Chapter 3

Ethan glanced at the floor, his brows tightening, then smoothing out.

“It’s just a cheap photo frame,” he said dismissively. “So it broke, what’s the big deal? Is it really worth getting so upset over?"

He then shot me a look, his voice rising. "I think you’ve lost your mind, all this over a bonus.”

Chloe, standing off to the side, let out a perfectly timed sniffle, looking even more fragile and helpless.

“Mr. Miller, please don’t blame Ms. Bennett. Maybe it’s really my fault. I must’ve done something to upset her…” she murmured, eyes glistening.

Ethan looked at her, his anger spiking.

“Bennett, I gave you a chance. You didn’t appreciate it. Now, pack up your things. Get out of the company immediately,” he ordered, voice like ice.

Quietly, I picked up the photo and placed the last of my personal belongings into my bag.

The silence and calmness in my actions caught both Ethan and Chloe off guard. They probably expected me to explode, to argue, to lose my composure.

But I didn’t. Instead, I zipped up my bag and walked straight toward the door.

As I passed Ethan, I stopped.

Turning slightly, I met his eye, my voice steady and flat. “Mr. Miller, remember what you said today. I hope you won’t regret it. And I hope Chloe… truly is as ‘competent’ as she’s trying to appear.”

Ethan’s brow furrowed, as if he wanted to say something. But I didn’t give him the chance. I stepped forward, leaving without looking back.

There was nothing left for me to stay here for.

...

Back at the massive, heavily guarded underworld estate, my grandfather, just out of the hospital, was resting on the luxury sofa, surrounded by our family members who had just welcomed him home.

When he saw me get home much earlier than usual and noticed the change in my demeanor, he looked at me with concern.

“What’s wrong, my girl? Did something happen?”

I didn’t hide anything. I told him everything about resigning and losing the bonus.

My grandfather didn’t blame me at all. He simply took my hand and gently patted it, his eyes flashing with the cold authority of a mafia don, though his voice was soft to me.

“You did right,” he said. “That small-time company isn’t worth my precious granddaughter’s sacrifice. Your peace of mind is more important. I told you before, hiding your identity to build that tech company from scratch was just a game. Now it's time to let go and come back to run our empire.”

Her words washed through me like a warm current, easing something tight in my chest.

...

In the days that followed, it felt as though my life was moving at a peaceful pace.

In the mornings, I walked through our private gardens with my grandfather, listening to him talk about the family business with effortless skill.

In the afternoons, we'd sit by the courtyard pool, and I'd awkwardly join the family bodyguards practicing martial arts, fumbling through the basic movements.

Afterward, we'd sit on the grand balcony, sipping premium tea, watching the city below, and chatting about family stuff. Time passed by slowly, quietly, and peacefully.

That long-forgotten, steady rhythm started to heal the numb heart I’d crushed in the corporate world.

In that rare quiet, the past seven years played back in my mind like faded film reels, each frame sharp again.

I remembered the company’s hardest early days. To break through the server and network barriers of our first major platform, I led a handful of core developers and spent three straight months in the office, eating and sleeping there.

When we were wiped out at night, we’d spread cardboard under our desks and grab a nap.

In the end, we didn’t just solve the problems; we crafted a network optimization plan that exceeded expectations, helped the company achieve its first real profit, and built our reputation in the tech industry.

I also recall an incident where a competitor maliciously launched a DDoS attack on our servers, nearly bringing our shopping platform to a complete standstill.

Clients were furious. The entire system was hanging by a thread.

I stayed awake for forty-eight hours straight, leading the team to trace the cyberattack. Not only did we successfully fend off the assault, but I also used my top-tier hacking skills to identify a massive loophole on their side, saving the company from huge losses and delivering a decisive counterpunch.

That battle catapulted our reputation in the industry.

And then there was this shopping app that just generated $100 million in sales.