Love Too Late, Ashes Too Soon

Chapter 5

"Even now, you're still trying to cover for her?" Frank spun around, jabbing a furious finger at his employee. "Let me make one thing clear, I'm your boss. There's no upside in siding with that lying bitch."

He swept his eyes across the group, his voice growing more venomous. "If any of you dares to help her play games again just to scare Jennifer, you're out. Don't bother coming back!"

But instead of obedience, all he saw were horror-stricken faces, like they were looking at a madman.

Frank turned again, still fuming. "Autumn! Come out! Still playing tricks, huh?"

"This time I'm serious. I've had it. If you don't show yourself and apologize, we're getting divorced! You and that bastard in your belly can go rot together!"

I stood there, watching as Frank's expression began to change. His fury faded into confusion as his gaze darted around, searching.

Because I wasn't hiding.

There was no trick.

"Autumn…? Where are you?" His voice trembled, his tone unsure now. "Where the hell is she hiding?"

He turned to the employees again. "Well? Where was she just now?"

One of the female staff, pale as paper, looked like she was on the verge of collapse. Her lips quivered as she tried to speak, but someone beside her grabbed her arm, trying to stop her.

She broke down in tears. "I quit! I can't do this anymore! You killed your own wife for that woman, and now you expect us to just… pretend it didn't happen?"

She sobbed uncontrollably as she fled the cafeteria.

Frank's face went white.

"This is another one of Autumn's setups, right?" he snapped. "Fine. Who else has she turned against me? If you're with her, get the hell out now!"

The crowd didn't wait for a second warning. They scattered like leaves in a storm.

His teeth clenched. "She's doing this on purpose… dragging my employees away during the company's growth stage just to see me fall apart. You won't be happy until I lose everything, will you, Autumn?"

"The one at fault is you!" he yelled into the emptiness. "Lying, scheming, bullying Jennifer, she and I have put up with you for far too long! Why do you want to destroy everything we've built?!"

He screamed like he expected me to be watching from the shadows, enjoying his humiliation.

He couldn't accept it.

Couldn't admit the truth.

Couldn't face the fact that I was dead.

I stood there quietly, watching him. My heart didn't ache anymore. All I felt was a hollow kind of pity.

"If she made you promises, forget them," he spat. "Whatever she offered, I'll double it. She's done. I'll blacklist her from the industry, throw her in jail. You think helping her gets you anything?"

That's when his most loyal secretary finally spoke. His voice was low, strained.

"Mr. Foster," he said slowly, "you've completely lost it."

"I shut off that steamer's valve myself. It burned all day and night. And the so-called safety feature you keep talking about? Yesterday, when you cranked the temperature to max, the warning light turned red. The system told you it couldn't shut off on its own."

"You ignored us. You wouldn't let anyone turn it off. You locked the doors." His voice cracked. "You killed her. Your wife is gone. Why are you still pretending otherwise?"

He looked over at Jennifer, whose expression couldn't quite hide the satisfaction behind her faux concern.

"Why were you so convinced Autumn would betray you?" he asked softly. "Why were you so desperate to believe she was the villain?"

"Think about it, she gave up a six-figure executive job to join our failing startup. She saved this company. She pitched investors, drank herself to the hospital, bled herself dry for your dream."

"Even after everything… even when you were out there humiliating her, cheating on her, she stayed. She waited for you to come back to her."

"She gave you everything she had."

"So why… why did you believe the worst of her every time, and not the one person who actually loved you?"

I smiled, bitter and broken.

Even his secretary understood.

But Frank? He never would.

He'd lost the one person in this world who had truly loved him, and he didn't even realize it.