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CHAPTER 3 — “I THOUGHT YOU WERE A DIFFERENT KIND OF MAN”

“If you stay,” Richard said, “you will no longer work for me for a salary.”

Emily stared at him.

For several seconds, she wasn't sure she had heard correctly.

“I'm sorry?”

“You heard me.”

“You want me to work for free?”

Richard didn't answer immediately.

That silence was enough.

Emily's eyes filled with tears.

Seven years.

Seven years of giving everything she had to the company.

She had sacrificed weekends.

She had canceled personal plans.

She had stayed late because someone needed to finish a contract.

And now her reward was apparently an offer to work without being paid.

“I thought you were a different kind of man,” she whispered.

Richard looked surprised.

“Emily—”

“No.”

She stood up.

“Please don't explain.”

“You've misunderstood me.”

“Have I?”

Her voice cracked.

“My family depends on my salary. You know that.”

“I do.”

“Then why would you ask me to work for free?”

Richard stood slowly.

“I didn't ask you to work for free.”

Emily stopped.

“What?”

“I said you will no longer work for me for a salary.”

She stared at him.

The distinction sounded absurd.

“What is the difference?”

Richard reached into his jacket and pulled out the folder Emily had seen earlier.

He handed it to her.

“Open it.”

Her hands were shaking.

Inside was a document.

But it wasn't a termination notice.

It was a proposal.

Richard had been planning something completely different.

For years, he had watched Emily perform responsibilities far beyond the position she originally accepted.

She had learned the company's operations from the inside.

She understood the clients.

She knew the staff.

She understood how the business worked.

Richard had reached a point in his life where he was thinking about retirement.

But he didn't want to sell the company to someone who would immediately change everything.

He wanted someone he trusted to continue it.

And he had chosen Emily.

The condition wasn't that she work without pay.

The condition was that she stop being his employee.

He wanted her to become a partner.

Emily slowly turned the pages.

There were financial documents.

Legal papers.