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He Gave My Reward to His Mistress
NovelShort
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The company's fifth anniversary gala. As the top sales champion, I sat in the front row, waiting for the reward I'd been promised. Instead, my boss called his first love up onto the stage. She'd only ...
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第1章
The company's fifth anniversary gala. As the top sales champion, I sat in the front row, waiting for the reward I'd been promised.
Instead, my boss called his first love up onto the stage. She'd only just gotten back into the country.
"A luxury apartment, for our model employee."
She smiled sweetly and bowed to the crowd as she spoke.
"Thank you all for your support."
Down in my seat, I bit my lip. When the gala ended, I went straight to him.
"We had an agreement. That apartment was this year's reward for the sales champion. Why did you—"
His face went cold.
"When you speak to me, use my title. This is a company."
His first love chimed in, all wounded softness.
"I do love that apartment, but for the company's sake, I'm willing to give it up."
He waved her quiet and looked at me with ice in his eyes.
"Get one thing straight. You get what I choose to give you. And you're only the sales champion inside this company. Step outside it, and you're nothing."
"Don't forget, if it weren't for me back then, you'd still be scraping for scraps in some gutter."
Hearing her drag up the past, I suddenly laughed.
"Thank you, boss."
If I was nothing, then I would simply leave.
1
Sebastian Barnes looked very pleased with my response.
"Consider this your advance notice. Letitia Fox is being promoted to vice president. The sales department falls under her now. You will give her your full cooperation. Understood?"
Letitia greeted me with a smile.
"Sis, you're older than me, so if I overstep anywhere, I hope you'll be patient with me."
Letitia was Sebastian's first love. I'd always known such a person existed.
Before this, I never thought she'd become an obstacle between me and Sebastian.
But that turned out to be exactly wrong.
"The sales department doesn't need an outsider telling it what to do. That only makes things worse and doubles the effort for half the result."
I knew Letitia's history. A useless pretty face, nothing more.
"Maud Henson, remember your place!"
Sebastian's brows drew together as he snapped at me. "I'm the one who owns this company. You're just an employee. Do you get that?"
With that, he took Letitia by the hand and walked off.
"Sebastian, if Maud really doesn't want to, you could just let her be the VP instead."
"What does she know about management? All she knows how to do is flash a smile and pour drinks at dinners…"
Listening to the two of them flirt without the slightest shame, my heart went cold.
The year we graduated, Sebastian proposed to me in front of everyone, out on the field.
"Maud, will you marry me? I'll take care of you my whole life, protect you…"
The vow still echoed. I remembered that I hadn't refused.
But a year after graduation, the cracks between us appeared fast.
Sebastian's career wasn't going well, while I was promoted to department head.
That night he drank far too much, clung to me, and wept.
"Maud, I want to start my own company. Help me… help me, okay?"
A week later I quit my job and set out on that road with him.
For those five years of building the startup, I drew a meager salary and gave up every commission by choice.
My office was practically a small library.
Keeping a startup alive is brutally hard. All I could do was throw everything I had into helping him.
Technical problems, negotiations, contracts, sometimes even the legal work.
I sent my resignation through the company system to HR. The HR director, Wanda Finch, called almost at once.
"Ms. Henson, you're joking, right?"
I'd trained Wanda myself.
Or rather, she was one of the company's old guard. Most of them were.
"Nothing to joke about. I'm tired. I want to rest for a while."
"Then take a long leave. You haven't taken a single day off in years. Is this because of that new girl, Letitia? I'll go talk to the boss!"
Wanda sounded more anxious than I was.
Warmth stirred in my chest, and I talked her down.
"Don't force it. No party lasts forever. Getting to work alongside all of you for so many years, that's a kind of fate too."
Wanda was quiet for a moment, then told me, word by word.
"I'll calculate all the commissions and bonuses that were never paid out these years, and I'll fight for the highest compensation I can get you."
I wanted to say there was no need, but she'd already hung up.
I gathered a few personal things, and came across a slightly yellowed denim backpack.
It was the gift Sebastian gave me the day the company was founded.
Just as I was about to leave, Sebastian called.
"Maud Henson, what the hell has gotten into you?"
第2章
Before I could say a word, the questions came at me in a rapid-fire string.
"We're all adults here. Let's not play childish little games, all right?"
"I know your pay hasn't gone up these past few years, but didn't I tell you? Once the company goes public, I'll make it all up to you in one lump sum!"
"Letitia has a master's from a top overseas university. Companies were fighting over her. She's lowering herself just by being here, so can't I show a little appreciation?"
By the end I could hear his voice out in the hallway, coming closer.
Then the office door slammed open under his kick.
Sebastian stood in front of me, radiating contempt.
"What's gotten into you? Stay with the company and you're a founding member, you'll get some equity compensation down the line. Leave, and what are you? Nothing."
Letitia trailed in behind him and shut the door, a faint smile tucked at the corner of her mouth.
"Sebastian, I won't let you talk to Maud like that!"
"But look at her office. Plain as a library. Nothing about it says senior executive at all!"
That only stoked his temper further.
"I told you long ago, this is a company, not a library, and definitely not a school!"
"Cramming this place full of junk books, who are you putting on a show for?"
"All the time you spend reading, you could be out chasing clients. You might've closed a couple more deals by now!"
He didn't remember at all how he'd begged me to come start this company with him.
He'd conveniently forgotten, too.
All those days and nights when it was in exactly this office, buried under books, that I pulled the company out of one crisis after another.
"Sebastian, I want to ask you something."
I swallowed the ache and kept my voice level. "When do you plan to marry me?"
His eyes flickered and slid away from mine.
"We're talking about your resignation right now. If you want to discuss personal feelings, save it for after work."
"And what if I insist on discussing it now?" I pressed, refusing to let it drop.
He didn't even have the nerve to meet my eyes anymore.
"Maud, don't put Sebastian in a difficult spot, all right?"
Letitia cut in out of nowhere.
"Sebastian's a famous entrepreneurial genius all over Ridgeport. You have no idea how many women are angling for him."
"You're his subordinate. You really shouldn't be getting ideas above your station."
I listened to all of it in silence. Sebastian still didn't dare say anything.
Or rather, letting Letitia speak for him was already his answer.
"Sebastian, I must have been blind. I saw you completely wrong."
"Every figure, contract, and file for the sales department is in this office. Bring in a professional and they can take over the work fine."
"And one last thing. What I sent HR was a notice of resignation."
I shouldered my bag and headed for the door.
"So what if it's a resignation notice? Does a resignation notice make you right?"
Letitia demanded it while reaching out to grab me.
I turned and slapped her across the face.
"Trash like you, and people were fighting over you?"
The office went silent.
第3章
Letitia clutched her cheek, first staring at me in disbelief, then throwing herself into Sebastian's arms with her eyes red.
"Sebastian, she hit me. She actually dared to hit me!"
Sebastian patted her back gently to soothe her.
"I'll make her apologize to you right now."
One hand pressed against the door handle, he snapped at me, his face cold.
"Maud Henson, how did I never notice this? When did you turn so crude and vicious?"
"Letitia is the company's new vice president. Apologize to her this instant—"
"And if I don't?"
I cut him off and threw it right back at him.
"Want to bet I go to the press? That you drove out one of your company's founding veterans for the sake of your precious first love?"
"Sebastian, let me tell you something. This company didn't get where it is because of you alone."
I didn't spell it out too plainly.
The company had always resold bank products, and its core competitive edge was the sales team.
Put simply, this company could survive without a boss, but it could never survive without sales.
"That's really funny. Don't tell me you think you're the core of this company?"
Letitia was still there fanning the flames, though Sebastian wasn't entirely without a brain.
"I know you've contributed a great deal to the company, but Letitia is an industry professional I hired at a high salary too."
"And rules matter most in a company. If you don't apologize to her today, I promise you won't see a single cent of your pay."
That was the brainless thing he actually said.
I took a step forward and lifted his hand off the handle.
"Sebastian, when you handed that apartment to Letitia as a reward, did you spare a thought for the rules?"
I pushed the door open slowly, not a shred of expectation for him left in my heart.
"On the business side, you're the one who broke the contract first!"
"And on the personal side, what that apartment means to me… you know perfectly well."
"As for that meager salary of mine, you don't have to pay it. Just be ready to face the consequences."
My sophomore year, a fire tore through my family's old apartment complex. My parents died in it, and I was left an orphan.
Back then I drifted through the days in a daze, with no will left to keep living.
Then Sebastian, all sunshine and warmth, burst into my life.
He pulled me out of the darkness and let me see light again.
At the time, I believed he would be the faith and the anchor of my whole life.
"Maud Henson, if you leave, don't ever think about coming back!"
Humiliated into a rage, Sebastian shouted at me from behind.
I didn't turn my head. I just waved a hand.
Under everyone's stunned stares, I walked out of the company alone.
For four straight years before this one, I'd been the top sales champion, and by then I'd wanted to take a break.
But right after the New Year, Sebastian had come to find me.
"I bought an apartment at Haven Residences as this year's reward for the sales champion. What do you think?"
I'd looked at him, suddenly overjoyed.
"Then this year's champion is definitely going to be me."
The fire had paid out compensation back then, and the old complex, riddled with too many problems, was torn down and rebuilt.
It became what was now Haven Residences.
I'd thought this was a surprise Sebastian was giving me, because the title was mine and no one else's.
But that one scene at the company party finally drove the two of us onto separate roads.
Facing the cold wind, I wiped away tears I hadn't noticed falling.
Goodbye, Sebastian.
I took a cab back to my rented place, packed my things simply, and checked out.
The landlord smiled and asked me where I was off to make my fortune.
I thought about it, then told him.
"I'm going home. Back to my own home."
第4章
On the way to the sales office, I transferred five hundred thousand from my brokerage account into my debit card. That left a little over five hundred thousand in it.
The sales manager took me through Haven Residences. Back at the office, I placed the order without hesitation.
When it came time to pay, the manager hesitated, but he made himself say it.
"There's something I have to be upfront with you about. Years ago, there was a fire here—"
I cut him off with a smile.
"I know. Just run the card."
The things everyone else shied away from, I missed every waking moment.
Old Mr. Wang, Old Mrs. Zhang.
And my mom and dad.
Haven Residences, Unit 208.
I directed the movers, guiding each piece of furniture and every appliance into place.
Lying on the bed, looking across the room at my parents' memorial, I felt a peace I couldn't measure.
A little past seven that night, I went out to buy groceries.
I'd barely reached the bottom of the building when I ran into Sebastian and Letitia, arms linked, deep in conversation.
As I passed them, Letitia's face lit with that told-you-so look.
"See, Sebastian? Wasn't I right?"
I stopped, puzzled, and caught the venom in her voice.
"Our sales director keeps her distance from you in public, but behind the scenes? I'm sure she just can't stop chasing after you."
"Enough."
Sebastian cut her off, annoyed, then turned to me, his voice serious.
"Maud, if you regret this, come find me at the company. Don't follow me around in private."
"You haven't sunk so low you've lost all sense of decency, have you?"
I looked at the two of them, almost amused.
One, a man drunk on his own success, sure of everything.
The other, a pretty vase, all polish outside and rot within.
"Sebastian, I'm not part of the company anymore. I go where I please, and you have no right to ask."
I dropped the line and started to walk off.
"Stay right there!"
Sebastian came after me and grabbed my arm, hard.
"There's a limit to how far a joke can go. I expect to see you at the company tomorrow morning. Otherwise you know exactly what happens!"
His grip hurt. I wrenched free and looked at him coldly.
"After all these years, have you ever once seen me backtrack?"
"Right now I honestly feel sorry for you, and for myself. You're not the man you used to be, and there's no way I'm ever going back!"
"Well said!" Letitia came over, clapping.
She planted herself between me and Sebastian, contempt in her eyes.
"But please stop saying things like that out in public. People might get the wrong idea, like there was actually something between you and Sebastian."
I stared at Letitia's wrist and, for a moment, went blank.
She was still lecturing me.
"Without the platform Sebastian built, without his family's business connections, what does it matter how good a saleswoman you are?"
"The one thing a person needs is to know their own place. Don't let your desires go to your head and do something you'll regret for the rest of your life."
By the end, the threat in Letitia's words was impossible to miss.
But I wasn't listening.
The next moment I seized her wrist and, like something had snapped in me, wrenched that jade bracelet off her arm.
By the time she came to her senses, I was cradling the bracelet in my hands, shaking as I looked at Sebastian.
"Why? Why is the only thing my mother left me on her wrist?"
"Sebastian! You tell me why!"
Sebastian stood there, too ashamed to speak.
Letitia's hand shot toward me. I stepped back, but too late.
The next second the bracelet hit the ground and broke into pieces.
Letitia scrambled behind Sebastian, panic all over her face.
"Sebastian, I didn't mean to."