Chapter 2
Hanging up the call, I glanced towards the coffee shop.
Charlotte once said she hated rich people and preferred a simple, real life.
So, for five years, I had hidden my true identity.
I pursued and married her under the guise of being a regular project manager at Zheng Corp, earning just a few thousand a month.
At the same time, to revive the nearly collapsed Zheng Corp, I secretly funneled many projects to them.
Zheng Corp, from an obscure small company, soared to become the well-known Zheng Group.
For Charlotte, I even stopped touching my bank accounts, working diligently, using every penny of my hard-earned salary to please her.
But later, her appetite grew, and the luxury items she brought home increased.
Yet she seemed to be convinced I was just a poor office worker, not even bothering to tell me the origin of those bags and jewelry.
Only later did I discover she was getting hot and heavy with that assistant who profited off my rage.
“Emily, look into two things for me.” My voice was eerily calm.
“First, the exact relationship between Charlotte Peterson and Kyle Miller; second, Kyle Miller’s financial movements over the past six months.”
Three days later, Emily placed the investigation report on my desk.
The photos showed Charlotte and Kyle kissing at a hotel entrance.
The bank statements showed that every time we argued, a mysterious sum of money would appear in Kyle’s account, its amount directly proportional to my level of anger.
“And this.” Emily handed me a USB drive.
“Mr. Miller attended a mystic gathering last month. He supposedly sought out some powerful system from a spiritual guru.”
I inserted the USB. In the video, Kyle was smugly showing off to a friend:
“That fool Sterling gets me rich the angrier he gets! Yesterday, he saw me getting close to Charlotte, and he instantly exploded, giving me half a million!”
A sharp pang of pain shot through my chest again, but this time, I smiled.
So that’s how it was.
This was the thing that killed me in my previous life.
An evil system that converted my emotions into money.
“Mr. Sterling, what are you planning…?”
“Give them enough rope to hang themselves. That’s ancient wisdom, learn it.” I closed my laptop, smiling.
The next morning, I stood before my walk-in closet, my fingers tracing the fabric of a long-forgotten custom-tailored suit.
Five years. This six-figure power suit was finally going to see the light of day again.
As I walked through the company’s revolving doors, the front desk receptionist’s coffee cup crashed to the floor.
“Mr. S-Sterling?” A new intern in the elevator gaped. “You’re…?”
I deliberately tugged at my cuff, revealing the gleaming Patek Philippe watch face. “What? Don’t you recognize me?”
The crowded elevator suddenly fell silent.
Someone whispered, “That watch alone could buy a house…”
“Just a knock-off.”
Mr. Hayes, the head of marketing, suddenly sneered. “He even skipped out on splitting the bill at our last team outing. Now he’s trying to act rich?”
“Mr. Hayes, perhaps you should focus on explaining that fifty thousand dollars in entertainment expenses from last month.”
I smiled, pressing the button for the executive floor, letting their scrutinizing gazes sweep over me.
When the elevator stopped on the 38th floor, laughter erupted behind me. “He’s definitely going to get chewed out. Ms. Peterson hates his cheap, struggling appearance!”
Pushing open the frosted glass door of the CEO’s office, I saw Charlotte sitting on Kyle’s lap, feeding him strawberries.
The moment she saw me, she sprang up as if she’d been electrocuted.
“Blake Sterling!”
She grabbed a folder and threw it at me. “Who gave you permission to come to the company dressed like that? If clients see us, they’ll think Zheng Corp is so pathetic, our managers can’t even afford decent suits!”