she didn't want to see me, I couldn't come home for four years.

Now she needed a job, and even the career I'd bled for had to be handed over to her.

I said coldly,

"I won't agree to it."

"If you dare touch my project, I'll hand the contract straight to the rival company!"

"Eudora, don't be difficult!"

Otis's voice dropped too.

"You can't destroy the whole company just to spite someone, can you?"

"It's only a temporary title. A year at most."

"When you come back, your old position will still be waiting."

His voice softened again.

"I've already spoken to the doctor. Joe's treatment is all arranged."

"You focus on caring for our son for now, and come back to work once he's better. Isn't that best?"

"Besides, if we hadn't gotten married in the first place, Joy wouldn't have left the country heartbroken, and she wouldn't have run into that scumbag."

"We owe it to her to make it up to her."

Something in me finally snapped.

"I don't owe her anything!"

"She went abroad on her own, married on her own, and chose the wrong man all on her own."

"Why should her bad luck mean stealing away my husband and my job?"