Chapter 3

The night I left the Whitmore family chat, I sent my resignation to Vivian's company.

I had been one of its first employees.

I went to client meetings with her and stayed up writing proposals with her.

During the worst stretch, we slept in the office for months.

The day the company turned its first profit, Vivian stood in front of the whole staff and said, "Owen isn't just my husband. He's the partner who got me through the hardest part."

Now she was convinced that my resignation was just another move in the game.

Her reply was a single line.

[Approved. Come back when you're done.]

The fifth day of Julian's week as man of the house was also the company's anniversary party.

It was my last day of handing off my work.

I went in to return my badge and transfer my projects.

The anniversary video was already playing on the big screen in the lobby.

Every photo of me from the early days was gone, and so was my name.

The nights I spent packing orders in the warehouse were gone. So were the client dinners that ended with me in the ER, and the mornings I watched the sun come up over another draft of a proposal.

I stood in the middle of the lobby and watched the company I had helped build tell its story without me.

Years of my life, and someone had erased them in an afternoon with an editing program.

The video ended on a photo of Julian and Vivian standing side by side.

The caption read:

[Thank you, Mr. Hale, for being with us every step of the way.]

Julian had never packed a single box in that warehouse. He had never sat through a single client meeting.

But he was the one being thanked.

Vivian knew the invitation to the party had been meant for me.

She still had Julian wear the custom suit that had been tailored for me.

With the Whitmore ring on his finger, he cut the cake beside her and made the rounds with a glass of champagne.

Whenever someone mistook him for her husband, he smiled, raised his glass, and let them.

Vivian never corrected anyone.

When her assistant quietly asked whether she should, Vivian shook her head. "We're on day five. Stopping now would ruin it."

I did not go into the ballroom.

I finished my handoff in my office.

On my way out, one of the guys who had been with us since the beginning recognized me.

"Owen?" he called across the room.

Then he looked up at Julian on the stage, confused.

"Wait. Did you and Vivian split up? Why is that guy up there with her?"

The ballroom went quiet.

That was how the guests found out that Vivian's actual husband was someone else.

The whispering started right away.

"If he's not her husband, why is he wearing the family ring?"

"He's living in another man's house and showing up at the anniversary party as her husband. Isn't that what you call the other man?"

Before it could go any further, someone lowered their voice.

"Haven't you seen Julian's Instagram?"

"It's this guy who won't let go."

"Vivian's literally putting Julian up front, and he's still hanging on because he helped start the company. It's embarrassing."

"Come on. He just doesn't want to give up being a Whitmore."

He passed his phone around to the people next to him.

I saw the post too.

The video showed me grabbing my suit back with my jaw tight. It showed me telling Julian to get out of the master bedroom. It showed me walking out of the Whitmores' dinner.

Every clip was me losing my temper.

There was no clip of Vivian saying it was only a game.

There was none of the times she caught up to me afterward and told me not to take it seriously.

They had cut out every reason I had to be angry and kept only the anger.

The caption was one line.

[Some people just can't let go of a title that's already expired.]

I stared at that line and thought about the last three years of so-called games.

Every time they pushed me until I snapped, I was the one who had to apologize first while everyone cheered.

I took the game too seriously.

Vivian's phone still held the betting records from every year.

When I would lose my temper.

Whether I would throw Julian out.

How long it would take me to give in and apologize to him.

Now the video told me something else.

The anger, the humiliation, and every time I lost control over the last three years had been saved and replayed and passed around for laughs.

I had thought those were some of the worst nights of my life.

To them, they had been entertainment.

Something in my chest went very cold and very quiet.

Before I could say anything, Vivian walked up to me and lowered her voice.

"If we're doing this, we're doing it all the way."

"Julian came here to help. I'm not letting his reputation get ruined tonight."

I looked at her, and I laughed.

"So mine gets ruined instead?"

Her brows drew together.

"Owen, you've dragged this out way too long."

"If you didn't take everything so seriously, it never would have gotten this far."

I did not answer her.

I set my badge and my resignation paperwork on the front desk.

"My handoff is finished."

Then I walked past her and stepped into the elevator.

My calm was what finally made her snap.

In front of everyone, she waved over her personal attorney, who had been invited as a guest.

"Draw up a real divorce agreement."

"On the seventh day, I'll make him choose in front of all our friends."

"Let's see how long he can keep pretending."