After He Betrayed Me, I Took His Company

Chapter 3

The next morning, Paul found that breakfast wasn't laid out on the table as usual.

He rummaged around the room irritably and asked, "Camila, where's my blue shirt?"

I was packing up a few of my old clothes, not even looking up. I replied, "I don't know. Look for it yourself."

He paused, looking at me in surprise.

I ignored him, continuing to unlink our shared accounts on my phone one by one.

In this so-called "relationship," he'd always leaned on his startup as the excuse to bleed me dry, every last expense run through my card. Which, honestly, made cutting him loose easy. Rent, utilities, the server bills for his company, I severed every one of them myself. Last of all, in that shared "entrepreneurial dream" folder of ours, I wiped out every future plan that had the word "us" in it.

【Clear All?】 I tapped Yes.

My phone buzzed. A text from Philip.

Philip: Ms. Stephens, control of Ridge Capital Partners, a Stephens Group subsidiary, has been signed over to you. Attached is the first document that needs your signature as Chairwoman.

The attachment was a letter of intent for an investment. The target: Paul's cash-strapped little company, Singularity Technology.

At the same time, I pulled up the digital seating chart for the gala and deleted my name from the "Family" section. In Paul's head, the whole night was still on exactly as planned. He just didn't know his date had already quietly backed out.

The next day, I stopped by the café on the ground floor of Paul's building. Officially, I was there to drop off some paperwork he'd left at home. The front desk staff all knew me, the "devoted wife" who'd shown up with a home-cooked lunch for their boss, Paul, day after day for three years straight.

I had just set down the file folder when a young woman eagerly came over. She said, "Camila, you look like you're glowing. Good news really agrees with you, huh? I heard the company is about to close its Series A round."

I shook my head and said, "I'm just here to drop something off."

"Oh, I see," the girl said, a little disappointed, but she quickly smiled again. "It doesn't matter. When his girlfriend gets here later, it'll be just the same. The boss will definitely be even happier."

Another employee, who had been slacking off, chimed in, "You said it! The boss and his girlfriend are basically the face of our company, brains and beauty!"

"Girlfriend, girlfriend..." That word made my ears ring. I turned my head and, through the café window, saw the girlfriend they were talking about. Claire. She was stepping out of a red Ferrari, wearing the season's latest Chanel suit. Paul quickly walked out of the building to greet her, carrying an insulated lunchbox, and handed it to her without a second thought.

The employees in the break room immediately started teasing him, "Mr. Gonzalez, another lovingly made breakfast for your girl?"

Paul smiled and didn't correct them. Not a single word.

His gaze swept across the street corner, and when it landed on me, it faltered. An investment manager from Ridge Capital Partners happened to walk over and asked curiously, "Mr. Gonzalez, who is this?"

For a split second, I still clung to a laughable sliver of hope. Hoping he would say, "This is my girlfriend."

However, Paul simply said in a flat tone, "Just a friend. She's always supported my work."

A friend. In the third year of our "shared struggle," before all these people who took it for granted that he and Claire were a couple, he'd casually dismissed me as just a friend. I clearly remembered that three years ago, the two of us crammed into a three‑hundred‑square‑foot rental, holding hands.

"Camila, once I succeed, I'll make sure everyone knows you're my woman, Paul's woman."

Back then, I thought he was promising me a future in his own way. Only now do I realize that hiding me away was a long‑term strategy. One aimed solely at me.

In the roadshow hall nearby, the final media rehearsal before the Series A funding round was about to begin. Claire's necklace was slightly askew. Paul walked over naturally, bent down, and carefully adjusted it into place. His movements were practiced and intimate, as if he had done them countless times before.

Claire looked up at him and complained, "The flash was so bright just now. My eyes are killing me."

Paul immediately turned to his assistant and said, "Let the media know, no flash. Her eyes are sensitive."

Then, he began adjusting the presentation slides for her, walking her through the process page by page. At that moment, the focus and tenderness in his eyes were the same ones I had seen countless times on Claire's social media.

After the rehearsal began, Claire took a sparkling object from her bag and waved it at the cameras. "This is Singularity's secret weapon, and a token of our sincerity in our partnership with Ridge Capital Partners!"

It was a custom USB drive, with two letters encrusted with diamond chips, C and P. Paul smiled as he took it and personally plugged it into the computer. The reporters instantly went wild.

"Are they making it official? C stands for Claire, and P is Paul, right?"

"Lock them up! I'm totally shipping this couple!"

I couldn't bear to watch anymore. I turned and left.