Chapter 5 - The True Upgrade
Cole looked at Edward in sheer panic.
"Edward, please. You can't let her do this."
Edward looked at Cole with absolute disgust.
"Lily is my equal partner in this venture," Edward said coldly. "Her decisions are final. And frankly, Mercer, you deserve exactly what's coming to you."
Sloan finally pushed her way through the crowd, sensing the disaster.
"Cole, what's going on?" she demanded.
She looked at me, trying to summon her runway intimidation. "Are you still stalking my husband?"
I looked at the woman who had laughed at my pain.
"I'm not stalking him, Sloan," I said with a polite smile. "I'm firing him."
I handed Cole a folded legal document from my clutch.
It was the formal notice of hostile takeover.
"Take care of yourself, Cole," I said, repeating the exact words he had used when he left me pregnant in that conference room.
I turned my back on them and walked away.
Six months later, Mercer Systems was completely dismantled and absorbed into Langley Holdings.
Cole was forced to declare personal bankruptcy.
Sloan filed for divorce three weeks later, taking whatever was left of his assets and leaving him in a rented apartment in New Jersey.
I didn't read the tabloids about their messy, humiliating breakup.
I was too busy.
I was sitting in the garden of Edward's estate in the Hamptons.
Leo, Jack, and Claire were playing on a blanket in the sun.
Edward walked out of the house, carrying two cups of coffee.
He handed one to me and sat beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
I leaned my head against him, watching my three beautiful children laugh.
Cole had told the world he was upgrading his life when he left me.
May you like
He was right.
He just didn't realize I was the one getting the upgrade.
