My CEO’s Wife Canceled My Flight Then Lost Everything Chapter 04

My CEO’s Wife Canceled My Flight Then Lost Everything Chapter 04

The slap was hard enough to send Vanessa stumbling two steps backward.

She covered her cheek and stared at him.

“You hit me?”

Grant’s voice shook.

“Bluewater disqualified us.”

“I know, but I did it for you…”

“That was a billion dollars!”

His roar silenced the entire floor.

“Three months of work. A fifty-million-dollar bid bond. Credit facilities from three banks. And two follow-on

Bluewater projects.”

“Vanessa, you may have crippled this company because you were ‘doing it for me’?”

Tears filled her eyes.

She still looked indignant.

“I canceled two plane tickets. It’s not like I burned the company down.”

“Claire is your assistant. Isn’t fixing problems literally her job?”

“Isn’t she supposed to be so competent? Why couldn’t she fix it this time?”

I stared at her.

That was the ugliest thing about Vanessa.

She blew up the bridge herself.

Then she demanded to know why I couldn’t cross it.

Grant turned toward me.

His eyes were cold.

“Claire. Conference room.”

Ethan immediately stepped in front of me.

“Grant, Claire spent the entire morning trying to save the deal. The cancellation records, the authorization

letter, the proposal…”

“Enough.”

Grant barely glanced at him.

“You’re still on probation, aren’t you?”

Ethan went pale.

But this time, he didn’t move.

I touched his arm.

“I’ll go.”

Inside the small conference room, Vanessa was still crying as she pointed at me.

“It was her.”

“She was putting eye drops in your eyes last night. Then today she deliberately ruined the project. She

wanted to make you think I’m some terrible person.”

“Grant, she’s manipulating you. She’s doing this to punish me.”

Grant didn’t contradict her.

He simply pushed a document across the table.

The title read:

STATEMENT REGARDING THE BLUEWATER BID FAILURE

The first line said:

“Due to my negligence, I failed to verify travel and presentation arrangements, resulting in Horizon’s failure to

appear for its scheduled presentation.”

I looked up.

“Grant, you know this wasn’t my fault.”

His answer came without hesitation.

“I know.”

Cold spread down my back.

“Then why are you asking me to sign it?”

He rubbed his forehead.

His voice was almost gentle.

“Because we cannot go to investors and say the CEO’s wife tanked a billion-dollar deal out of jealousy.”

“Investors won’t accept that. The banks won’t accept it. The board won’t accept it.”

“But they’ll accept pinning it on an executive assistant?”

Grant looked straight at me.

“You’re an assistant, Claire.”

Vanessa immediately jumped in.

“Exactly. You’re the obvious person to take the fall.”

Grant opened his folder and pulled out a check.

“Five million dollars.”

“Sign the statement. Resign. I’ll have a recruiter find you another job.”

I didn’t touch it.

His voice hardened.

“Claire, your parents run a small grocery store back home. Your younger brother starts college applications

next year.”

“If Legal comes after you for the full loss, can your family survive that?”

My stomach twisted.

He had done this in my last life too.

Grant always knew how to sound civilized.

And when he wanted something, he knew exactly where to find the softest place to cut.

Vanessa saw my silence and smiled again.

“Scared?”

“Claire, girls from small towns like yours should know when to stop fighting.”

I pushed the pen back across the table.

“I want to speak to the board.”

For the first time, Grant’s expression changed.

“You think you can demand a meeting with the board?”

“I’m not asking.”

I took out my phone.

Then I hit play.

The airline representative’s voice filled the room.

“The cancellation request was submitted by Vanessa Whitmore. The note reads, ‘No unnecessary

one-on-one business travel with employees of the opposite sex.”

Vanessa lunged at me.

“You recorded that?”

At that moment, the conference room door opened.

Richard Lawson stood outside.

Three board members and the General Counsel were behind him.

He looked furious.

“Let her play it.”