I Stopped Fighting For My Husband and He Panicked Chapter 05

I immediately ducked my head like a frightened rabbit and pulled up a document, pretending to be hard at

work.

It wasn’t guilt. It was a survival instinct every employee developed sooner or later.

Getting caught slacking off by your boss was terrifying. Who wouldn’t panic?

But the worst part was yet to come.

Tristan took a deep breath before delivering his sentence.

“Vivian, come to my office. Now.”

My soul practically left my body.

Paige looked at me with concern. “Vivian, do you want me to come with you and apologize to Mr. Hayes? I

was the one who dragged you into slacking off, so why is he only calling you in? Do you think Ivy got in his

ear?”

I couldn’t exactly tell her the truth. What was I supposed to say? That Tristan Hayes was my husband of five

years, and we’d been secretly married the entire time?

In the end, I could only reassure her. “Don’t worry. Mr. Hayes isn’t the type to mistreat his employees. He’s

probably still calling me in to discuss the gift situation.”

I followed Tristan to the top floor of the building.

It was only my second time in his office.

The first time, I’d sneaked up here to beg him to go public with our marriage.

When Hailey found out, she’d given me an earful, calling me hopelessly stupid for daring to enter the CEO’s

office when I was one of the lowest-ranking employees in the company.

I’d been so upset that I couldn’t even defend myself. I’d cried my eyes out until Hailey finally gave up trying to scold me and bought me dessert to cheer me up.

And what had Tristan been doing while all that was happening?

He’d been too busy giving Ivy a chance to pad her resume by bringing her into his most important project to

spare me a second thought.

Remembering that, I stood obediently in front of his desk and asked, “Mr. Hayes, was there something you

needed? If not, I’d like to get back to work.”

Tristan’s face darkened.

“Vivian, don’t you have anything to explain?”

I genuinely had no idea what he wanted me to explain, so I honestly shook my head.

He looked ready to have an aneurysm.

Unable to take it anymore, he stood up, wanting to pull me into his arms and kiss me senseless, just like he

used to. Then he’d ask if I’d forgotten who my husband was.

But the moment he approached me, before he could even reach out, I recoiled as if he’d turned into some

terrifying monster.

Tristan froze. A flicker of hurt crossed his eyes.

He closed them briefly before asking, “Vivian, what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

I laughed awkwardly, trying to smooth things over.

“Mr. Hayes, we’re still keeping our marriage a secret. Someone could walk into your office at any moment. It wouldn’t look good if we got caught, so we need to keep our distance.”

In reality, no one would dare barge into Tristan’s office. Even the highest-ranking secretary had to call ahead and get permission before entering.

Ivy was the only exception.

Tristan wasn’t stupid. He knew I was making excuses. He was just about to lose his temper when he remembered how I’d stood in front of him before, eyes red and full of hurt.

His expression softened a little.

Then, out of nowhere, he said, “Vivian, let’s make our marriage public.”

“No!”

The word flew out of my mouth before I could stop it.

If Tristan had suggested going public shortly after I’d joined the company, I would’ve been over the moon.

Now, all I felt was secondhand embarrassment.

If we revealed that we’d been secretly married for five years, I’d have to explain my situation with Logan and endure the judgmental stares of everyone at work.

I’d struggled with my projects, and my husband hadn’t lifted a finger to help me.

I’d been sexually harassed, and my husband had done absolutely nothing.

Worst of all, my own husband had consistently favored his first love, Ivy Vance, over me, his actual wife.

Just thinking about it made me want to crawl under a rock and never come out.

Besides, Tristan and Ivy had been the golden couple of their college days. Everyone knew their history, and

practically everyone thought they belonged together.

There was even a little fan group at work dedicated to shipping them. Its members posted updates about the

two of them every single day.

If I went public with our marriage, I’d break so many shippers’ hearts!

With that in mind, I repeated myself, more firmly this time.

“Absolutely not. We cannot go public!”

Tristan’s eyes widened with fury.

“You really don’t want anyone at this company to know I’m your husband?”

It was incredibly difficult to explain the world of a low-level employee to someone at the very top of the

corporate ladder.

I could only reply, irritation creeping into my voice, “What good would it do me if everyone knew you were my husband? It would only make my job harder!”

“Your job?” Tristan snapped. “What the hell has gotten into you lately? All you ever think about is work! Are you planning to spend the rest of your life married to your job?”

That sounded like a blessing straight from heaven.

With unemployment rates through the roof, landing a job at Hayes Group with regular nine-to-five hours,

weekends off, full health insurance, a 401(k), and guaranteed overtime pay for extra hours and holiday shifts was practically the corporate equivalent of winning the Mega Millions jackpot.

And he was telling me I could keep that job for the rest of my life!

What more could a girl ask for?

The moment Tristan saw the delighted smile spreading across my face, he looked ready to black out from

sheer rage.

I was pretty sure he was seriously considering strangling me.