The man she abandoned is the boss now
Chapter 3 - What He Built Without Her
Ethan did not become wealthy overnight.
His first major contract arrived four months after Vanessa left.
The company received enough money to survive.
Not enough to make him rich.
So he kept working.
One year later, Blake Technologies signed a national distribution chain.
Then another.
Then an investment group offered Ethan fifteen million dollars for the company.
He refused.
Everyone called him insane.
Eighteen months later, the company was valued at more than one hundred million.
By then Vanessa had become something Ethan rarely thought about.
Not because the breakup stopped hurting.
Because eventually success taught him something.
Vanessa had not left because he was poor.
She left because she believed a person's value depended on what they could immediately provide her.
If she had stayed, Ethan realized, success would never have fixed that.
It would only have hidden it.
At the gala, Ethan changed shirts.
When he returned, Ryan was waiting outside his private office.
“Mr. Blake.”
“Ryan.”
“I'm sorry about Vanessa.”
Ethan opened the door.
“You didn't throw the champagne.”
“No, but—”
“Then don't apologize for somebody else's behavior.”
Ryan hesitated.
“She told me what happened between you.”
Ethan looked at him.
“What version?”
Ryan almost smiled.
“That she left because you had no ambition.”
Ethan laughed.
That was new.
“I was working eighteen hours a day.”
“I figured.”
Ethan sat down.
Ryan remained standing.
Then Ethan noticed something.
“Why are you nervous?”
Ryan hesitated.
“There's something else.”
He placed a folder on the desk.
Ethan opened it.
Inside were expense reports.
Hotel charges.
Luxury dinners.
Car services.
Private shopping appointments.
All billed to Ryan's corporate account.
Ethan looked up.
“What's this?”
Ryan's face tightened.
“Vanessa told me everyone at my level did it.”
Ethan's expression became serious.
“How much?”
“About eighty thousand this year.”
“Company money?”
Ryan nodded.
Ethan leaned back.
Now he understood why Vanessa's lifestyle looked so impressive.
It wasn't funded by Ryan's salary.
It was partly funded by Ethan's company.
The irony was almost perfect.
Five years earlier, Vanessa mocked Ethan for being unable to afford expensive restaurants.
Now she was eating at them using money from the company he built.
“Did you know this violated policy?”
Ryan looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
Ryan took a breath.
“Because she kept saying I needed to look successful.”
Ethan stared at him.
He knew that sentence.
Different words.
Same poison.
Vanessa had once done exactly the same thing to him.
Make more.
Look richer.
Become someone worth showing off.
Ryan had simply reached the part Ethan escaped five years earlier.
Ethan closed the folder.
“Finance will review everything.”
Ryan's face fell.
“I understand.”
“And you'll reimburse what you owe.”
“Yes.”
Ethan paused.
“Then we'll decide whether you still have a job.”
Ryan nodded.
He turned toward the door.
Then stopped.
“Mr. Blake?”
“Yes?”
“Was she always like this?”
Ethan thought for a moment.
“No.”
Ryan looked surprised.
Ethan continued.
“Maybe I just didn't want to see it.”
