When Love Becomes a Cage (Melanie)

 Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Remembering that I'm his wife now? Clyde was truly shameless!

I shrugged, replying, "I know you've forgotten a lot, but you once swore you'd never take advantage of me. If you want to use my designs, why not just pay me for the patents? Are you trying to get a free lunch here?"

With more treatments to pay for and no clue when Clyde and I would officially part ways, I had to plan for myself.

I never wanted to sell my patents to other companies, but dealing with Patterson Group seemed fine.

As I glanced at Rachel's face, twisted in resentment, I couldn't help but say, "Clyde, you know I'm out of the profit-sharing loop. If you don't pay up for the patents, you're basically mooching off me."

Clyde frowned, looking over the patents for more than a dozen projects, about to say something, but Rachel beat him to it.

"Clyde, since I'm running the Design Department, let me handle this."

She shot me a vicious look. "We were classmates, and I've studied abroad for years. My designs are up to par."

I raised an eyebrow but kept silent.

As long as Clyde was in his right mind, he wouldn't let her start from scratch.

Redoing the designs for all these projects? The team had spent a year completing them and negotiating contracts. How could she possibly redo all that?

Unless Clyde had lost his marbles, he wouldn't agree to her proposal.

After a moment of thought, Clyde indeed disagreed. "Let's talk about this later, Rachel."

He then looked up at me, saying, "You'll get your patent fees."

Rachel tried to protest, but Clyde simply patted her hand, signaling her to relax.

Watching their intimate interaction, I kept my face expressionless.

It was either use my patents to continue the projects or start the designs from scratch. Clyde knew what mattered more.

I didn't linger, grabbing my things and leaving the office.

As I reached the door, I looked back, wondering why it felt like I might never return.

Back at the hospital, I told Warren I needed to be admitted.

He looked at me, expressionless as ever, "Tired of playing the underworld bureaucrat?"

I nodded seriously.

"Yeah, planning to get my health back on track, aim for a real civil service position before I hit 35."

He eyed me for a long moment before a sly smile crept across his face.

"I think you can do it."

I rested in the hospital, content knowing Clyde had sorted the paperwork as requested.

Not only confirming my withdrawal from the projects but also that some would no longer use my patents.

When Lina brought me the documents, her face was full of apologies.

"Melanie, all this effort was yours, it's so unfair."

"Clyde's the boss, his word is law."

I wasn't too bothered by it anymore.

It

that I wished the Patterson

any harm, but meddling

further seemed pointless.

Rachel was a professional designer after all; I figured she could manage the tasks methodically.

But I hadn't expected her to boldly alter designs for already signed projects.

Especially the overpass project, which underwent major changes leading the contractors and the Aspire World team to halt work and demand an explanation from Patterson Group.

This didn't just stall the project; it led to an inquiry from higher-ups.

By the time I caught wind of it, Clyde had already been summoned for a talk.

Jade visited me in the hospital, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Clyde really went out on a limb for her, taking all the blame. He might even face jail time."

"Lucky you got out when you did, or

our whole

a

Design Department

been dragged down. What

tovi