They Ignored Me on My Birthday, So I Cancelled Them novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Company Breakfast

The quarterly breakfast at Kirkland and Daughter is held in a banquet hall with a mustard carpet.

Two hundred employees sat at round tables eating eggs off paper plates.

I sat in the last row, by the coffee urn, in the only suit I own.

Hallie had asked me to come as myself, in the back, and not to say anything unless I wanted to.

She was at the head table beside her father.

He was a broad white-haired man with reading glasses on a cord, and he looked at me once across the room and nodded.

Trent sat on his other side, in a charcoal suit, smiling at the whole hall.

He didn't look at me at all.

At half past eight, her father tapped the microphone.

"Good morning. Eat first, talk second. We have some business." He took off his glasses. "Trent has asked to say a few words."

Trent rose, buttoning his jacket.

He took the microphone with both hands.

"Thank you, sir." He paused, warm and rueful. "I won't lie to you. This is hard. For some time now, my wife has been unwell."

The hall went quiet.

"She has been following me. She has accused me of things I won't repeat. She has been seen in public with a younger man," he turned his head slowly, finding me, "and I'm afraid, as her husband, I have to ask this company to consider whether she's fit to vote her shares."

Two hundred heads turned and looked at me.

I did not move.

My hand on the cup stayed steady.

Hallie stood.

She walked to the podium, and Trent held out the microphone with a gracious, pitying smile.

← Chapter 18 · All chapters · Chapter 20 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend