He Cheated, I Married His Fearsome Boss

Chapter 2

After leaving the Shaw residence, I went straight to the hospital.

My mother's surgery had been successful, and she was recovering well.

I had breakfast with her, then took a cab to Shaw Group.

I might have asked for a divorce, but a few of my personal belongings were still in the executive office.

More importantly, I wanted to see the supposedly love-at-first-sight encounter from the novel with my own eyes.

An intense argument was already raging inside when I pushed open the door.

"Mr. Shaw, I'll say it again. The figures in this report are wrong!"

A young woman in a leather jacket and high ponytail was pounding on Adrian's desk.

An unlit cigarette hung from her lips, and defiance was written across her face.

This was Chloe Lane.

In the original novel, she was the spirited heroine Adrian found irresistible.

Adrian sat behind his desk with a deep frown.

In the past, anyone who dared to pound on his desk would already have been dragged out by security. Now, instead of losing his temper, he looked intrigued.

"Chloe, do you know who you're talking to?" His voice was cold, but there was very little anger in it.

"I don't care who you are. I care about the figures!" Chloe slammed the report onto the desk. "If you think I can't do the job, fire me right now. I don't need this job!"

She turned to leave and nearly collided with me in the doorway.

She looked me up and down, her gaze settling on my plain white shirt and jeans.

"So you're Mr. Shaw's legendary wife, the one who's too scared to breathe around him?" One eyebrow lifted, contempt plain on her face. "You're pretty, I'll give you that. Too bad you're a puppet without a soul. I could never wait on a man the way you do. A woman should depend on herself."

I almost laughed.

Depend on herself?

In the novel, her version of independence involved climbing straight to the top on every opportunity Adrian handed her.

"You're right. You could never be like me." I smiled faintly.

"Most people don't have the unique talent to mistake bad manners for honesty and ignorance for personality."

Chloe's face changed.

"Who are you calling rude?!" Her eyes went wide like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"If the shoe fits. And judging by that reaction, it does." I walked around her and entered the office.

Adrian watched me with a complicated look.

"What are you doing here? You were so defiant last night. Regretting it already?"

I ignored him, went to my old desk, and took out a cardboard box.

"I'm here for my things." I placed several professional textbooks in the box. "And just a reminder—it's 9:30. Time to go to the clerk's office."

Adrian's face darkened.

He glanced at Chloe, who was still standing in the doorway, and clearly felt humiliated.

"Do you have to make a scene in front of an outsider?"

"A scene?" I lifted the box and turned to him.

"I'm informing you, Adrian. If you don't show up today, my attorney will send the divorce agreement to your desk tomorrow."

Chloe folded her arms and snorted.

"Looks like trouble at home, Mr. Shaw. Not that I'm surprised. What woman could stand a control freak like you?"

She watched us with undisguised amusement.

Adrian's attention immediately shifted to her. Instead of arguing, he seemed impressed by her nerve and bluntness.

Watching them make eyes at each other turned my stomach.

The original plot certainly had a powerful pull.

"Mr. Shaw." I cut into their little moment. "Since you admire your new secretary so much, why not let her handle this afternoon's contract negotiation with Mr. Bennett?"

Adrian froze.

The Bennett deal was one of the company's most important projects that month, and I had handled every stage of the preparation.

He eyed me warily. "What are you getting at?"

"Exactly what I said." I stopped at the doorway.

"I've resigned, so whatever happens next has nothing to do with me. Ms. Lane is talented enough to slam a report on her boss's desk on her first day. I'm sure one little contract won't be a problem."

I turned to Chloe with a faint smile.

"Don't let Mr. Shaw down, Ms. Lane."

As expected, she lifted her chin.

"Don't worry about me. I'll do a better job than some pretty ornament who only knows how to serve coffee."

I said nothing else. I carried my box out of Shaw Group.

In the novel, Adrian had taken me to this negotiation.

Mr. Bennett was an old-school businessman who cared deeply about etiquette and decorum. Someone like Chloe was a disaster in his eyes.

Without me there to clean up after them, I looked forward to seeing how their little show played out.

Outside the building, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

"Hello, Attorney Wilson? Please draw up a divorce agreement for me."