He Gave Me a Beaded Toy Car and Bought Her a Luxury Car Chapter 04

He Gave Me a Beaded Toy Car and Bought Her a Luxury Car Chapter 04

Tristan walked toward me with Faye on his arm. She was still wearing the veil brides wear for courthouse wedding photos. They’d clearly been doing a photo shoot.

His eyes flickered with panic when he saw my expression.

“It’s not what it looks like. I’m just helping Vivian rehearse for her own courthouse ceremony. Her boyfriend’s long-distance.”

The people around us kept complimenting them on what a great couple they made. He didn’t correct a single one.

“I asked you a question. Why are you here?” He cleared his throat and gave me a suspicious look.

Before I could answer, Faye nudged him and pointed. “Tristan, aren’t those Nadia’s team members? Why aren’t they at work? What are they planning?”

Tristan’s face darkened.

My team waved at me from across the street. They were ready. I signaled for them to wait at the restaurant. I’d wrap things up with Tristan first.

But Faye beat me to it. “Your whole department is skipping work? That’s a direct violation of company policy. I’m docking this month’s entire performance bonus.”

Tristan turned to me, frowning. “You encouraged your employees to skip work? Do you realize I could call the police on you?!”

“Take your people back to the office right now. If you do, I’ll pretend this never happened.”

There it was again. The same old playbook. Threats on one side. Control on the other. He’d been using these tricks for years and never once got tired of them.

He was still rambling, about to threaten my team again, when one of them spoke up. “Mr. Hale, our boss already resigned. Using us against him won’t work anymore.”

Tristan’s eyes went wide. “So that phone call wasn’t a joke? You actually resigned?”

His face cycled through at least five different expressions. I almost laughed. He actually thought I was joking about resigning. I didn’t know whether he trusted me too much or just didn’t take me seriously at all.

“That’s right. You approved it yourself. I’m gone.”

Tristan couldn’t speak. He didn’t look relieved. He looked… lost.

Faye could barely hide her smirk. “Nadia, you’re overreacting. If there’s a problem, just talk to Tristan. You can’t just quit and leave him to deal with everything. That’s not fair to him.”

“Tristan, don’t worry. I’ll never leave you. I’ll always be by your side.”

Tristan stepped away from her, frowning. “Shut up. No one asked you.”

He turned back to me. “You really resigned? Think about what you’re doing. The company’s doing well right now. You really think you’ll find something better out there?”

“If this is about the demotion, I can undo it. You don’t need to pull the resignation card.”

I actually laughed out loud. He was so convinced I’d never leave. Even though I’d poured years of my life into that company, I wasn’t going to let it trap me.

“No thanks. You said it yourself—if I won’t do the job, plenty of others will.” I smiled at him. “And now Faye has an opening. Isn’t that exactly what you wanted?”

Tristan’s jaw tightened. He turned and snapped at my team. “What are you all still doing here? Get back to work! Otherwise you’ll lose this month’s bonus and next month’s too!”

My team didn’t even flinch. “No need to bother. We all resigned with our boss.”

“Tristan, they’re openly defying you,” Faye cut in. “Nadia got her whole department to quit in protest. If word gets out, it could cause a ripple effect.”

Tristan’s expression hardened. His voice came out tight. “Nadia, if you come back, I’ll tear up the resignation papers.”

“I’ll overlook your team’s mistakes. And I’ll even buy you that car you’ve been wanting.”

His sudden change of heart puzzled me. Shouldn’t he be thrilled? He’d agreed to divorce without hesitation. But the moment he found out I was leaving the company, he acted like a different person.

I pulled out my divorce decree and held it up.

“You asked what I’m doing here?”

“Look closely. I came to pick up my divorce decree.”