But the way he agreed so quickly unsettled me more than his anger had.
An hour later, I stepped out of my office — only to stop when I heard voices coming from around the corner.
I moved quietly, staying out of sight.
Candela’s voice was sharp, no longer trembling. “So that’s it? I lost my job and you just let her have her way? Why didn’t you fight harder?”
Sebastian exhaled heavily. “Relax. I can’t push too hard when I still don’t have full control of the company. I need to stay on her good side. We’ll just go along with whatever she wants until everything is secured. You understand that.”
Candela sounded frustrated. “And how long do we keep pretending?”
“As long as it takes,” he replied, his tone turning cold and calculating. “She thinks firing you gives her control, so let her believe that. We’ll follow her lead for now.”
There was a brief pause.
“Because on her birthday,” he continued quietly, venom lacing his words, “we finish this. No more fake investors. No more acting. That night, her life ends… and everything she owns becomes ours.”
Candela sucked in a quiet breath. “Are you serious?”
“Especially now that you’re carrying our child,” Sebastian answered without hesitation. “I won’t let her threaten you… or the baby.”
My lungs locked. For a moment, it felt like I had stepped outside my own body, watching everything collapse from a distance, piece by piece.
He wasn’t just deceiving me.
He wasn’t only having an affair.
He was planning my death — on my birthday.
I stepped back silently, forcing down the scream rising in my throat. My hands trembled so badly I pressed them against my chest, trying to steady my breathing.
Not now.
Not here.
I need to survive. I need to pretend. I need to beat them at their own game.
That evening, when I returned to my suite, Sebastian was already there, seated on the couch. His expression softened the moment he saw me, almost warm, almost loving.
I nearly laughed at the performance.
“There you are,” he said, releasing a breath like he’d been waiting anxiously. He rose to his feet. “We should talk.”
I stayed where I was. “About what?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking hesitant. “About Candela… since you let her go, I was thinking.”
I braced myself.
Then he smiled — gentle, patient, supportive. The same smile that once made me fall for him.
The same smile he wore every time he lied to me.
“…we could hire her as a housemaid,” he suggested.