He Sacrificed My Career for Her—Then I Resigned Without Looking Back Chapter 05

At Monday’s morning meeting, Graham was five minutes late. That almost never happened.

When he walked into the conference room, Brooke was putting a client relationship plan up on the screen.

“Halcyon Group is planning to expand its brand overseas next quarter. I think we could make our legal

services feel a little warmer, so clients don’t feel so intimidated by their lawyers.”

A few people from the M&A group ducked their heads to hide a smile.

Once Graham sat down, the room went quiet at once.

Brooke glanced at him and kept going. “For example, we could make client birthdays, company

anniversaries, and big milestones into standard touchpoints.”

“Mr. Whitmore took me to meet Mr. Barrett at Halcyon last time, and I could tell they really go for that kind of

thing.”

I flipped through my trial calendar without looking up.

If anyone else had pitched a client plan like that, Graham would probably have asked about the budget, the

conversion rate, and who was responsible. But he only listened and asked two questions.

Brooke didn’t answer them well.

He finished the answer for her. “Keeping big-name clients happy isn’t only about delivering the work.

Someone has to keep checking in on how they feel too. We’ll run a trial, and Brooke will lead it.”

A few people around the table exchanged looks. I crossed an item off my Everstone to-do list.

After the meeting, everyone filed out.

Graham stopped me. “Iris, stay.”

Brooke slowed down as she packed up her laptop.

Graham glanced at her. “You can go.”

Brooke pressed her lips together. “Sure.”

Once the door closed, I held my folder against my chest.

Graham didn’t go back to his seat at the head of the table. He stood by the window instead. From the

twenty-seventh floor, the downtown business district of Kingsbury spread out below, packed tight, its glass

towers throwing back a cold glare.

He said, “You’ve been avoiding me for days.”

“My schedule’s full.”

“The driver said you didn’t go to the hospital.”

“The cut’s already healed.”

He turned to look at me. “Iris, do we really have to talk like this?”

I didn’t answer.

Graham pressed his fingers to his brow, as if he were finally forcing down some kind of patience.

“The review result is set, but it isn’t a final rejection. In six months, I’ll put you up again, and I’ll talk to Richard

too.”

“As for Brooke, she got the development seat, not a real partnership. You don’t need to make this into such a big deal.”

My arms tightened around the folder. The corners of the pages dug into my palm, a dull little ache.

“Is there anything else?”

Graham frowned. “You don’t have anything to ask me?”

“Like what?”

“Like why I recommended her, why I didn’t talk to you first, whether I have feelings for her.” His voice dropped

on the last one. “You always used to ask.”

So that was what he was waiting for. He was waiting for me to lay myself open in front of him like before

and wait for an explanation that always came late.

I looked at a mug ring on the conference table that hadn’t been wiped away. It was where Brooke had set her cup, a faint brown circle of coffee.

“I don’t need to ask anymore.”

Graham’s eyes changed. “What does that mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.”

He didn’t like that answer. He came a few steps closer and lowered his voice. “Iris, you’re allowed to be upset,

but don’t give me the cold shoulder to solve this.”

I nearly laughed. Coming from him, that sounded so ridiculous that it grated.

For seven years, every time I tried to talk to him, he’d blocked me with work, logic, calm, and silence. Now I’d stopped knocking, and he was complaining that it was too quiet outside his door.

I set the folder on the conference table and pulled out the top page.

“This is the Everstone staffing change. Tara can take over part of the pretrial work, and I’ll bring her to trial

with me.”

“The Kendall appeal materials are organized, and I’ll hand them to Lucas Reid next week. Daybreak is in the

enforcement stage, and I’ll upload the client correspondence to the system.”

Graham looked down at the pages. His face slowly went cold. “You’re handing off your cases?”

“Yes.”

“Who told you to do that?”

“I did.”

“Iris Kane.” Displeasure finally showed in his voice. “Are you trying to force me into giving up the seat this

way?”

I looked at him, and all of a sudden I felt exhausted.

“Mr. Whitmore, I’m submitting my resignation in the system this afternoon. I’m starting the handoff early so

the clients won’t be affected.”

The conference room went dead silent.

Traffic hummed somewhere outside the window, far away, like a tide on the other side of the glass.

Graham stared at me as if he hadn’t understood a word. After a long time, he finally spoke. “You’re quitting?”

“Yes.”

“Because of the review?”

“It’s a career decision.”

He laughed, with no warmth in it at all.

“You’ve been at this firm for eight years. Your team, your clients, and your book of business are all here. You’re leaving over a six-month deferral, and you think that reason holds up?”

“It holds up.”

“Has someone in Southport reached out to you?”

I didn’t deny it. His eyes finally darkened. “Since when?”

“Since the review.”

“So you were planning to leave all along.”

I pushed the staffing sheet toward him. “I’ll give thirty days’ notice, the way the process requires. I won’t drop

any cases, the clients won’t be left hanging, and the team won’t fall apart. You don’t have to worry.”

He looked at the sheet and didn’t say anything for a long time.

I walked around the conference table to leave. As I passed him, he suddenly caught my wrist. He didn’t grip hard, but it was enough to stop me.

“Iris, we’re talking about us, not some project exit.”

I looked down at his hand. There was no ring on his finger, and there wasn’t one on mine either.

We’d never had a single thing in public that proved we belonged to each other. Even this conversation had to

happen behind a closed conference room door, in low voices, hidden from everyone.

I pulled my hand free. “During work hours, we talk about my resignation.”

Graham’s hand froze in midair. I picked up my folder and walked out.

Tara was standing right outside the door. She’d obviously been about to knock and lost her nerve. She saw

me and held out a page at once. “Ms. Kane, the Everstone people are here. They want to go over trial strategy

with you first.”

“Take them to Conference Room Three.”

“Is Mr. Whitmore coming too?”

I looked back. Graham was still standing in the conference room with his back to the door, and the staffing

sheet lay on the table.

“No.”

At three that afternoon, I submitted my resignation in the firm’s system. The reason field allowed up to five

hundred characters. I only wrote one line: [Personal career plans.]

Once it went through, the system showed the approval chain, and the supervising partner who had to sign off

was Graham.

I looked at it once and closed the page.