Chapter 3

I stared at the torn paper, not crying, not angry.

I simply said, "Ethan, it doesn’t matter if you don’t approve. I’ll apply for resignation myself."

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

"If there’s nothing else, I’m going back to work." I turned and left.

The door softly closed behind me, and I took a deep breath, forcing myself not to let the tears fall.

Back at my desk, I reprinted my resignation letter.

This time, I didn’t show it to him. I sent it directly to HR. My palms were sweating.

Just after printing it, my phone lit up. It was his message:

"The mortgage isn’t paid off yet. What will you do about resigning so impulsively?"

I stared at the message, my fingers pausing for a few seconds.

Then I typed my reply:

"I’ll figure it out."

"Also, I’ll pay you back the down payment by the end of the month."

The chat window showed "Typing…" but I didn’t wait for him to finish. I turned off the screen.

As the screen went black, I felt a sense of total silence.

Before the end of the workday, I went to HR with the resignation letter.

The supervisor read my resignation letter and sighed. "Ethan’s not in the good mood right now. It’s not the best time for you to resign. Let me think it over. I’ll give you a response within three days."

I nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

The entire afternoon, I felt like I was in a daze. The numbers on the screen lined up in front of me, but no matter how long I stared, they blurred together.

As the workday neared its end, my phone suddenly rang.

It was an unknown number.

I answered, and a deep voice came from the other end: "Julie, right? I have something you might be interested in. It’s about Ethan Cooper."

I paused for a moment, my voice cautious. "What is it?"

"Seven o’clock tonight, meet me at Silver Fang bar. Don’t be late."

The call ended abruptly.

I hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to go.

Silver Fang was a bar that wolves rarely visited, located on the outskirts of the territory. The dim lights, loud music, and the air mixed with the scent of old wood and alcohol made it feel eerie.

I found a corner and sat down, ordering a vodka.

At 7:12, no one had arrived yet.

I was about to make a call when a server approached me.

"Miss, someone asked me to give this to you."

I took the brown paper envelope from him and opened it.

Inside was a stack of internal documents from Ethan’s company.

Contracts, financial flows, client lists—everything was marked confidential.

Suddenly, my heart sank.

The phone rang again, still from the unknown number.

The voice on the other end cleared its throat lightly before speaking. "You saw it, right? Tell Ethan that if he doesn’t clean up his personal life, he’ll face the consequences in a week."

I instinctively asked, "Why are you contacting me?"

He chuckled, his voice trembling with coldness. "Because you’re his only weakness."

The call ended abruptly. I got into my car and drove straight to Ethan’s villa.

When he opened the door, he was still smiling, thinking I had come to my senses. "Julie? You’re back?"

I walked in and threw the documents onto the table. "Someone asked me to deliver this to you."

"He said that if you don’t clean up your ‘personal life,’ you’ll lose tens of millions."

Ethan’s face slowly turned cold.

He picked up the file and flipped through a few pages, his brows knitting tighter and tighter. Finally, he slammed it down onto the table.

The papers scattered across the floor.

His voice was low. "I understand. You can go now."

I glanced at him, didn’t say anything else.

I just nodded and turned to leave.

Two days later, HR called me in for a meeting. "Ethan disagrees, but you are firm... your resignation has been approved."

I nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

I started clearing my desk, sorting years of files, erasing computer documents clean.

As I walked toward the elevator with my box, I took a deep breath.

Just as the door was about to close, a familiar scent filled the air—a sickly-sweet floral fragrance.

I looked up. It was Lily, wearing a light-colored dress.

"Excuse me, which floor is Ethan on?"

I looked at her. "The twentieth floor."

She smiled slightly. "Thank you."

I nodded, then lowered my head to hold my box tightly, preparing to leave.

Just as I passed by her, she suddenly murmured softly:

"Turns out... the girl in Ethan’s phone was you."