The Wife He Couldn't Replace

When I was three months pregnant with my second child, I met Ethan Clark's canary.

She wore expensive jewelry, carried a Herms bag, and walked into the VIP consultation room.

Ethan Clark's secretary followed behind her and respectfully called her Mrs. Clark.

I looked at the bank card in his hand, took out my phone, and called the bank's customer service.

"Hello, please help me cancel the supplementary card ending in 3306."

After putting my phone away, I looked at that VIP room, and without money backing her up, she and her Mr. Clark would both have to pack their bags and get out!

After I came back from the hospital, Ethan Clark came home early for once.

He had even cooked a whole table of nice dishes.

"You're back, honey, you worked hard today." He came over and kissed me on the cheek, wearing a warm smile on his face.

But the scent of lily-of-the-valley perfume on him made me feel sick.

I pushed him away and rushed to the bathroom to throw up, and Ethan Clark's face turned dark, but when I came out, he looked like he wanted to say something and then stopped himself.

I wiped my mouth and spoke first. "I'm going to the company tomorrow."

"What are you going there for?!" he objected instinctively.

Maybe he felt his tone had been too harsh, because Ethan softened his voice and said, "Honey, you're three months pregnant, and you still have our child to take care of, so going to the company will only give you a headache, and you might as well rest properly at home."

I smiled. "But during my prenatal checkup today, the doctor said I haven't been moving around enough and told me to exercise more."

"Going to the company is perfect, and besides, with you there, what is there to worry about, so that's settled."

Ethan had no choice but to compromise.

Had he forgotten that the company belonged to my family, and he was only an employee?

After working there for so long, did he really think it had become his?

But he was too embarrassed to ask me about the canceled supplementary card, and I figured he knew exactly what had happened, since the spending records were right there.

The next day, I took a car to the company, and Ethan personally came to pick me up, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as he escorted me all the way into the elevator.

In the crowd, I saw a familiar figure, and it was the woman I had seen yesterday.

When Ethan saw that, he couldn't help getting nervous, and the hand on my shoulder tightened slightly.

I frowned, stepped aside, and walked straight up to her.

Along the way, all the employees called me Ms. Sterling, and only she called me, "Mrs. Clark."

"Mrs. Clark?"

I couldn't help giving a light scoff, and the secretary beside me snapped, "This is Ms. Sterling!"

"Ms. Sterling, she's new, so she doesn't know you."

I looked at him. "Mr. Blake, this is someone you brought in, yet on her first day at work, she can't even recognize the company leadership's titles, and I don't need someone like that."

"Fire her."

"On what grounds, Ms. Sterling, just because I used the wrong title, and isn't my ability more important than a form of address?"

I stopped and looked at her. "What's your name?"

"Mia Collins."

"Ms. Collins, one of our company's hiring standards is a degree from a top university, and if you can't even remember job titles, I have serious doubts about your ability in other areas."

"HR, whoever recruited her will lose their entire quarterly bonus, and Mr. Blake, that includes you too, and if this happens again, you can get out with her!"

After saying that, I ignored the look on her face and walked straight to my office, while Ethan didn't say a single word, as if he didn't know this person at all.

In fact, my people inside the company had already sent me photos of the two of them.

Mr. Blake, the person I had personally promoted and placed beside Ethan, had betrayed me.

I had always been someone who liked peace of mind.

If they refused to give me peace of mind, I would not let them feel at ease either.

After we entered, Ethan tried to persuade me. "Why get angry over such a small thing, look at you, this is why I told you not to come, because you're getting mad over someone insignificant."

I raised an eyebrow. "This isn't insignificant, it's poor management."

"I'm the boss, and she doesn't even know the person who pays her salary, which only proves that you, Ethan Clark, have failed in your management and committed serious dereliction of duty."

"I'm now considering whether you're still qualified for this position."

I folded my arms and leaned back in my chair, and a flash of displeasure crossed Ethan's face.

Then he walked over, placed both hands on the armrests of my chair, and trapped me between his arms.

"Does that mean my wife wants me to go home and be a full-time dad?"

He touched my lower abdomen. "Would that make you satisfied?"

I chuckled. "Yes, so are you willing?"

He froze, then quickly smiled. "I know you too well, it's just the pregnancy hormones acting up, and if I really go home, you'll be unhappy again."

I smiled without saying anything and stopped dwelling on the topic, because Ethan would never be willing to leave just like that.

So I wasn't in a hurry either.

I pressed the intercom. "Notify the project department that we're having a meeting in ten minutes!"

Seeing this, Ethan was instinctively surprised. "A project department meeting, honey, the current projects have basically all been finalized, so calling a meeting halfway through might be a little"

"The Starlight project has been going on for three months, as far as I know, and I already gave them a final warning before I got pregnant, but now I'm already three full months pregnant, and there has been no progress at all!"

"If I don't put some pressure on them, they won't take it seriously."

"All right, Vice President Clark, get ready to come with me now."

I deliberately emphasized his job title.

Although Ethan was dissatisfied, he had no choice but to follow me to the conference room.

When we arrived, several members of the project team came in one after another, and I glanced at Mr. Blake. "Who else hasn't arrived?"

"Project Team Two hasn't arrived yet, which is the team Mia Collins belongs to."

Hearing that, I couldn't help laughing. "Just because Mia Collins was fired, does that mean the entire Project Team Two isn't coming?"

Mr. Blake stammered, and I said softly, "Fire every employee in Project Team Two."

"Honey!"

"There is no honey here, only superiors and subordinates, so please address me by my title."

Ethan clenched his fists, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged before he finally said after a long while, "Ms. Sterling, Project Team Two has been following up on Starlight for three months, and if they're all fired, I'm afraid it will shake the foundation."

"The Sterling family does not need useless people, and three months without any result on a project proves they never put their hearts into it, so fire them all and pay whatever compensation should be paid, and since they're so unhappy about Mia Collins being fired, they can simply join her in unemployment."

"Mr. Blake, starting today, you will be demoted to an ordinary secretary."

"Hand your work over to Grace Reed!"

Mr. Blake froze, but when he met my gaze, he couldn't say anything more and could only silently nod before sitting to the side.

Then I waved my hand. "An ordinary secretary is not qualified to attend a project department meeting, so leave first, and now the meeting begins!"

I acted swiftly and decisively, questioning everyone about every task from the past three months, and everyone realized with surprise that even though I had been at home waiting to give birth, nothing I should have known had escaped me.

I even knew clearly about all the little tricks they had played behind the scenes.

From their initial dismissive attitude, everyone gradually became serious.

Twenty minutes after the meeting ended, HR quickly issued the layoff list, causing a huge uproar in the company.

The people from Project Team Two rushed into my office. "Ms. Sterling, what exactly is going on, is it just because I didn't attend the meeting?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Give me a reasonable reason for not attending the meeting, and that reason has to be convincing enough for me!"

They looked at one another, and one of them flushed. "We had a reason, because we were contacting the client."

I scoffed and shook my phone.

"I just finished speaking with Mr. Preston from Starlight, and he told me that in the past three months, you called him fewer than three times, so with the Starlight project stalled for so long, did you fulfill your responsibility?"

"I handed this project to you, and this is how you report back to me, yet now that you're facing me, you're still lying, so what is wrong with me firing you, and if you have any issues, you can go to arbitration or file a lawsuit, and I'll see it through to the end!"

"If there is nothing else now, you may leave!"

The few of them immediately looked at one another and could not say a word, so they had no choice but to turn their eyes to Ethan Clark. "Mr. Clark!"

Seeing that, Ethan snapped, "Didn't you hear what Ms. Sterling said, hurry up, pack your things, and leave, so stop embarrassing yourselves here!"

The few of them had no choice but to leave.

The world finally became quiet, and only then did Ethan turn to me. "Honey, your temper has been a little big lately."

"Is my temper big, or is your management poor, Ethan Clark, the company has only been under your control for three months, and it has already become like this, so when I stopped your supplementary card, did you really have no clue why?"

When Ethan heard me bring it up myself, his eyelid immediately twitched. "I"

He hurriedly tried to explain, but I raised my hand to stop him. "The fact that the Starlight project has failed to land for so long explains everything, and starting today, I will personally take over, so report any issues directly to me!"

"In addition, promote a new person from the secretary office, and Mr. Blake, it's time for you to take a rest!"

He understood my warning, and although he was angry, he still did not say much in the end.

"I'll go out and get busy first."

I took a deep breath, glanced at him, and nodded, then lowered my eyes back to the documents.

Probably because my arrival made him feel surrounded by danger, the project department soon ran into trouble.

"Ms. Sterling, Starlight signed the contract, and they signed with a new company that underbid us by only twenty cents!"

Hearing that, I was shocked, and immediately asked Grace Reed to come over. "What happened?"

"Ms. Sterling, this company is called Sunrise Group and was founded half a year ago, and its business overlaps heavily with ours."

"I checked the company information just now, and the legal representative is called Peter Collins."

Peter Collins?

I didn't know him, but the documents showed so many overlapping business areas, and although he was a strong competitor, no one in the industry had ever heard of him.

There was something wrong with this company.

"Keep investigating, especially the financial transactions between our company's internal accounts and theirs."

Grace Reed was extremely shocked, then immediately reacted and realized there was a problem inside the company.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain why their price was only twenty cents lower than ours.

I tapped the table and gave her a look, then smashed my water glass on the floor and lashed out at her.

Grace Reed left with red eyes and a dejected expression.

After the news reached Ethan, he came in with a little cake to see me. "Look at you, it's just one project, so don't ruin your health with anger."

"Eat some dessert, and let your husband handle whatever comes up."

I neither agreed nor disagreed, and he sent me home.

On the way, Ethan was in a great mood, and as I looked at the scenery constantly retreating outside the window, I thought of the day I first met Ethan, which had been a nice day just like this.

I had given a lecture at the university, and after it ended, Ethan handed me a bouquet of flowers.

He blushed and couldn't say a word, only stuffing a note into my palm.

I had seen plenty of men trying to curry favor with me, but someone like him was truly a first.

On the note was an art exhibition, and he had also written down the time.

That unusual invitation interested me, and since it was on my way, I went.

Ethan was working there as a guide, and after I listened to his entire tour, I started dating him.

A man who was obedient and decent-looking was easy to handle, and after marriage, we had our daughter, but now that I was three months pregnant with our second child, Ethan had shed the innocence of youth and left behind only ambition and greed, which made him disgusting.

As soon as I entered the house, Grace Reed sent photos to my phone.

"Ms. Sterling, Peter Collins is Mia Collins's father, and Sunrise Group was founded half a year ago, with the initial funds transferred in by Vice President Clark, and the registered capital was five million."

When I saw the photo of Ethan and Mia Collins walking into an apartment complex together, I couldn't help glancing sideways.

Ethan was surprised. "What's wrong, is there something on my face?"

"Nothing, I just saw a photo and thought it was pretty ridiculous."

I held my phone up in front of his eyes. "Ethan Clark, explain to me why the woman who was fired is with you."