The Transactional Marriage That Imploded novel Chapter 71

In life and death, we are bound. They really were playing up the whole 'till death do us part' angle.

Xanthe Webber cursed out loud in her office for the entire morning. "If that's the case, why not just get a divorce? All he does is drag Bianca down."

Xanthe really couldn't wrap her head around that scumbag.

What worried her most was whether Bianca had caught wind of the news yet. Watching her own husband act like the most devoted lover in the world with another woman every single day—it had to be unbearable!

She gave Bianca a call. "Are you busy?"

"Swamped," Bianca replied. "I saw the stunt Mathis pulled. I'm fine, don't worry about me. I just really miss your cooking."

Xanthe lowered her voice. "I'm bringing my parents to Austin City to visit you over the October long weekend."

"That sounds great!"

Xanthe added mysteriously, "Cillian said he's coming too."

"Even better!" Bianca smiled.

Working in the tech industry, it would have been impossible for Bianca not to hear about the massive PR stunt Mathis had orchestrated. Even if she avoided the trending topics online, everyone else was looking at them and talking about them.

When the company's engineers got brain drain from writing code, they would pull up the video of Cynthia Quinn's press conference for a laugh. Everyone chipped in, digging through the footage until they had compiled a list of over twenty blunders.

They dropped the hard evidence proving Cynthia had zero involvement in the project into their developer group chats, circulating the list of jokes within their tight-knit circles.

Bianca saw it too, but she simply brushed it off with a laugh. Given the extent to which Mathis was currently propping Cynthia up, if these exposés were posted on any public platform, they would be scrubbed from the internet within minutes.

Bianca knew she had to let this go. Her therapist's advice was still ringing in her ears.

Bianca replied calmly, "We aren't selling fast-moving consumer goods. If we don't compete on tech, what do we compete on? Connections? Or perhaps we should compete on who can run up a higher tab wining and dining clients at shady clubs, Mr. Yates?"

Bianca had asked finance to send her Hugo's expense reports and ran them straight through their AI model for analysis. The anomalies were glaring.

She threw the reports right onto the table during the meeting. Hugo looked completely unbothered. "Ms. Baldwin, this is very unprofessional of you. If you have solid proof that my finances are out of line, then call the police."

He offered a mocking smile before adding, "Lately, when I go out to meet people, everyone asks me if our company is going downhill. They say our new executive leaves a lot to be desired."

Bianca sneered. "You don't need to be so passive-aggressive. I haven't even met a fraction of our clients or competitors yet, so what basis do they have to judge me?

"This is the final decision for today. If Mr. Yates has an issue with it, you can take it up with Mr. Calder or see yourself out. After all, you're hardly an indispensable asset to this company."

With that, she instructed her assistant, Mona Gibbons, to send out the memo to the sales department, giving them a strict five-day deadline to submit the client pain point reports.