His Intern Kissed Him, So I Destroyed His Company Chapter 01

His Intern Kissed Him, So I Destroyed His Company Chapter 01

The company missed its first-quarter performance target.

My fiancé, Ethan, was one of the company’s partners. To honor a bet, he lay on the carpet while Sophia, the new blonde intern, did fifty push-ups with her body hovering directly over his.

In front of the entire staff, Ethan saw nothing wrong with it. He stayed sprawled on the carpet, smiling while everyone hooted and made suggestive comments.

Sophia was blonde and wore a tight workout tank top. She deliberately drew out every repetition.

Even when he saw my expression turn cold, Ethan acted as if he could not care less.

“I’m leading by example and taking my punishment, Erin. Stop being such a prude. This isn’t the last century.”

My hands slowly clenched into fists.

“Does leading by example include the two of you kissing at the end too?”

He frowned impatiently.

“Did we even kiss?”

“She lost her strength and fell. Her lips happened to brush mine. That was all.”

“It was just an office game. Did you have to make a scene and embarrass everyone?”

“If you can’t handle it, leave. Stop ruining everyone else’s fun.”

He was convinced that after investing all my savings and five years of my life into the company, I would never truly walk away.

What he did not know was that once he crossed a line I could not accept, I would walk away from both the company I had built with my own hands and the man I had once loved with all my heart.

…

“Erin, Ethan was only trying to help the team relax. Don’t blame him.”

Sophia walked over to Ethan, widened her blue eyes, and put on an innocent expression.

“If you have to blame someone, blame me. I lost my strength and fell on him. I honestly didn’t mean to touch him.”

Her words sounded apologetic, but the triumph in her eyes was impossible to miss.

The employees around us kept glancing between the three of us.

Ethan stepped in front of Sophia and glared at me.

“How much longer are you going to keep attacking us?”

“Our first-quarter performance dropped, and everyone has been under a lot of pressure. What’s wrong with playing a game?”

“Sophia is fresh out of college, and even she knows how to step up and take responsibility for the team. What have you done besides stand there and make everyone uncomfortable?”

I stared at the man I had been with for five years, the man I was supposed to marry next month, and suddenly felt as though I had never truly known him at all.

“So that’s how she takes responsibility? By doing push-ups on top of you?”

“Ethan, I’m the company’s CTO and your fiancée.”

“Did you ever stop to think about how this would make me feel?”

He let out a mocking laugh and folded his arms across his chest.

“Don’t use our engagement to make me back down at work. Performance comes before feelings in this company.”

“The main reason we missed our quarterly target was that the new system developed by engineering responded too slowly and held up sales.”

“Sophia may only be an intern, but her social media plan helped the company recoup a significant portion of its losses. What’s wrong with rewarding her and standing up for her?”

What he said was the complete opposite of the truth.

The new system was slow because Ethan had diverted the server upgrade budget without authorization and used it to buy Sophia a top-of-the-line workstation worth twenty thousand dollars.

She had the best computer, the most comfortable chair, and the finest desk in the entire company.

He claimed Sophia needed it to edit promotional videos.

I forced myself to remain calm.

“You know better than anyone where the server budget went.”

Ethan’s expression tightened for a split second before his impatience returned.

“Are you questioning me, Erin?”

“I’m the CEO. I decide how the company spends its money.”

“You keep hounding me over one minor budget decision. No wonder you’ve been here five years and still haven’t learned how to manage anything.”

Sophia immediately tugged at his sleeve.

“Ethan, maybe I should return the workstation.”

She bit her lip and deliberately softened her voice, sounding painfully fake.

“I don’t want to come between you two. Oh my God, this is awful. I’ll feel guilty about it forever.”

“Return it? For what?”

Ethan’s voice turned firm.

“It’s yours.”

He gave me a cold look, then turned to address the entire staff.

“Since engineering had the worst first-quarter results, Erin will forfeit this month’s bonus.”

“Sophia, on the other hand, has performed exceptionally well. Effective today, she will become my executive assistant, and her salary will be doubled.”

A few scattered claps came from the crowd.

After making the announcement, Ethan led Sophia toward the CEO’s office.

Just before the door closed, Sophia looked back at me and gave me an unmistakably triumphant smile.