Chapter 3

Finally, after a waltz ended, Chloe walked over to me, holding a glass of pink champagne.

She had a sweet, triumphant smile on her face, but her eyes were filled with pure malice.

"Vivian," she called out warmly, as if we were actually loving sisters. "Look at you, standing here all by yourself. It must be so lonely. But I guess it makes sense. No matter how smart or capable you are, at the end of the day, you're just a hired hand working for my family, right?"

She paused on purpose, enjoying the lack of emotion on my face, before turning to Carter, who had just walked up behind her. Her voice turned incredibly sweet.

"Unlike me. I don't have to do anything, and yet I get everything. Including things that some people worked so hard for but could never have."

She was clearly talking about Carter.

The guests around us immediately quieted down, turning to watch the drama. Some people even quietly pulled out their phones to record.

I calmly swirled the red wine in my glass, watching the rich liquid coat the sides.

I looked up, meeting her gaze, and let a cold, sharp smile spread across my face.

"I work for the future of the Sinclair Group."

My voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the quiet room like a knife. "As for who represents that future, I believe Grandpa and the board will make the right call. After all, the Sinclair Group is built on creating actual value, not on some empty shell who only knows how to brag about her bloodline and her man, while not even knowing how to read a basic balance sheet."

"You!" Chloe's face went white, her chest heaving with anger. She couldn't find a single word to talk back.

I didn't give her another look. I raised my glass to an important business partner standing nearby, turned around elegantly, and left the embarrassing scene to Carter, the man she had used as a prop.

In a dim corner of the ballroom, Carter finally broke free from Chloe and walked over to me with his drink.

He smelled faintly of Chloe’s sweet, suffocating perfume, mixed with his own clean, woody cologne. It was annoying.

"You’re not treating her the way I thought you would."

His eyes behind his glasses were deep and unreadable. "I thought you loved the company so much that you’d treat her as an ultimate enemy. But right now... you look more like a boss dealing with a problematic employee."

"You’ve always been observant, Mr. Montgomery," I replied professionally, as if answering a boring question in a meeting.

"Vivian," he suddenly called my name. Hearing that familiar name from him sent a strange, complicated wave through me. "Do we really have to talk like this? About what happened three years ago... I—"

"Mr. Montgomery."

I cut him off coldly. I placed my empty glass on a passing waiter's tray with absolute finality. "Your personal life has nothing to do with me, nor does it affect Sinclair’s business. I have work to do. Excuse me."

I turned and walked away, giving him no chance to say another word.

Carter, I don't have the time or the energy to dig up a past that I buried with my own hands.