Chapter 3

The next day, Calista planned to go to the company and hand in her resignation. Back when Noah had graduated and said he wanted to start a business, no one had believed in him. Hence, he pulled Calista in to help. He promised her that once he made something of himself, he'd make it up to her. Trusting in his firm assurances at the time, Calista gave up a high-paying job with an annual salary of 300 thousand. He had no startup capital, and she had helped him raise funds everywhere. No one wanted to give him projects, so she had gone around helping him find them. She had stayed by his side as he built his fortune from nothing into billions. And yet, to this day, she was still just his assistant with a monthly salary of eight thousand dollars. She had loved him once, so she was willing to stay as his assistant who earned such a small monthly salary. But now that she'd decided to give up and marry someone else. There was no need to keep doing it anymore. Arriving at the CEO's office, Calista printed her resignation agreement and went to Noah for his signature. Perhaps feeling guilty about how he'd spoken to her yesterday, Noah suddenly tossed her a small gift box. "Here. Your birthday's in a few days. This is an early gift." Calista accepted the box and opened it. Inside was a gold necklace. If it had been in the past, Calista would have been overjoyed. But now, her heart was calm because she knew that this necklace was just the complimentary gift that came with the blue diamond Noah had spent 50 million on. In his eyes, she was only worthy of the freebie. Noah thought Calista would be so happy she couldn't speak, but to his surprise, her face showed no emotion at all. The strange change in Calista over the past couple of days made Noah frown. Just as he was about to speak, Calista handed him the resignation agreement. "This document requires your signature." Perhaps because he trusted Calista too much and assumed it was just an important contract, Noah didn't even look at it and signed his name right away. But just as Calista was about to leave with the agreement, Noah suddenly felt something was off. He couldn't help but ask, "What did you just have me sign?" Not wanting to explain, Calista waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing important. It's just some basic agreement. Oh, by the way, I'll be taking leave for the next couple of days, so I won't be coming in." After all, she'd already resigned, so she no longer needed to show up. "Alright." Noah nodded without thinking. He didn't want Calista finding out that his official fiancee was at the company, anyway. It would only cause trouble. Then, he suddenly remembered something and reminded Calista, "Make sure you come back right after your leave. You need to negotiate a bunch of big projects for me—" Before he could finish speaking, Calista hummed a response. Noah had no idea that she wasn't going back to the company anymore. After being his assistant for so many years, she was already completely drained. Calista turned and left. As she walked to the reception area, she happened to run into Noah's future wife and the company's receptionist, Patricia. Patricia was surrounded by a group of her coworkers. She was holding up her fair right hand to show off the ring. "My fiance bought me this ring at an auction," she said. "It cost him 50 million dollars. Isn't it beautiful? You guys probably haven't seen jewelry this expensive before. Now that you have the chance, you'd better take a good look." The diamond ring was indeed dazzling. However, Patricia was merely a receptionist in the company, mostly serving as eye candy. Her background was also quite ordinary. How could she possibly have had the chance to meet a rich man, let alone own such a valuable ring? Everyone looked skeptical. "Is that even real?" one asked. Another chimed in, "Yeah, 50 million? Don't lie, Patricia." At their comments, Patricia's face flushed as she stiffened. "Of course it's real! And I'm not lying!" Unable to take the skeptical looks around her, Patricia suddenly seemed to remember something. She quickly took out a property deed from her bag and slammed it onto the table. "Besides this ring, my fiance also bought me a villa at Lilypond Court. If you don't believe me, see for yourselves!" Her coworkers leaned in curiously to read the certificate. When they realized that Patricia wasn't lying, they all looked at her with envy. "Wow, Patricia. You're really marrying into money!" "Which wealthy family are you marrying into? I think they're on the same level as Mr. Skeldon for being able to buy a villa at Lilypond Court." The question kept coming, as all of them were curious.