The sound of screeching tires cut through the noise of the crowd.
Mark' s sports car pulled up to the curb, and he stormed out, his face a mask of fury.
He didn't even look at me. His eyes were fixed on Chloe, who immediately ran into his arms, sobbing theatrically.
"Mark, she went crazy! She threatened me!"
He pushed past her and marched right up to me, his handsome face twisted with a rage I had never seen before.
"What the hell did you do, Ava?" he yelled, his voice booming through the apartment.
"Mark, listen to me," I pleaded, my heart pounding in my chest. "She' s lying. She fired me. She..."
I never finished the sentence.
His hand flew through the air and connected with my cheek.
The crack of the slap silenced the entire street.
The world went white for a second, a stinging, burning pain spreading across my face. I stumbled back, my hand flying to my cheek, my eyes wide with shock and disbelief.
He had hit me.
In front of everyone.
In that single, violent moment, everything became brutally clear. The way he looked at Chloe, the way he looked at me with pure hatred. The affair wasn't just a suspicion; it was a blatant, undeniable fact.
The man I loved, the man I had built an empire for, was a complete stranger.
Tears of betrayal and fury streamed down my face.
"She' s your mistress," I said, the words tasting like poison.
Mark didn't deny it. He pulled Chloe closer, protectively. "So what if she is? At least she knows her place."
"Her place?" I laughed, a raw, broken sound. "What about my place, Mark? What about Nexus? I wrote every single line of the foundational code! You were a business major who couldn't even write a 'Hello, World!' program!"
I pointed a trembling finger at him. "This company, this IPO, it' s all built on my back! My work!"
Chloe, nestled against his chest, gave a little sniffle. "Mark, she' s scaring me. She sounds unhinged."
"You hear that, Ava?" Mark said, his voice cold as ice. "You' re hysterical. Just like every other woman who can' t handle being dumped."
My mind flashed back to the beginning. The two of us in a tiny, cramped apartment, living on ramen noodles and dreams. Me coding for 18 hours a day, fueled by cheap coffee and his promises. Him practicing his charismatic speeches in the mirror.
"I sacrificed everything for you," I whispered, the memory making the present pain even sharper. "For us. For this company."
"You did your job, Ava," he sneered, the crowd of his employees nodding in agreement. "You were paid a salary. Don't act like you' re some kind of martyr. You' re just the code monkey who got replaced."
The insult, now coming from his lips, was a thousand times worse.
I looked past him, at the faces of the people I had worked with, albeit remotely. They were laughing. They were filming. They were cheering for my downfall.
"Without me, this company is nothing," I said, my voice gaining a chilling certainty. "The entire system is a house of cards, and I' m the only one who knows how to keep it from falling. You will fail."
Mark and Chloe just laughed, a cruel duet of arrogance.
My heart, which had been shattering piece by piece, now turned to solid ice. There was nothing left to save. Nothing left to feel but a cold, hard resolve.
I looked him dead in the eye.
"I want a divorce."