99 Rejections Later, She Found Out I Owned the Company

I secretly pulled every string to turn my girlfriend into the top sales champion in our company. Yet, at her grand victory party, she turned down my marriage proposal for the ninety-ninth time. All because the "one who got away"—a man who vanished years ago—sent her a text: Wherever you are is home. Let's start over. Swallowing my pride, I pleaded with her, "Can't you just give me a fair chance?" She snapped at me with cold impatience, "So what if we dated for a few years? We're legally married! There's a line, Julian, and he was here first!" Legally married. They had tied the knot behind my back years ago. At that exact second, my heart went completely ice-cold. If she wanted to talk about who came first, fine. I was going to take back everything I had ever handed her. I pulled out my phone and called my assistant to cancel every single one of her client contracts. "Starting today, tell all my uncles and business partners to stop funneling sales accounts to Chloe. Tear up every contract waiting to be signed. Everything goes strictly by the book." My assistant was stunned. "Mr. Vance... but that's Miss Chloe. Isn't she your..." I stared coldly into the distance, my voice flat and emotionless. "She's another man's wife now. Carry out my orders immediately." Knowing that Chloe had secretly married Dylan Miller behind my back pierced my chest like a thousand needles, flooding me with agony and sheer betrayal. No wonder she had shot down every single elaborate proposal I meticulously planned over the years. Back then, she always gave me the same excuse: she wanted to build her own career first. She claimed she didn't want to be the kind of woman who depended on a man for handouts. Because I respected her pride, I silently backed her from the shadows for years. I took her from a clueless, green graduate with zero connections and built her up into the company's envy-inducing top sales champion. The VP of Sales position was practically handed to her on a silver platter. I was confident that with her career secured, our wedding was right around the corner. Who could have guessed that her secret marriage would hit me like a sledgehammer? When I first met Chloe, she was working part-time at our campus store. My wallet had been stolen, and I couldn't pay at the register. The impatient crowd behind me started shoving and yelling at me to get out of the way. Chloe stormed out from behind the counter, chewed them out, and swiped her own card to cover my bill. That fiery sense of justice captured me instantly. I admit, my heart skipped a beat that day. I began pursuing her with everything I had. The only problem was her college crush, Dylan Miller. Dylan was a handsome campus counselor at our university. Charming, charismatic, and riding high on popularity. Chloe was head over heels for him. She rented an off-campus apartment with him, constantly skipping classes just to be by his side. Then, out of nowhere, Dylan vanished. He was abruptly fired by the university. Chloe couldn't get a hold of him no matter how hard she tried. Heartbroken and utterly shattered, she spiraled into a deep depression. I stayed quietly by her side, guarding her through the dark, until she finally turned around and saw me. Eventually, my dream came true, and we became a couple. Back then, I felt so lucky that Dylan had disappeared right on cue. Who would have known that years later, just as Chloe and I were on the brink of marriage, he would suddenly reappear? A notification popped up from my burner SnapChat account. Dylan had just posted an update. I clicked it open, and there she was—Chloe, flashing a blinding diamond ring, smiling radiant as a blooming flower while snuggled tightly in Dylan's arms. Dylan had captioned the picture: No matter how far I wander, my wife is always waiting for me. A shrill ringtone cut through the quiet room. Chloe's slurred, arrogant voice barked through the speaker, "Julian, Dylan and I got wasted at the restaurant. Hurry up and get your ass over here to pick us up!" Disgusted, I was about to hang up. Her temper flared instantly. "Julian! What's with that attitude?! Are you deliberately trying to embarrass me?" Dylan grabbed the phone, his voice dripping with mock guilt. "Julian... look, are you still mad at me and Chloe for being secretly married?" "The truth is, we both had our reasons. Don't take it to heart. I won't interfere with your life with Chloe. Once I sort out my personal mess, I'll divorce her and let you two be together." Chloe screamed angrily from the background, "Dylan, why the hell are you explaining anything to him?! Who does he think he is? He doesn't even hold a candle to a single hair on your head!" "He's just throwing a tantrum because I rejected his stupid proposal! Serves him right! You don't waste sympathy on two-faced losers like him!"I hung up, refusing to listen to their toxic garbage for another second. Yet Chloe wasn't planning on letting me off so easily. Less than an hour later, she dragged Dylan to my house and kicked my front door wide open. Without a shred of mercy, she pointed her finger in my face and unleashed a torrent of abuse. "Julian! I spoke a few hard truths, and now you're throwing a fit?! Well, since my head is clear now, I might as well tell you—I turned down your proposals on purpose just to mess with your head!" Pushed beyond my limit, I fired back, "So you kept your marriage a secret just so you could gloat every time I made a fool of myself proposing to you?" Her eyes flared bloodshot as she shrieked, "You brought this on yourself! You ruined my first love!" "If you hadn't framed him for harassing female students back in college, would the university have fired him? Would his gambling-addict mother have beaten him until he was crippled, forcing him to hide from me alone for years?!" I stared at her in utter disbelief, unable to process the insanity coming out of her mouth. Back in college, I had only ever advised Chloe to focus on her classes and not lose her head over a campus romance. She always laughed it off, calling me an unromantic prude. When I warned her too many times, she began pulling away from me. It reached the point where she packed her bags to move into an off-campus apartment with him and coldly warned me to butt out of her private life. That was the moment I realized my secret crush was dead in the water. From beginning to end, I never interfered in her relationship with Dylan, let alone went out of my way to frame him. Later on, I only found out Dylan had been fired and vanished through idle campus gossip. Looking back now... did she only stay with me all these years just to get revenge for her ruined first love? Revenge for losing her precious "white moonlight"? Dylan subtly tugged at Chloe's sleeve, speaking in a weak, pitiful murmur. "Don't be mad, Chloe, please... Aren't I standing right here in front of you? Julian worked hard taking care of you for me all these years. Think of it as making amends for his past mistakes." I glared at him, furious. I knew this conniving bastard had framed me! Dylan lowered his head, putting on a humble show. "Julian, Chloe just has a child's temper. For my sake, don't hold it against her." "Like I said, once my personal affairs are wrapped up, I'll divorce her. I'm just a crippled loser now anyway. I shouldn't have crashed back into your lives and ruined your relationship." As he spoke, his voice broke into pathetic sobs. Heartbroken, Chloe threw her arms around him and gave him a solemn promise. "Dylan, don't talk like that! No matter what happens to you, I will never abandon you! I'll stay by your side forever! And we are going to watch the person who ruined your life get what's coming to him!" She spat that last sentence through gritted teeth, glaring right into my eyes. I let out a breath, a wave of bitter cold washing over my soul. When push came to shove, Chloe only ever believed Dylan. A few soft, manipulative words from him wiped out years of my genuine love, pampering, and devotion. Putting on an indifferent front, I said, "Since you two are legally wedded soulmates, I'll gladly step out of this sick love triangle. Now get the hell out of my house." Chloe gave me a sideways sneer, her expression laced with malice. "You seem confused, Julian. This house doesn't belong to you anymore." I froze, staring at her in bewilderment. "What do you mean?" She pulled out several signed voluntary gift agreements from her purse. My name was signed across every single page in crisp, clear ink. Every time she rejected my proposals, I had signed those property agreements just to appease her and cheer her up. Throughout all our years together, I never imagined she would ever leave me. I never once questioned her motives when she asked me to sign them. I was just a blind, lovesick fool. Chloe said cold-bloodedly, "From now on, this is Dylan's and my home. If you know what's good for you, don't ever show your face here again!" Dylan's lips curled into a faint smirk. "Chloe, you really shouldn't have done that. You should have given Julian a heads-up. Dropping this on him with zero warning... what if the shock gives him a heart attack? People will blame us." I fixed my eyes on Chloe, my voice shaking with fury. "You planned this from the very beginning? You played me for years just for him?"I had genuinely intended to walk away clean and let them have each other. I never expected them to team up and rob me of every single penny I owned! Chloe screamed viciously, "Dylan was brilliant back then! If you hadn't framed him, how could he have ended up a cripple?" "Even if I knew about his struggles early on, what's wrong with me securing your house, your car, and your savings to give him a safety net?" "You and I owe him this! It's payback!" Blind with rage, I lunged forward, grabbed her by the throat, and slammed her against the wall. "After everything I gave you over the years, even a stray dog would know to wag its tail at me! But you? Chloe Brooks, how can you be this heartless?!" Chloe's face flushed a deep purple as she clawed frantically at my hands. "Let go... you psychotic maniac... You'd lay your hands on your own girlfriend..." Terrified, Dylan rushed over, shoved me back with all his might, and caught her as she stumbled. Chloe collapsed into his arms, sobbing hysterically. Dylan raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the cheek. "It's all my fault! It's my fault for failing to protect you and making you suffer!" Chloe grabbed his wrist in panic, refusing to let him hit himself again. "What are you doing?! None of this is your fault! The only monster here is Julian Vance!" Dylan held her tight, his voice thick with sorrow. "If I knew this would happen, I wouldn't have asked for the house or the car. I can't bear watching you get hurt for me." He paused, a look of faux anxiety creeping across his face. "But you know I can't keep any assets under my name. My mother's loan sharks won't leave us alone!" Chloe turned back to me with a tense, strained smile. "Julian, didn't you always want to marry me? Fine. I can divorce Dylan right this second and marry you! But on one condition: you have to help us safeguard our assets. How about we sign a prenup?" Her voice grew more excited the more she spoke. "The house, the car, and the savings belong exclusively to Dylan and me. You won't be entitled to a single cent. It has to be written clearly into the agreement." "You're young and healthy. You can easily earn all that money back later. You proposed to me so many times and lost face, right? Well, this time, I'll be the one to propose to you! That should heal your bruised ego. How about it? Do you accept?" She looked at me expectantly, as if she would explode the moment I dared say no. I genuinely couldn't fathom the twisted logic inside her skull. How could she possibly believe that I, Julian Vance, would still want a married woman who had used me? When she didn't get an immediate answer, her expression darkened into venomous rage. "Julian Vance! Don't you dare push your luck! I'm not negotiating with you, I'm informing you! I'm offering to marry you—isn't that your lifelong dream come true? What more do you want?!" "Think about it! You crippled Dylan! You destroyed his job and his income! Giving him a house and a car is nothing! Everything he owns—including me—technically belongs to him, but you're the one getting to use it all every day! What right do you have to complain?!" I had never encountered someone so utterly delusional in my entire life. As she kept screeching in my face, I grabbed my coat off the rack and slammed the door behind me. The next morning, I grabbed a coffee outside the office and casually scrolled through my phone. My notifications blew up. Coworkers were spamming the company group chat with endless messages and photos. I tapped inside. Chloe and Dylan were dressed in black and white formalwear, hosting a lavish fifth-anniversary wedding banquet right inside the corporate dining lounge. By the time I walked into the lounge, the employees were already buzzing with whispers. "Why is Chloe's ex here? Who invited him?" "Ex? More like side-piece! Chloe's celebrating her fifth wedding anniversary today!" "Imagine being the side-piece and losing to a crippled guy. How does he even show his face here?" I curled my lips into a cold, indifferent smirk and kept walking. Looking up, I spotted Chloe aggressively dragging Dylan around, shaking down every employee for cash gifts. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "Who else hasn't sent us an anniversary gift? Hurry it up! I'm the company's top sales champion and the biggest contributor here! It won't be long before the VP of Sales seat is mine!" "Today is my fifth wedding anniversary with my husband! I brought him here so you can all meet him! Once I get my promotion, I'll create a cushy executive role for him, and you'd better listen to every word he says!" "Five years of marriage! My love for my husband is unshakable! I'll give him everything I have as long as it makes him happy!" Tears streamed down Dylan's face in theatrical gratitude. He took Chloe's hand and kissed her knuckles over and over. Watching the long line of employees being coerced into sending cash via PayPal, I couldn't hold it in any longer. "Who authorized you to host a private party on company property?!" I bellowed. "And who gave you the nerve to extort money from the staff?" The lounge fell dead silent. Chloe's face twisted with fury. "Julian Vance! You're just bitter because you can never have me! You're a low-level clerk in procurement—what right do you have to talk back to the company's top producer?! Security! Drag this loser out of here!" Suddenly, the heavy thud of rapid footsteps echoed from the corridor. "I dare anyone to lay a finger on him!" A man in a sharp suit flanked by dozens of burly bodyguards marched into the lounge, breaking the tension like thunder.