What She Overheard in Her Own Marriage novel Chapter 19

"Clang!" The teacup in Kaia's hand slammed onto the desk at those words.

They could talk about her, but not her daughter.

Seeing the color drain from Kaia's face, Laura immediately started tapping her own mouth with her fingers. "It's my fault for running my mouth. Dr. Chavez, don't take it to heart. I'm telling you, these gossips are just unhappy with their own lives, so they go around judging other people's families."

"I'm stepping out for a minute. Laura, thank you for telling me this." Kaia stood up and walked out the door.

Kaia headed straight for the breakroom. Before she even reached the door, she could hear people inside, their voices low and excited.

"No way, Dr. Chavez's daughter has a congenital heart defect? This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"Of course it's true. A condition like that can be mild or severe. Even if it's treated, there's no guarantee she'll live a long life. And there are plenty of cases where it's untreatable."

"Shh, I'm only telling you guys. Don't spread it around. If Mr. Sanders hears about this, we're all screwed."

"If that's true, Mr. Sanders is really unlucky. Who wouldn't want a healthy child?"

"Exactly. I guess a toxic woman is bound to have a broken child..."

Kaia turned off the recording on her phone and walked in.

Someone had left a half-empty cup of coffee on the counter. Kaia picked it up and splashed it directly into the face of the supervisor leading the gossip.

She was on Noelle's team. Kaia had every reason to believe she was the one who started the rumor.

"Dr... Dr. Chavez." The people in the room panicked at the sight of Kaia and quickly scattered.

"Dr. Chavez, what are you doing?" The supervisor, Renee Wallace, her face dripping with black coffee, demanded, trying to suppress her anger.

Kaia stared at her coldly. "Because your mouth is foul."

"I..." Renee's heart pounded, and her face went pale.

Kaia turned to leave. "Having a maggot like you in this company will only continue to disrupt morale. Perhaps the one who should be leaving is you."

Kaia shook off the hand that grabbed her arm and strode toward the executive office.

Renee stood frozen, a sense of impending doom washing over her.

Meanwhile, in the president's office, Finnian stood by his massive ebony desk, clutching the resignation form.

His assistant had brought it to him first thing in the morning. The reason for leaving: personal.

Noelle stood before the desk. A well-tailored royal blue suit couldn't hide how thin she had become in recent days. Her face was pale, but her eyes held a do-or-die resolve.

"Is this your choice?"

Finnian's voice was low, his emotions unreadable.

His gaze remained fixed on the two words—'personal reasons'—not looking at her.