He Threw Me a Check to Buy Out Our Love,Now He's Begging on His Knees

Before my mother died, she made me swear an oath: that I would marry and have a child before I turned thirty, and that the child would take my surname.

I reminded my fianc of it again. He rolled his eyes.

Do me a favor and wake up. It's a new century.

Besides, we agreed to get married this year. Why do you keep pushing me about this, over and over?

He called his secretary in to bring a check, wrote in the figure of five hundred thousand, and handed it to me.

"This is the five hundred thousand you put in when you started the company. I'm giving it back to you now."

"I think you need to take some time off. Go travel, go shopping, whatever you like."

"When you've worked it out in your head, call me."

I stood where I was and didn't move. Toby flicked his hand and walked out.

The secretary called people in to clear out my office, then pushed me out the door.

"The boss is young and rich. Why would he ever tie himself down to a tree like you?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. The boss is coming to my place tonight..."

I slapped her across the face and tore the check to shreds.

"He doesn't even dare to talk to me like that. Who do you think you are?"

...

Back home, I called a courier company.

The courier was halfway through packing when Toby Gilbert came back.

"What is this?"

He frowned and told the courier to stop. "Alison Lambert, I didn't think you were this petty."

"So I said a few things at the office. Was that really worth all this?"

Somewhere along the way, Toby had grown more and more self-absorbed.

He saw everything around him only from his own angle, including the seven years between us.

I used to love him, so I went along with him.

But today I finally understood. It was time to wake up from the dream.

"Do you even know what your secretary did?"

Toby took a deep breath, pulled out some cash, and sent the courier away.

"Do you have any idea the company is at a critical stage going public? If these people start spreading talk..."

"Does that have anything to do with me?"

I cut him off and threw it back at him. "Seven years together, seven years of everything I gave, and you buy it all out for a measly five hundred thousand. Did you ever once think about how I feel?"

"And coming home at this hour. You've already been to your secretary's place, haven't you?"

"She's from your hometown! You hired her in yourself! How can you think that way?" Toby lost his temper.

He was like a cat with its fur on end, shouting at me in a blind fury.

"What did I say when Marianne Whitney joined the company? Her credentials weren't enough, her ability wasn't there, and she was a fresh graduate! You're the one who said she was from your hometown, that we should give her a chance!"

"You picked her. And now you're the one throwing around wild suspicions. What exactly do you want?"

Toby wasn't wrong. Marianne was the one I'd hired, and she really was from my hometown.

Our two villages were separated by just one river.

But there was one thing he left out. Back then, Marianne's rsum listed a very significant piece of project experience.

I'd checked it with HR, and they told me it was real.

Thinking about it now, Toby had probably already had a word with HR ahead of time.

After Marianne joined, she didn't show any of that ability. If anything, she made mistake after mistake.

And when I was ready to let her go, it was Toby who brought it up himself, saying we should give a young person a chance.

Because Marianne was also a junior from our same school.

He even went so far as to vouch for her hard at the board meeting when she made a major blunder.

"Everyone has to come up through this stage. Without weathering the storm, how do you ever see the rainbow?"

"And she's the chairman's secretary. Whether she's capable or not, wouldn't I, as chairman, know best?"

Nothing had changed.

"Will you stop this nonsense?"

Toby dropped onto the sofa, equal parts exasperated and furious, and stabbed a finger at the luggage scattered across the floor. "Even if you won't think of yourself, think of the company! You can't go pulling something this reckless!"

"If the IPO gets held up because of this, can you carry that on your shoulders?"

Years of cutthroat business had made this hypocritical face second nature to him.

I just never imagined the day would come when he'd turn it on me.

How absurd it all was.

"Didn't I give you five hundred thousand? What can't that money buy?"

The more he talked, the angrier he got. "If you've really got that much pride, then go ahead, don't cash the check!"

"Toby."

I sat across from him and spoke, my voice gone rough. "Wipe the lipstick off your face first."

"I"

The word caught in his throat. He raised a flustered hand and swiped at his cheek. "Stop making a scene over nothing. Once this busy stretch is behind us, I'll marry you, and we'll have a child who carries your surname. Of course we will."

"That's what I promised you. I've never forgotten it."

"And how long is this busy stretch?" I pressed.

Toby's eyes changed, as if he were looking at a stranger.

"You know the IPO process as well as anyone! This dream is finally within reach. After all these years of grinding, all the way to nowdo you have any idea how hard that was?"

I'd lost count of how many times he'd steered the subject away like this.

"My father called yesterday. In six months it'll be the anniversary of my mother's passing"

"Shut up! Alison Lambert, let me make this clear. There's no marriage now, not a chance! Not until the company goes public!"

Toby got to his feet and headed for the stairs. "And I've changed my mind. Even if we do have a child someday, I won't let it take your surname! You brought every bit of this on yourself. Don't go blaming anyone else!"

The next morning Toby left early, and I called back yesterday's courier.

He hesitated a little. "These valuables won't end up in some dispute, will they?"

I smiled and showed him my property deed, along with a few purchase receipts.

He packed up everything that could be boxed and shipped it back to my hometown.

Then I phoned the real estate agency and told them to offload the house as fast as they could.

When we graduated from college, Toby wanted to start a company.

I'd told my father back home all about it. "Toby's an orphan. He says after we marry he'll live with our family, and our children will take my surname."

Delighted, my father wired over a million. He said to use half for a house and the other half to launch the business.

"Ms. Lambert, the market's slow right now. This place will fetch two million at most. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

My father had meant for it to be our safety net.

But now there wouldn't even be a marriage. What was the point of keeping the house?

By noon someone came to look at it. We didn't settle on a price, and they said they'd think it over.

I cooked myself a bowl of noodles. Then came a knock at the door.

It was Marianne Whitney.

She stood there with a black plastic bag, not stepping inside.

"Allie, I owe my spot at the company to you. Now that you're leaving, I came to see you off."

She opened the bag. Inside sat a potted pine, lush and green.

"I always admired your eye, you know. To land someone like Mr. Gilbert, the golden boy himself, as a husband."

"From now on, I'll take good care of him for you. So go in peace."

I looked at Marianne, that flower-bright smile of hers. The old me would have slapped it off her face long ago.

But now, there hardly seemed to be any point.

"Thank you. That's very thoughtful of you."

When I refused to take the bait, Marianne pushed in harder.

She carried the pine straight inside, set it deliberately out on the balcony, and started watering it with the ease of someone who already lived there.

"Ms. Lambert, this apartment belongs to Toby too, doesn't it?"

She didn't care whether I answered. "Toby told me that once you're gone I should move in here, so I can have his guidance whenever I need it. You won't mind, will you?"

I walked over to her, easy and unhurried, and slapped her across the face anyway.

"I really don't get it. You're a mistress who slept her way up, so where do you find the nerve to come here and pick a fight with me?"

Marianne held her cheek and looked at me, smiling, then kicked the pine over.

By the time I registered that something was off, Toby's roar came from behind me.

"Alison, what do you think you're doing?!"

He came striding in, shoved me roughly aside, and pulled Marianne into his arms.

"Marianne, are you hurt?"

His broad hand cradled her cheek. "Let me take you to the hospital!"

Marianne shook her head to stop him, turned to look at me, and choked out the words.

"Toby, I'm fine."

"Maybe there's some misunderstanding between you and Ms. Lambert? I only told her this was the pine you bought, that she should take good care of it... but she... but she..."

That pitiful, fragile picture of her sent the blood rushing to Toby's head.

"Alison, today I finally see you for what you are!"

"The problem's between you and me. Why are you taking it out on Marianne?"

Marianne was still clinging and pulling at Toby, pushing him away while drawing him in.

But the two of them kept drifting closer to me, until Toby's hand cracked across my face.

"You hit me?"

He'd hesitated in the instant before he did it. He landed it on my face all the same.

I thought back to the early days, when we were building the company, one cup of instant ramen split between us, a single hot dog torn in half.

Back then Toby had smiled and told me he would give me a happy future.

I believed his vows, and I waited until his success came.

But the person standing at his side would never again be me.

"So what if I hit you?"

He was uneasy at first, then steadied fast and turned it back on me. "You apologize to Marianne. Right now."

"And if I say no?"

I watched the scene in front of me with an aching heart. How familiar this past felt.

"Alison, I've given you more than enough face already."

His arrogance kept swelling, as if I were some class enemy.

"If you insist on throwing my goodwill back in my face, then don't blame me for not being gentle with you."

I was rather curious to see just how ungentle he intended to be.

"Toby, Ms. Lambert, please stop fighting. It's all my fault, all of it is my fault."

Marianne suddenly burst into loud sobbing, then ran off in tears.

Toby lifted a foot to chase after her, stopped, and turned back to point at me, biting off each word.

"Alison, you remember this. If anything happens to Marianne, I'll make sure you wish you were dead."

What big talk.

He seemed to have forgotten long ago, or maybe he'd never taken it to heart at all.

That he could get to where he was today, that he could build the company to what it had become...

That stood on every ounce of my energy and everything I'd poured in.

Fine, then. At the very least, before I left, I would take back what was mine.

I wouldn't leave him so much as a single cent.

The next night, I met with two of the company's partners.

Madge Floyd and Maxine Floyd, two sisters.

They were also the company's strategic partners.

Once we were in the private room, Maxine bounced over to my side.

"Allie, you're looking a little pale."

I gave a bitter smile and told them what had happened between me and Toby.

Madge stayed silent through the whole thing. Maxine, though, was furious, waving her little fist in the air.

Toby is scum. If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have any of this.

Then she turned to her sister. Madge, we don't owe Toby anything. Since little Allie's out of the picture now, let's just cancel the partnership. What do you think?

Madge said nothing. I signaled the server to bring the food.

A few glasses of red wine in, a faint flush rose on Madge's face, and she looked at me, serious now.

The partnership doesn't matter. But I want to knowhow do you plan to deal with Toby?

Business is a battlefield. Company partnerships can't be mixed up with personal feelings.

Maxine got a little anxious, but Madge raised a hand to stop her. But for you, I can make an exception this once.

The two sisters were three years ahead of me in school. We'd been in the same computer club, so we'd always gotten along well enough.

One year, their family's company hit a crisis, and the sisters couldn't even afford to eat.

When I heard, I took out what little living money I had, and the three of us scraped through that whole year together.

It was because of you that we brought Toby's company into our partnerships in the first place.

Talking about it stirred something in Madge too. So we can set all that aside. Tell mewhat are your plans now?

I said it plainly: I was going to take back everything I'd lost.

Maxine clapped in agreement, and Madge said she'd help me.

Just canceling the partnership is the biggest help you could give me. Anything more wouldn't be right coming from you.

Madge moved fast.

Three days later, a termination agreement landed on Toby's desk.

Marianne, cheeks flushed and voice all sweetness, brought me up.

Mr. Gilbert, is there any chance this has something to do with Allie? I mean, the Floyd sisters

She was good at this kind of thingsay half of it, and leave the rest for Toby to decide.

Whether or not Toby pinned it on me, Marianne lost nothing either way.

You're right. This has to be Alison's doing.

I was in the middle of signing a property contract with a buyer when Toby called, seething.

Alison, how can you be so shameless?

I asked back, what was wrong?

Toby skipped the lead-up and went straight to Floyd Group.

Our partnership with Floyd Group has always gone smoothly. If you hadn't been stirring things up behind the scenes, why would they terminate?

I set the phone aside and finished signing with the buyer, smiling.

After the buyer left, Toby was still going on in my ear.

You think staying quiet means I don't know you're the one causing trouble behind my back?

Do you have any ideaon this alone, I could take you to court. Do you know how much damage this is doing to the company?

When he'd worn himself out and was breathing hard, I could still hear Marianne soothing him in that soft, gentle voice.

Once it had gone completely quiet, I asked him with a light laugh.

What does any of this have to do with me?