Forced Love Would Never be Sweet

Alina's POV

Lucy clearly hadn’t expected me to show up as her face went pale, then flushed.

She bit her lower lip, grabbed a wine glass, and, without warning, tossed the entire contents of red wine straight into my face.

“A no-name college graduate who’s always late, leaves early, snacks at her desk, and spends all day watching dramas. You think you’re qualified to meet a CEO worth tens of billions?” she sneered.

In the stunned silence that followed, she got bolder, hurling the now-empty glass at my feet with a sharp clink.

“I’m not going to tolerate some gold-digger trying to seduce her way up the ladder. Get lost, and the farther the better!” she snarled.

The wine dripped from my freshly styled hair, ran down my cheeks, and soaked into my pale pink Chanel suit.

I didn’t wipe it away. Instead, I turned my eyes toward Yorick, sitting in his usual place of authority.

He acted as if nothing had happened, not even glancing at me. Instead, his gaze lingered on Lucy with a faint look of admiration, the corner of his mouth lifting ever so slightly.

Now, I finally understand where Lucy got the nerve to humiliate me by throwing wine in my face in front of everyone.

I let out a short, cold laugh and pulled out a chair, dropping into it casually. “So, Mr. Holland, are you gonna fire me?”

He stayed silent for a moment before replying flatly, “Let’s part ways on good terms. No need to make things ugly.”

That holier-than-thou tone almost made me laugh outright.

Five years ago, I had just graduated from a top finance program overseas when my grandfather urged me to return home for a blind date.

The man, he said, was Yorick, the grandson of his old war buddy. While his family background wasn’t much, he was good-looking and full of promise.

To help us “get to know each other,” my grandfather arranged for me to work at Holland Corporation.

For the past two years, I had appeared to be the perfect corporate slacker, rolling in late, leaving early, touching up my makeup, watching dramas, and painting my nails.

But in reality, every single major deal Holland Corporation landed in those years was because of my family name.

I didn’t need to prepare a thing. Just showing up was enough to draw in opportunities like a magnet.

Because of that, Holland Corporation’s market value tripled in two years, and Yorick went from an unknown in the industry to a hard-nosed young CEO regularly featured in finance news.

And still, I had never once asked him for credit.

He didn’t even know my real background, only that I was his arranged fiancée, and so he kept me at arm’s length.

Then Lucy came along. And under her influence, his tolerance for me thinned to nothing. Now, he was even letting her throw wine at me in public.

Clearly, this engagement was over.

I didn’t bother looking at Yorick again. I wiped the wine from my face, pulled out a compact mirror, and began touching up my makeup.

As such, the soft puff scattered fine powder over the dishes on the table.

Yorick’s brows drew together, and Lucy stormed over, knocking my makeup bag to the floor.

“The President already told you to leave. How can you still have the face to stay here?” she snapped. “Don’t think no one knows. I’ve seen you get out of different luxury cars in the middle of the night. And when I checked the plates, it turned out they belonged to the Porter Group’s CEO!”

With disgust on her face, she continued, “Mr. Porter has a wife and kids, and you still throw yourself at him? You’re a shameless homewrecker, a disgrace to the whole company.”

Her face was lit with satisfaction after she said that. Clearly, she was enjoying parading my supposed “scandal” in front of everyone.

Half amused, I pointed to myself and asked, “Me?” then pointed toward Mr. Porter, who was seated near the door, “His mistress? You sure about that?”

I looked at her with a strange expression. Was this woman out of her mind?

But she mistook my reaction for guilt and, emboldened, started mocking me even more eagerly.