Chapter 2

Valerie's POV

For the next few days, I pretended I knew nothing, still showing up at the firm every day, right on schedule.

Cedric, apparently trying to ease his guilty conscience, suggested taking me and Leo out to a high-end French restaurant.

The dinner had barely started before it was thrown into chaos by a "chance encounter" with Seraphina and her daughter.

"Cedric? What a coincidence, you brought Valerie here to eat too." Seraphina walked over, beaming, dressed head-to-toe in Chanel couture, holding the hand of Chloe, dressed up like a little princess.

Cedric's eyes lit up instantly. Without even asking my opinion, he had the waiter bring over two extra chairs.

"Since we've run into each other, let's eat together. Valerie, you don't mind, do you?" His tone left no room for refusal.

I took a sip of the ice water in front of me, my voice utterly flat.

"Whatever you like."

The atmosphere at the table turned bizarre in the extreme. Cedric's attention was almost entirely fixed on Chloe.

"Chloe, the escargot here is delicious, let me cut it up for you." Cedric's voice was gentle.

Meanwhile, Leo, sitting beside me, just quietly kept his head down, eating the pasta on his plate.

Suddenly, Chloe pointed at the children's watch on Leo's wrist and curled her lip.

"That watch is so ugly."

Leo's face flushed red instantly. He instinctively hid his hand under the table.

That watch had been my gift to him for his birthday last month.

I was about to speak up, but Cedric frowned first, glaring sternly at Leo. "Leo, Chloe's just teasing you. Why can't you take a joke like a boy should?"

My fingers paused slightly around the water glass. Then I turned to Chloe with a bright smile, my voice sweet as honey.

"Chloe is so cute. But let Auntie teach you a little secret—" I leaned down, my tone as gentle as if soothing a child, "—before calling someone else's things ugly, you should first think about whether you have the right to say that. Otherwise, everyone will secretly think Chloe has no manners, and slowly, no one will want to play with you anymore."

My tone remained gentle throughout, my face wearing a flawless smile, but every word landed precisely on the child's tender spot.

Chloe froze. Her small face crumpled bit by bit, her eyes reddening fast, and then she burst into tears with a loud "Waah!"

"Mommy—" She threw herself into Seraphina's arms.

Cedric's expression changed instantly. He was on his feet almost immediately, rounding the table to crouch beside Chloe.

"Valerie, how could you say that to a child?"

"There, there, Chloe, don't cry, don't cry."

He pulled a delicate velvet box from his pocket. "Look, see what I got for you?"

Inside the box was a Van Cleef & Arpels diamond necklace worth a small fortune.

Chloe's crying stopped instantly. She wiped her tears and chirped a sweet "Thank you!" before diving straight into Cedric's arms.

Cedric blinked in surprise, then broke into a grin so wide he could barely contain it.

The last shred of warmth in my heart dropped straight to freezing.

"Leo, are you full?" I set down my knife and fork, taking out a handkerchief to dab elegantly at my mouth.

"I'm full, Mommy." Leo nodded obediently.

"Then let's go." I stood up, without sparing so much as a glance at that "happy family of three," and took Leo's hand, walking straight out of the restaurant.

Back home, I locked myself in the study and opened up my encrypted personal server.

Cedric had apparently forgotten—the true core asset of this firm wasn't the intangible client list, but the hundreds of foundational architectural blueprints I'd designed over the past ten years, along with the patented models registered under my own name.

Calmly, I typed away at the keyboard, packaging, encrypting, and transferring all the core data.

Then I opened an email from Maison Dubois, one of Paris's top global architecture conglomerates.

【Ms. Valerie, we are truly looking forward to your joining us. The moment you say the word, the position of European Partner at Maison Dubois is yours, whenever you're ready.】

Without a moment's hesitation, I typed back a short reply: 【See you next week.】

With everything done, I watched the progress bar on my screen as the transfer completed, a cold smile tugging at the corner of my lips.

Cedric, you think you own an entire business empire?

You'll soon discover that the throne you're so proud of is nothing but an empty shell, drained dry of the very lifeblood I once poured into it.