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After I left, the Ice Mountain CEO went completely crazy
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It took me five grueling years to finally stand by Natalie Henson's side, to become the fiancé she publicly acknowledged. Everyone envied me. They said I was the miracle worker who had finally melte...
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第1章
It took me five grueling years to finally stand by Natalie Henson's side, to become the fiancé she publicly acknowledged.
Everyone envied me. They said I was the miracle worker who had finally melted the iceberg.
But one month before the wedding, I chose to leave.
The friend helping me with my visa stared at me, jaw slack.
"Liam Simmons, are you out of your mind? You really want to go abroad?"
He slammed the paperwork down. "You gave up *everything* to chase Natalie Henson for five years. You crawled through glass to get her to say yes. You're weeks away from the altar, and now you're running away? Is this a joke?"
The bitter lump in my throat made it hard to swallow. But my voice came out steady, devoid of the desperation that had defined me for so long.
"There won't be a wedding."
I met his eyes. "She will never see me again."
1.
My circle knew the price I had paid for Natalie.
A seed-funding offer from a top angel investor—turned down. A headhunting offer from a Fortune 500 giant—rejected. A brilliant future—incinerated. All to be near her. I had willingly reduced myself to an obscure assistant in her shadow.
Natalie Henson was a woman carved from frost.
For five years, I handled every mundane detail of her life with obsessive precision. I anticipated her needs before she knew them herself. Only then did she tolerate my existence.
To my friends, the iceberg had melted.
She treated me differently than the rest of the world, they argued. She couldn't remember her own birthday, yet she could recite mine. When I looked like a walking corpse from exhaustion, she would tell me to go home and rest.
For a woman known for her taciturn, icy demeanor, that was practically a love sonnet.
But only I knew the truth.
She had never celebrated a single birthday with me. Every year, a cold bank transfer notification appeared on my phone:
*【I hate the hassle. Buy yourself something.】*
And that "concern" for my health? She only sent me home because I had stayed awake for seventy-two hours straight organizing her negotiation documents, resulting in a fever so high I was delirious.
During those three days of sick leave, my phone remained silent. She never asked how I was.
Not once.
As for how I became the fiancé she acknowledged? It wasn't love.
It was guilt.
Six months ago, Natalie's parents were kidnapped.
The woman who never flinched felt the sky collapse. Panic stripped her of her logic. She followed the kidnappers' demands blindly, walking alone into the trap to deliver the ransom.
Predictably, they planned to kill her too.
I didn't think. I drove into the chaos, disregarding my own life to negotiate, buying just enough time for the police to breach the perimeter.
The kidnappers didn't go easy on me. They beat me within an inch of my life.
When I woke up in the ICU, Natalie and her parents were at my bedside.
Her mother smiled, though her eyes were wet. "Liam, I heard you gave up your career, your future, everything... just for our Wanshin. We've been watching you."
She took my hand. "And now, you've almost died for us. This is a debt we can never repay. We approve. You and Wanshin should be together."
When her mother said those words, Natalie's face went pale.
But she didn't argue. She nodded, accepting her fate.
If Dominic Gilbert hadn't appeared, perhaps I would have continued to delude myself. I might have believed that I had actually chipped away the ice around her heart.
Back at the company, the large LED screen in the lobby was broadcasting highlights from the Wuzhen Internet Conference.
A cluster of colleagues stood beneath it, gossiping.
"Look, it's CEO Henson and Director Gilbert."
"Damn, they look good together. Like a power couple."
The words landed like a fist to my sternum.
Most people in the group thought Natalie and Dominic were a perfect match.
Almost no one knew I was her fiancé.
The camera cut to a new angle.
Natalie and Dominic, standing side by side.
第2章
The camera zoomed in.
Dominic Gilbert and Natalie were standing shoulder to shoulder, their bodies almost pressing against each other.
He leaned in, whispering something that made the corners of Natalie's lips curl upward.
A genuine, radiant smile broke across her face.
"Ms. Henson smiled!" a junior employee gasped.
"I've been here three years and I've never seen her smile like that. That's rare."
"Well, it's Director Gilbert. Tall, handsome, loaded. Even an iceberg like Natalie Henson has to melt eventually."
I stared at the high-definition screen. Was this the same woman I knew?
Her aloofness was legendary. Within the corporation, she was untouchable. Even senior executives kept a respectful distance when reporting to her.
Yet there she was, leaning into Dominic, intimate and open. From a different angle, it would have looked like they were about to kiss.
I used to think Natalie's rules were absolute laws of nature.
Then Dominic Gilbert arrived, and I realized her rules only applied to me.
I remembered my first month as her assistant. A minor formatting error on a report sequence.
She had looked at me with eyes like shattered glass.
"You might think this is trivial," she had said, her voice devoid of warmth. "But by my side, there is no room for error. If this happens again, draft your resignation letter before you leave."
But when Dominic joined the group and spilled coffee all over a stack of critical financial statements?
She hadn't even frowned.
"Be more careful next time," she had said softly. "Have finance redo it."
Dominic was the definition of a 'princeling'—the son of a major board shareholder. Shoehorned into the company and promoted to Deputy Sales Director in under a year.
He flirted with Natalie openly, undressing her with his eyes in meetings. Ignoring professional boundaries. Touching her shoulder. Guiding her by the small of her back.
Behaviors that Natalie would have fired anyone else for were suddenly natural when they came from him.
If not for Dominic, I would never have known that Natalie was capable of being gentle.
Or shy.
I couldn't watch anymore. I turned my back on the screen and walked out of the building.
I drove to the new house. *Our* new house.
Freshly renovated. I stood in the living room, remembering the day I brought Natalie here to approve the design.
"What do you think?" I had asked, eager as a puppy. "Does anything need changing? If you don't like the color, I'll have the contractors redo it immediately."
She had stayed for less than five minutes, checking her watch the entire time.
"Whatever," she had said, turning to the door. "Handle it however you want. I won't be living here anyway."
But when Dominic moved into his new penthouse, Natalie took a full day off work.
She, who loathed shopping, spent hours at the mall with him. Personally selecting his furniture. Debating curtain fabrics. Curating his space.
My gaze swept over the silent, pristine room.
This was supposed to be a home.
Now, it felt like a tomb.
My eyes landed on a framed photo on the wall—Natalie and me. In the picture, her expression was stiff, forced. Compared to the radiant smile I had just seen on the lobby screen, the contrast was a cruel joke.
I grabbed a cardboard box. Walked over to the wall. Ripped the photo down. Tossed it into the box face down.
After packing the few personal items I had left, I called a real estate agent.
"Mr. Simmons? You just finished the renovation," the agent said, confused. "If you sell now, you're going to take a massive loss."
"Sell it." My voice was flat. "The faster, the better."
I hung up and continued packing.
My phone buzzed. A message from Natalie.
*【9:30 PM. Come to the Winston Hotel. Pick up Dominic and me.】*
第3章
I stared at the message, the screen blurring slightly.
Finally, I typed a reply.
*【No time.】*
I thought my refusal would trigger a reaction—anger, confusion, something.
But the phone remained dark. Silence.
It wasn't until 9:30 PM that another message arrived.
*【We're having a dinner party. You should come too.】*
I didn't want to go. But a morbid curiosity took hold of me. I wanted to see them. I wanted to drive the final nail into the coffin of my attachment.
When I arrived at the private dining room, the party was in full swing.
Natalie glanced at me as I entered. The usual mask of indifference. A symbolic nod.
Then she turned back to Dominic.
They sat in the seats of honor. Dominic was holding court, telling stories that had the table erupting in laughter. In his excitement, he grabbed Natalie's hand.
She frowned slightly.
But she didn't pull away.
Halfway through the meal, Dominic turned his gaze on me. A smirk played on his lips.
"Hey, Liam. I've got a bone to pick with you."
The room went quiet.
"Ms. Henson and I traveled a long way today. Why didn't you drive over to pick us up?"
He swirled the wine in his glass. "As an assistant, you need to be two steps ahead. You need to think of things before we do. If you can't handle basic logistics, you're not qualified to stand next to her."
He leaned back, feigning exasperation. "Do you know how long your negligence made us wait? If Jade hadn't come to get us, Ms. Henson and I would have been sleeping at the airport."
I cut a piece of steak. Didn't look up.
"Can't you take a taxi?"
Dominic's smile froze.
Natalie's head snapped toward me. Her cold mask cracked, revealing a flash of genuine shock.
The silence stretched, thick and suffocating.
Finally, a colleague laughed nervously. "Hah... Liam really is Ms. Henson's assistant. His sense of humor is getting sharper. A bit dry, though. Cold joke, right?"
The others quickly jumped in to salvage the mood. "Yeah, Liam's got a dry wit. Very funny."
When the dinner ended, I was the first one out the door.
In the past, I would have been hovering at Natalie's elbow—holding her bag, fetching her coat, checking if she had her phone. Her shadow. Her servant.
Today, I walked straight to my car.
My sudden change in behavior clearly unsettled her.
"Liam Simmons?"
I kept walking.
"Liam? Where are you going?"
I reached for the door handle. Took a deep breath, ready to drive away and never look back.
But old habits die hard. Natalie opened the passenger door and slid in before I could start the engine.
She glared at me, brow furrowed in annoyance.
"What is wrong with you today?"
I looked at her in the rearview mirror. "I'm normal. Why do you ask?"
"Normal?" She scoffed. "Dominic is the Deputy Director and the son of a board member. Do you think it's smart to talk back to him like that in front of everyone?"
Her voice sharpened. "Don't think that just because you're... with me, you can act arrogant and ignore the hierarchy. There are things in this company even I can't control."
She crossed her arms. "Tomorrow, you will go to his office and apologize."
It wasn't a request. It was an order. A scolding.
She thought I was using her status to throw my weight around.
She thought *I* was the problem.
"Natalie!"
The shout erupted from somewhere deep in my chest. My voice boomed in the confined space of the car.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Natalie stared at me, eyes wide. I had never raised my voice at her. Not once in five years.
I turned in my seat to face her directly.
"I'm resigning."
She blinked, as if she couldn't process the language I was speaking.
"What did you say?"
Before I could repeat it, a knock rapped sharply against the car window.
第4章
Natalie rolled down the window.
Dominic leaned against the frame, casual as ever, like he owned every inch of the air around him.
"Natalie, remember President Zhao from the Wuzhen conference?" His voice was silk. "He wants to discuss the AI internet project. Why don't you send your assistant ahead and ride with me?"
"Okay."
No hesitation. Not even a breath.
Everything I'd said to her moments ago? Gone. Erased. As if the words had never left my mouth.
She stepped out of our car and slid into his.
Something cracked open in my chest—sharp, hollow, spreading. It wasn't jealousy. Jealousy would have been easier. This was loneliness so thick it pressed against my lungs, made each breath feel borrowed.
The taillights shrank into the distance.
I stood there for a long time. Then I went home.
---
Past ten o'clock when I unlocked the door. The TV blared. Mom, Dad, and my younger brother huddled in the living room like they'd been waiting for me—or waiting for something.
Mom smiled and walked over. "Liam, what took you so long?"
"I just... missed you guys." The lie scraped my throat. "Wanted to see you and Dad."
Dad chuckled from the sofa. "You've got a big-shot CEO girlfriend and you still miss us? Speaking of which—where is she? Didn't come up?"
He didn't wait for an answer.
"Your mother and I were just saying—when you two get married and have a kid, we'll move in. Help with the baby. It'll be nice, the whole family under one roof—"
"Dad."
The word came out flat. Dead.
"I'm not marrying her."
His smile froze. "What did you say?"
"I want to break up with her."
"Shut up!"
His face twisted, all pretense gone. "You useless thing! Did I raise you for nothing? I was counting on you to marry into wealth so this family could finally *live*. And now you want to break up? On your own initiative?"
My brother jumped in, sneering. "Bro, you think too highly of yourself. She's *Natalie Henson*. Dynasty money. Countless men would kill for a chance, and they don't even get close. You have the golden ticket and you don't know how to cherish it?"
He scoffed. "What, you feel 'wronged'? Suck it up. A rich heiress choosing *you* is a blessing you must've cultivated over eight lifetimes. She picks you—not the other way around. Look at your status compared to hers."
Mom's voice went shrill. "Liam, your brother's right. Whatever grievances you have, swallow them. We already agreed on the terms—the dowry includes three villas and nearly ninety million in cash. If you back out now, what about your brother? Where's he going to get money for a bride price? Are you trying to cut off his future?"
I looked at them. These familiar faces. No warmth. No concern. Just hunger.
For years, I'd paid for everything. Their food. Their bills. My brother's tuition. Every expense. Out of my pocket.
And this was what I got in return: three greedy mouths demanding I sell my dignity.
I'd planned to leave them the several million I'd saved for a marital home before I left.
Now? My heart turned to ice.
I walked out.
Behind me, they screamed.
"Where are you going? We say a few words for your own good and you throw a tantrum?"
"Dad, ignore him. Let him go. He's forgotten who he is. Once he leaves that rich lady, who's gonna treat him like a human being?"
The door slammed shut, cutting off the venom.
The streets were empty. Wind-swept. Bleak.
The night was cold.
But the loneliness was colder.
My phone buzzed.
One in the morning.
Natalie.
"Where are you?" Demanding. Impatient. "I'm at the new house. Why aren't you here?"
I stood in the dark, the wind biting through my jacket. "Do you need something?"
A pause. "Are you crying?"
"I'm not crying." My voice came out hoarse. "If you have something to say, say it. I'm busy."
She seemed thrown. "Today in the car—you mentioned resigning. I don't know what got into you, but I think we should talk this over properly."
"There's no need."
I took a breath.
Said the words I'd held inside for so long.
"I don't want to marry you anymore."