When He Learned I Was Abused, My CEO Ex Lost It! Chapter 01

When He Learned I Was Abused, My CEO Ex Lost It! Chapter 01

To avoid overtime, I built myself a persona.

A hopeless romantic.

Married young.

With a one-and-a-half-year-old kid.

I had to leave work on time every day to go home, cook, and take care of the baby. Otherwise, my hot-tempered darling husband would flip tables, smash plates, and beat me too.

That whole act was basically workplace performance art, and it worked so well that I became a legend at the company.

Everyone else stayed until midnight.

I clocked out at five-thirty sharp.

Everyone else got dragged in on weekends to redo proposals.

I hugged my thermos and said with a tired face that I had to go home and braise oxtail for my husband.

Everyone else fought for promotions.

I only cared about whatever work was already on my desk.

I didn’t compete.

I didn’t grab.

I didn’t hustle.

My coworkers all liked me.

First, because a woman whose whole life revolved around her husband and kid usually didn’t look threatening.

Second, because everyone assumed my life was kind of pathetic.

My arms were always scratched up. I sometimes showed up with dark circles under my eyes. And in meetings, I’d randomly zone out and stare into space, looking like some fragile little flower swaying in the wreckage of a ruined marriage.

Of course, the scratches came from my cat.

The dark circles came from drinking with my best friend.

And the zoning out happened because I stayed up too late the night before watching videos of hot male models.

Still, people lived by the identities they gave themselves.

And mine was flawless.

I honestly thought I could ride that persona all the way to retirement.

Then one day, our company got acquired.

And the new boss they dropped in was my ex-boyfriend.

…

Adrian Kane.

The second I heard that name, I was in the break room chewing on a bagel.

I almost choked to death.

Ten minutes later, the whole company got called into the open office for a meeting.

I stood at the very back of the crowd, wishing I could disappear into my puffer coat.

To keep up my married-mom image, I was dressed the same way I always dressed for work.

Long black puffer.

Gray hoodie.

Floral kitchen sleeves still pulled over my arms.

I looked like I’d just fought somebody at Costco over discount eggs.

Then Adrian stepped out of the elevator with a line of assistants behind him, dressed like he belonged on the cover of some Wall Street magazine.

Tailored suit.

Expensive watch.

A face so handsome it almost felt hostile.

And that whole rich, powerful, everybody-look-at-me energy.

Compared to the broke guy from two years ago, the one who used to drag cheap takeout home and cling to me in our tiny Brooklyn apartment, he looked so expensive he was practically shining.

Everybody stared at him.

Then I sneezed.

Couldn’t help it.

His assistant’s perfume was way too strong.

Like some peacock in mating season.

The whole room turned to look at me.

Adrian looked too.

He narrowed his eyes at me for two seconds, like he was checking whether he’d recognized the right person.

Then he smiled.

It wasn’t nice.

If anything, it looked mean.

Like he was picking somebody to make an example out of.

“If I remember right,” he said, flipping through the employee file in his hand, “there’s only one person in this company who never works overtime.”

My eyelid twitched.

There it was.

The next second, he looked right at me.

“Miss Judy.”

“Is the company’s overtime package not good enough for you?”

“There’s extra pay, comp days, and car reimbursement.”

“Do you have some personal problem with company policy?”

The whole office went dead quiet.

Everybody was staring at me.

I stood there with a blank face, but inside I was already cursing him out.

You bastard.

First day back and you’re already using your ex as the target.

What a jerk.

“No, Mr. Kane.”

I answered calmly.

A senior coworker beside me saw where this was going and rushed out to save me.

“Mr. Kane, please try to understand. Judy really has it rough.”

My heart dropped.

Oh no.

Sure enough, the next second, that kindhearted woman rolled up my sleeve.

The fresh scrape on my arm got exposed on the spot.

In reality, I’d gone to a bar in heels the night before, gotten drunk, and wiped out on the stairs.

But right now, to everyone else, that definitely did not look like a drunk fall.

The woman put on a pained face and hesitated like she was holding back some huge secret.

“She has to get home on time every day to cook dinner for her husband and child.”

“If she gets home late… well.”

She let out one long, tragic sigh.

She didn’t finish the sentence.

She didn’t have to.

The whole office instantly filled with that awful vibe of wow, her life is so miserable.

I was so embarrassed my toes were curling inside my shoes.

But I’d told the lie myself, so now I had to commit.

I lowered my head, closed my eyes, and nodded like I was walking to my own execution.

“Yes.”

“If I don’t get home on time to cook, my husband beats me.”

The silence after that was so deep it felt haunted.

I looked up.

Straight into Adrian’s eyes.

And in that second, the expression on his face changed completely.

Like somebody had just smashed something right in front of him.

“Say that again.”

His voice was low.

Low enough to scare people.

I was already regretting it, but I still kept talking.

“I said I have to get home on time.”

“My husband has a bad temper.”

“Our child is still little. If I get home late, things fall apart at home.”

When I finished, the office went even quieter.

Adrian crushed the employee file in his hand until it wrinkled into a ball, veins standing out across the back of his hand.

A few coworkers nearby immediately jumped in to add more drama.

“Her husband’s terrifying.”

“I heard he’s crazy controlling.”

“She was late last time because he kept her up the whole night before. That man is insane in bed.”

“And the injuries on her hand—”

“That’s enough.”

Adrian cut them off so coldly the whole floor froze.

He stared at me, eyes sharp and freezing, but his face had gone pale in a way that looked almost scary.

“Everybody else, get back to work.”

“You.”

He lifted his chin at me, eyes locked on mine.

“Come with me.”

Me: “…”

I was screwed.

He believed me.