Reborn After The Betrayal, My Ex-Wife Begged For Mercy

I slaved away for months to close a mega-project with the National Design Institute, only for my wife to turn around and claim I was holding the company back. She handed all the credit over to her golden boy. Instead of blowing up, I laughed. In fact, I handed over my position as Chief Design Officer to him on the spot. "Since running projects is so exhausting, why don't you just take my title as Design Director too?" Everyone in the office thought I had completely lost my mind. None of them realized that the project was only ours because of my unique architectural style and deep industry connections. Without me, the project wouldn't just collapse—the entire company would burn to the ground. I woke up with a brutal hangover after entertaining a massive client late into the night. The moment I stepped into the office, a sickening scene greeted me. "Austin, our company couldn't have achieved this without you!" "You've worked so hard. Let's make a toast!" There was Claire, lifting her champagne glass with flushed cheeks, playfully linking arms with Austin in front of our cheering colleagues. After finishing the drink, Austin casually wrapped his arm around Claire’s waist. "Claire, as long as it helps you, no amount of hard work is too much for me." A sycophantic coworker immediately piped up to flatter them: "Austin, I've never seen Boss Hayes drink with anyone like that before. She clearly values you above everyone else!" "Austin's the real hero of the company today! Let's all raise our glasses to him!" Watching the festive mood in the office felt like a boulder crushing my chest. Today was Saturday. Claire and I were supposed to go to a nice restaurant to celebrate the launch of our new quarter. Yet when I woke up with a throbbing headache, she was nowhere to be found. If one of my team members hadn't casually texted me about the team party, I’d still be completely in the dark. At first, I thought she just wanted to let me sleep off the hangover. Only now, watching her sip champagne and cozy up to her long-time crush, Austin, did the reality hit me. She didn't forget. She deliberately excluded me. Austin turned around, caught sight of me, and feigned dramatic surprise: "Julian? What are you doing here so late?" "We thought you called in sick, so we started the meeting without you. My bad!" His words were polite, but the gloating in his eyes was unmistakable as he leaned even closer to Claire. Claire didn’t offer a single word of explanation. Instead, she frowned in irritation. "Julian, you reek of alcohol. You know how much I despise that smell! Besides, you knew today was the company celebration. Why are you just showing up?" "Since you're finally here, hand over the Institute project to Austin. That way your drinking won't ruin our biggest deal." Hand the National Design Institute project to Austin? That was a multi-million-dollar deal I spent six brutal months fighting for! It was an impossibly complex contract, with countless well-funded firms trying to tear a piece off for themselves. Our firm, Apex Design Group, was merely an ant compared to those corporate giants. I ran myself into the ground, schmoozing with city planners and industry chiefs, drinking until 3 AM and vomiting blood from gastric ulcers. Now, right at the finish line, Claire dismissed all my blood, sweat, and tears with a wave of her hand, handing my baby over to Austin. It was truly pathetic. Back when Claire decided she wanted to start an architectural firm, I didn't hesitate for a second. I walked away from my prestigious, tenured position at the National Design Institute, poured my entire life savings into her dream, and built this company from scratch with her. She had a background in accounting; she knew nothing about architecture, let alone how to grow a firm. Over the years, the entire burden fell on my shoulders. I was running sales, pitching clients, and pulling all-nighters over blueprints. I practically squeezed the life out of myself to push Apex into the city's top three firms. And Austin? He merely shared a few glasses of wine with Claire, and he effortlessly snatched away everything I built. Looking back, Claire had probably wanted to push me out for a long time. Years of marriage, utterly worthless against her high-school crush. What a sick joke. Perhaps it was time to let go. A bitter laugh welled up inside me, but my face remained deadpan. "Fine." Austin's eyes flashed with petty triumph, yet he kept up his humble act: "Julian, I'm just the new guy. This deal involves tens of millions. How could I possibly qualify?" "I only mentioned it because Claire said you've been drowning yourself in alcohol with clients and barely had time to work. I just wanted to lend a hand." Claire smiled warmly and patted Austin's arm. "Austin, you're an Ivy League Yale graduate. If you can't pull this off, no one in this company can." I couldn't help but chuckle out loud. The 'Yale' she kept bragging about was just a shady, unaccredited community program that happened to share the town's name. Only someone as blinded as Claire would treat him like an elite prodigy and hire him with a bloated salary. Hearing my laugh, Claire's face hardened. "What's so funny, Julian? With your trashy habit of relying on alcohol to get things done, you wouldn't even be Chief Design Officer if I hadn't made you one!" "The company is running smoothly now. If Austin hadn't stood up for you, I would have fired your useless ass a long time ago!" I let out a cold smirk. Claire conveniently forgot that when the firm was struggling, I closed every single contract myself. I taught her the business step-by-step and wrecked my health drinking with stakeholders to keep our lights on. Now that the company was thriving, she saw me as a burden and looked down on me. Seeing her venomous glare, I took a slow, deep breath and walked straight up to Austin. The surrounding coworkers hastily backed away, nervous that a fistfight was about to break out. Instead, I stayed remarkably calm. Smiling faintly, I pulled an equity transfer agreement right out of my pocket. "Since running projects is so exhausting, why don't you just take my title as Design Director too?"The entire office froze. Everyone stared at me in absolute disbelief. They thought I had lost my mind in a fit of rage. After all, every veteran here knew exactly how much blood and sweat I had poured into building this empire. "Julian, don't do something crazy!" a junior architect gasped. "If you walk away, years of your hard work will literally be gone!" Claire sneered, convinced I was bluffing to gain leverage. "What kind of tantrum is this, Julian? I'm the CEO! Can I not even give you constructive feedback anymore?" I scoffed under my breath. Isn't this what she secretly craved all along? Allowing her precious golden boy to take over everything that belonged to me. From my position and status to her personal life. Shouldn't she be throwing a parade? Austin clutched the equity transfer papers tightly, greed shining in his eyes even as he feigned reluctance. "Julian, are you mad because of what Claire said? Please don't take it the wrong way. I genuinely just wanted to help..." "You're a founding partner and the heart of this company. Everyone respects you. How could a newcomer like me accept equity?" He held the paper out toward me in slow motion, clearly unwilling to let go of the sudden fortune. Seeing his little show, I gave the papers a gentle push back into his chest with a smile. "Why would I be mad? I couldn't be happier." "With a brilliant mind from 'Yale' leading the charge, our company will reach new heights. You deserve it more than anyone." Claire gave me a suspicious look before snorting coldly. "Austin, if he's giving it to you, take it. With your talent, you were destined to become a partner anyway." "Since everyone is gathered here today, consider this the official announcement: we have a new Design Director." Austin finally dropped the modest facade. A wide grin broke across his face as he clamped onto the document. I watched with a mocking chill in my eyes. Claire had spent so much time playing house with Austin that she had zero understanding of how cutthroat this project truly was. The only reason we were even in the running was that my former mentor personally signed off on my unique blueprints. Those blueprints were still in my possession, known only to me. On top of that, Austin had no clue that being Design Director meant taking on complete personal and legal liability for the firm's architecture deliverables. Claire saw me standing there in silence after surrendering my position, and perhaps feeling she had pushed it a bit too far, she tossed me a bone: "Alright, since you're being sensible for once, you can tag along to the celebration lunch today." "Just make sure you offer Austin a few polite toasts." Austin immediately pulled a pained expression. "Oh... I honestly thought Julian wasn't coming today, so I didn't reserve a seat for him. Julian, you can have mine." Claire instantly stepped in, her voice dripping with protective sweetness: "You're the star of the show today, Austin! How could you give up your seat?" "Julian can just stand by and take a couple of courtesy drinks. He's used to that kind of networking anyway." A dry, cold laugh escaped my lips. "No need." Austin's eyes flashed with mockery, but he whined aloud: "Julian, are you still holding a grudge against Claire? If it makes you feel better, I'll apologize right now..." With a face full of fabricated sorrow, he stepped toward me. Disgusted by his theatrics, I instinctively put out a hand to keep my distance. Before I even touched him, Austin flailed backwards as if hit by a freight train and collapsed theatrically to the floor.The next second, Austin was on all fours, pathetically grabbing onto Claire's ankle like a kicked puppy. "Claire, please don't get mad! If it helps Julian cool down, he can kick me a few more times, I swear!" Claire snapped back to reality and glared at me, pointing a furious finger in my face: "Julian! How dare you lay your hands on him! Who the hell do you think you are?!" "If anything happens to Austin because of your violent outburst, your pathetic life wouldn't be enough to pay for it!" I folded my arms and stared down at Austin with cold indifference. Seeing my silence, panic flickered in Austin's eyes. He quickly clutched his chest and rolled over in agony. "Claire... my chest hurts so much. I can barely breathe..." Claire immediately knelt beside him, clutching his chest with frantic concern before shrieking at me: "You're just eaten alive with jealousy because Austin is ten times the man you are! You're trying to destroy him!" "This company has no place for a petty, incompetent loser like you! Pack your shit and get the hell out!" Petty? Incompetent? Fine. Let's see if Austin can survive three days on this project without me. I spun on my heel and walked out. Director Sterling from the National Institute had invited me to a private dinner earlier, an invitation I had initially planned to decline because of the company party. Now, there was no reason to say no. The Institute had supported me relentlessly throughout this deal; either way, I owed my mentor a proper gesture of gratitude. I headed to a high-end wine shop down the street to grab two bottles of vintage red wine. To my sheer annoyance, I ran right into Claire, Austin, and the rest of the team as I stepped out. "Julian? What are you lurking around here for?" Claire barked, blocking the sidewalk.Austin's gaze immediately locked onto the expensive bottles in my arms. He raised his voice with a smug grin: "Look at that vintage wine! Julian must have realized he messed up and came to beg for your forgiveness, Claire." Hearing that, Claire's tense expression relaxed slightly. She scoffed, "Smart move, but don't think you can get off the hook that easily!" She strutted up to me, her chin held high in condescension: "Still, if you behave yourself, I might give you a second chance." "When the lunch starts, go up on stage, perform an apology speech for everyone, and pour three respectful glasses of wine for Austin. Do that, and I'll let you have your job back." "Of course, once you finish pouring, you can stand by the wall and watch us eat. There’s no chair for you at our table anyway. Austin, take the wine." With that, Claire turned her back on me and walked toward the restaurant entrance without a second glance. Austin eagerly reached out to grab the bottles, but I stepped aside smoothly. "These aren't for you." Claire froze in her tracks, then whipped around, her eyes blazing. "Still playing hard to get? Julian, let me tell you something: push your dramatic act too far, and it stops being funny." "Yeah, Julian, drop the tough guy routine," Austin sneered. "If you push Boss Hayes too far, even begging on your knees won't save you." The surrounding colleagues joined in, sneering with open contempt: "Stop clinging to your pathetic pride. You're just humiliating yourself." "Exactly! I never noticed how hopelessly arrogant Julian is until today." Claire listened to the chorus of insults, looking down her nose at me. I maintained a stony silence. Seeing my utter disregard, her face darkened. "You love putting on a show, don't you? Don't force me to tear your little stage down!" Austin chuckled maliciously. "Claire, if you tear his stage down, how is he supposed to clown for us later?" Claire scoffed cruelly. "That's his problem! He had his chance. Grab those bottles from him right now!" At her command, Austin and two male coworkers lunged forward. I shoved them off, but Austin delivered a sneaky kick to my shin. I stumbled, and the bottles slipped from my grasp, shattering onto the concrete in a burst of deep red liquid. Austin instantly retreated with a horrified look. "Julian! No matter how bitter you are, you can't just smash the wine!" Claire's face turned livid. "Julian! I gave you a way out, and you dare throw a violent temper tantrum?! You terrified Austin! Get on your knees and apologize right now!" She was practically hyperventilating with rage, looking ready to tear my throat out. Austin threw me a venomous smirk before putting on his sad, gentle voice: "It's fine, Boss Hayes. Julian clearly hates me too much. Don't push him. I can endure being wronged..." Austin's little act stoked Claire's fury into an inferno. "Stop making excuses for this garbage! If he doesn't drop to his knees right this second, we are getting a divorce!" She stood tall, glaring at me with supreme confidence, convinced she held my entire world in her hands. I looked at the shattered glass and the pool of vintage wine, feeling only a profound, hollow exhaustion. "Down on your knees! Don't waste everyone's time! Did you hear me, Julian?!" I raised my head, meeting Claire's arrogant gaze without flinching. "Let's get a divorce, then." "What did you say?" A stunned silence fell over the sidewalk. Austin's eyes lit up with sheer joy, though he quickly muttered, "Julian, don't do something rash. We're about to sign the mega-contract with the Institute. Even though I won the deal, I don't mind letting you ride on my coattails..." The surrounding staff quickly backed him up: "He doesn't deserve Austin's charity! Good riddance! Austin and Boss Hayes are the real power couple anyway." "Totally. Once this deal clears, Boss Hayes's net worth will be out of reach for a deadweight like him." I balled my fists. Claire took my silence as weakness and grinned triumphantly. "You hear that, loser? Divorce, or get on your knees. Choose right now!" "He said divorce!" A commanding voice thundered from behind us, accompanied by heavy, hurried footsteps. "Don't worry, Julian. We're all here. Let's see which clown dares lay a finger on you!"