I Stopped Fighting For My Husband and He Panicked Chapter 10

“Vivian, remember that impossible client we used to deal with?” Hailey asked. “He actually approached me

about recruiting you for his company. But you know how it is. As your boss, I couldn’t exactly encourage you

to leave.”

She smiled.

“But things are different now. I called him and asked if the offer was still open. He said if you’re interested,

you can start tomorrow.”

And just like that, I somehow ended up at a new company.

The difficult client was named Ethan. He was a typical fashion-industry workaholic, obsessively particular about everything and notoriously short-tempered.

Apparently, he had no mercy when it came to giving people nicknames. If he thought someone’s name was too hard to remember, he’d simply make up a new one and call them that instead.

The moment he saw me, he pointed with the freshly manicured fingers of his new sheer-blue manicure at the mountain of clothes piled up behind me.

“Hey, you! Go rehang all those clothes. Organize them by color, season, and style. Now.”

Before I could even introduce myself, I was thrown headfirst into the miserable life of an overworked

employee.

I spent the entire day running around until closing time, when I finally got a chance to catch my breath.

Then Ethan appeared again.

“Don’t just stand there. The next batch of models is arriving any minute. Go meet them!”

I’d been working nonstop all day. By the time I finally finished everything, it was ten o’clock at night.

Exhausted and practically seeing black spots in front of my eyes, I went to find Ethan.

“Ethan, I don’t think I’m cut out for this job…”

“Hold on.” He abruptly interrupted me and stared at me with a deep frown for several seconds. “What was your name again?”

I froze.

“My name is Vivian.”

“No, I mean, what’s your name?” He waved a hand dismissively, apparently oblivious to what he’d just said.

I nearly choked.

“… Vivian is my name.”

Only then did Ethan’s face light up with sudden realization, as though he’d finally remembered that he’d

actually hired a new employee that morning.

“Oh, right! Vivian. Good work today. Here’s your overtime pay. Fashion Week is especially hectic right now, so

I’m going to need you to put in some extra hours.”

I stared at the thick stack of cash in his hand, my eyes practically bulging out of my head.

Six times the regular overtime rate?!

Even better benefits than Hayes Group!

Who had time to mope over a failed marriage when a job like this was waiting for me?

My new career, here I came!

Unfortunately, Tristan wasn’t enjoying nearly as much good fortune as I was.

The day he received the divorce papers, he drank himself into a stupor. Acting on impulse, he drove straight to Logan’s company and punched him without so much as a warning.

“I trusted you as a friend, Logan! And you went after my wife behind my back?!”

Logan didn’t fight back. He simply wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and let out a cold laugh.

“Tristan, you’ve been cheating on your wife for a year. What the hell gives you the right to accuse me?”

Tristan immediately shot back, refusing to admit he’d done anything wrong.

“When did I ever cheat? People at the company were spreading rumors that Ivy had gotten her job through

connections. I only started commuting with her to shut those rumors down!”

“I stayed at her place because it was convenient, and I bought her things because we’d known each other

since school. There’s absolutely nothing going on between us!”

Logan scoffed.

“Were the rumors really that far off? Ivy Vance has a degree from some overseas diploma mill, and her only

previous work experience was a brief stint as an accountant. Yet you parachuted her straight into a financial

secretary position. If that’s not pulling strings for her, what is?”

Tristan had no answer.

Logan’s smile turned even colder.

“Do you know why Vivian asked me to pretend to be her husband, Tristan? Because her male supervisor was

sexually harassing her, and the man who was supposed to stand by her was too busy protecting another woman. She had nowhere else to turn. Asking someone else for help was her only option.”

Tristan stood frozen.

A dull, crushing ache spread through his chest.

He couldn’t stop thinking about how sensitive and easily hurt Vivian had always been. How badly must he have let things get before she’d decided to endure everything in silence rather than tell him what was

happening?

He wanted nothing more than to see her, admit he’d been wrong, and beg her to forgive him.

But he never got the chance.

On his way to find me, he was pulled over for drunk driving. His blood alcohol concentration was a

staggering 0.23%, and he was taken to the county jail to sober up.

I knew nothing about any of this.

All I could think about was how quickly the divorce had gone through. Tristan hadn’t even needed to show up

in person at the county courthouse.

The day I received my divorce decree, I’d also just been assigned a new project at work. I was now

responsible for coordinating a runway show during Fashion Week for an independent designer.

And, as luck would have it, the people I needed to work with were the same editors-in-chief from those

fashion magazines.

I was a nervous wreck.

Ethan, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed.

“Vivian, use your skills to prove them wrong! Make them eat their prejudice for breakfast!”

As it turned out, prejudice was a hell of a lot harder to overcome than I’d expected.

The editors still thought I was unprofessional and weren’t particularly interested in taking me seriously.

Fortunately, there was a cocktail party that evening.

I grabbed a drink and tried to mingle with them, hoping to build better relationships. The problem was, I had

absolutely no idea what to say.

Just then, Ethan appeared beside me.

“Vivian, do you know the fastest way to break the ice with people without coming across as annoying?”

I shook my head.

“No idea…”

Ethan sighed dramatically.

“Oh, sweetheart. Use that pretty little brain of yours! Think about the juicy drama in your own life. Then think about who these people know. Surely you can put two and two together!”

Suddenly, it clicked.

I immediately walked over to the editors with my drink in hand.

“Excuse me. I wanted to clear up what happened at that project kickoff meeting when I was still at Hayes Group. The blank PowerPoint presentation was actually because of my husband’s first love. Oh, wait. He’s my ex-husband now…”

That night, I ended up chatting with the clients so comfortably that I lost track of time. Before long, the walls

between us had started to come down, and my project moved forward without a hitch.

I glanced out the window at the moon, a genuine smile spreading across my face.