I pull my hand away.
“I can’t promise that,” I whisper. “You lied for years. I can understand that it was your secret to keep… your marriage. But I willneverunderstand how both of you tried to manipulate me into forgiving Colin. How you’re both still lying even after everything came to light. I don’t know you anymore. Maybe I never did.”
Then I walk toward the door. With every step I take away from them, something inside me begins to lift.
Outside, the cold air doesn’t touch me. Not when I already feel frozen from the inside out. I look up at the sky, gray clouds swallowing most of it, and still, I make a wish.
I close my eyes and beg that this will be the last time my heart ever has to break.
Colin
I know the moment I step into the boardroom that it’s over.
Not the company—it’ll survive, maybe even thrive without me—but me, one of the men who built it from nothing,I’m done.
The room is dead quiet. No one looks my way.
Even the ones who once called me a friend—men and women whose hands I’ve shaken through sleepless nights and near-collapses—keep their eyes fixed on the glass table instead. There was a time when walking into this room made me feel invincible. My name meant something. My decisions could shift markets.
But today, there’s only this dead weight in my chest. I know there’s nothing I can do to change what’s about to happen.
Jonathan clears his throat. “Colin… the board has reached a decision.”
I nod before he can continue.
I don’t need the speech. The scandal was too public. They don’t care about my marriage, but they care about what the headlines did to the firm.
Reputation risk. Investor confidence. Market stability. All the sterile words they use to dress up the fact that I’ve ruined everything.
And then, the final blow. The discovery of Maya’s involvement in corporate espionage during the final months of last year.
I can’t say Mark didn’t warn me. But I’d still do it all again. For Ceci, for our children.
I didn’t think twice before giving the orders—to IT, to Legal—and laying it all out for the board. I knew what was coming. The countdown started the moment they learned the truth; it was the perfect excuse to push me out.
The scene Maya caused in the lobby weeks ago, screaming that she’d lost our baby, didn’t change what was already dead. It only fed the gossip, the whispers in the hallways, and the judgment in every look that followed me.
I look at Jonathan, waiting for him to finish.
“Given the circumstances,” he says, each word carefully measured, “we believe it’s in everyone’s best interest if you… step down voluntarily. You can frame it as a personal decision, a chance to focus on your family. We’ll support the statement and ensure a smooth transition.”
His tone is diplomatic. But I can hear what he’s really saying:Leave now, before we drag you out.
For a long moment, I say nothing. I just look around and realize this is a small price to pay for what I’ve done—for my ego, for my selfishness. Losing what was once my greatest achievement doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Not after losing my family.
So I agree.
Fighting would only make it uglier. And for once, I want to protect what actually matters. Ceci. Alicia. Ethan. The people I failed the most.
I take the pen. My hand doesn’t shake. Not because I’m steady, but because I’m numb. I sign the document that ends my career, and the sound of the pen on the paper feels like a verdict.
Hannah, the PR director, slides a draft toward me. It’s professional and painfully cold.
I read it once. Twice.
Then I pick up the pen again. And I rewrite it.
Official Statement from Colin Montgomery
