Chapter 4

Hazel Horton POV:

Bryon snatched the tablet from my hand before Dorian could even touch it. He scrolled through the pages, his face paling with each passing report. The color drained from his cheeks as he saw the damning figures, the flagrant misuse of funds, the blatant disregard for every financial protocol we had established. He knew. He had to have known, at least on some level, how reckless Dorian was. But he'd ignored it, blinded by her flattery and the illicit thrill of their affair.

"Hazel, this is... this is exaggerated," he stammered, though his voice lacked conviction. He swallowed hard. "It's just creative accounting. Every startup does it. We can clean this up. We can shred these, delete the files. No one has to know."

His words were like a cold slap. I remembered when Bryon had caught a junior engineer fudging some usage numbers by a mere 5% to make his project look better. Bryon had hauled him into his office, his face a mask of furious disappointment, and fired him on the spot. "Integrity, Hazel," he had preached to me afterwards, his voice full of self-righteous fervor. "It's the bedrock of our company. Without it, we have nothing." The hypocrisy was a physical weight in my chest, making it hard to breathe.

"No," I said, my voice firm, cutting through his nervous excuses. "We won't. The rules apply to everyone, Bryon. Even to your 'soulmate' here." My gaze was fixed on Dorian, who had gone completely white.

Dorian' s eyes, which had been darting between Bryon and the tablet, suddenly fixed on mine. There was no more defiance, no more smugness. Only raw, unadulterated terror. She saw it. She saw the comprehensive, irrefutable evidence of her disastrous financial mismanagement, her outright fraudulent activity. She knew it wasn' t just "creative accounting." She knew she was caught.

"No! That's not true!" Dorian shrieked, her voice cracking. "You're lying! You're making this up!" She lunged, trying to grab the tablet back, her movements wild and desperate. Her hand clawed at Bryon's grip, trying to snatch it, to destroy the evidence. She was frantic, a cornered animal.

Bryon, caught off guard, stumbled back. The tablet clattered to the floor, but it was already too late. The damage was done. My team, witnessing the full spectacle, looked aghast.

"It's Hazel! She's setting me up!" Dorian screamed, pointing a trembling finger at me. Her voice was shrill, hysterical. "She's always hated me! She's jealous! She's trying to ruin me!" She burst into tears, a theatrical collapse, and then, in a dramatic flourish, she turned and ran from the room, sobbing uncontrollably.

Bryon watched her go, a muscle twitching in his jaw. Then, slowly, he turned his furious gaze back to me. His face was contorted, black with rage. He took a step towards me, his hand raised as if to strike, but stopped himself just inches from my face. The air crackled with his barely contained fury.

"How dare you, Hazel?" he hissed, his voice low and dangerous. "How dare you embarrass her? How dare you accuse her of something like this? You are a cruel, calculating bitch! She's fragile! She's been nothing but loyal to me! You're just jealous that I finally found someone who understands me, someone who actually cares!" His words were like venom, spitting in my face, trying to strip away my last shred of self-worth. "You will apologize to her, Hazel. You will apologize to Dorian, or I swear to God, you will regret it!"

My breath hitched. The physical threat, the verbal abuse, the blatant hypocrisy – it was all too familiar. This was the Bryon I had learned to fear, the one who turned toxic when challenged, the one who always found a way to make me the villain. But something was different this time. The words didn't cut as deeply. The fear wasn't paralyzing. It was just... noise.

"Regret it?" I asked, a mirthless laugh escaping my lips. "Bryon, I already regret it. I regret every single minute I spent loving you. I regret every sacrifice I made for this company, for us. I regret every time I let you gaslight me into believing I was the crazy one." My gaze hardened. "You want me to regret it? Fine. Let's make this official. I accept your threat."

Bryon stared at me, his eyes wide with disbelief. He had expected me to cower, to back down, to apologize. To play the dutiful wife, even now. He had expected me to beg for his forgiveness, for his permission to stay in his company, his life. But I didn't. I stood my ground, my posture ramrod straight, my eyes unwavering.

"What... what are you talking about?" he stammered, his rage momentarily eclipsed by confusion. "Accept my threat? What does that even mean?"

"It means," I said, my voice cold and clear, "we're getting a divorce. I told Sarah in HR just now. The papers are being drawn up as we speak. My lawyers will be in touch." I watched his face crack, the shock finally setting in. "Consider this my official resignation from AuraTech as well. And my formal withdrawal of all intellectual property, along with my team."

Bryryon's body went stiff, as if he'd been struck by lightning. His eyes, fixed on mine, were now filled with a dawning horror. He finally understood. This wasn't a tantrum. This was a declaration of war.

"You think you can just leave?" he scoffed, trying to regain his footing, to dismiss my words like he dismissed everything else that challenged him. "You think you can just walk away with my company, my team? You're nothing without me, Hazel! And without AuraTech, you're just Griffin Day's spoiled daughter! No one will take you seriously!" He laughed, a short, bitter sound. "Go ahead. Leave. You'll come crawling back. They all do."

He spun on his heel and stormed out of the room, presumably to find his weeping mistress and console her. He didn't even bother to look back. He was so confident. So arrogant. He truly believed he held all the cards. That I would eventually break, that I would come back, begging for his crumbs. He had no idea what was coming. The game had just begun.