---- Chapter 9 After Nadine died, I went home. My parents looked at me like they were scared to breathe wrong. I locked myself in my room. Didn't eat. Didn't drink. Just curled up with Nadine's ashes, hoping the pain would dull even a little. But life doesn't pause for grief. I turned in my resignation. Had to show up to wrap things up. The second I stepped into Busch Corp, the air shifted. Cold stares. Whispers everywhere. When I reached the sales floor to pack, it got worse -people didn't even bother hiding it. ---- The same coworkers who once toasted me at the company dinner were now spitting venom. "No wonder you didn't call your 'husband'-you were busy stealing Peggy's guy." "Ts there any man you haven't slept with? You couldn't even pull off being a decent side chick. Working with you makes me sick." Peggy kept stirring the pot, and the rumors exploded. Before long, everyone at Busch Corp believed I slept my way into deals and stole Peggy's boyfriend. They said I envied everything she had. Some even slapped my face onto fake explicit videos. To them, I wasn't human-I was filth. Mistresses didn't deserve respect. Just spit and ---- hate. Even someone I used to trust "accidentally" dumped burning coffee on me. "Danielle, I really thought you were different," she snapped. "I had your back, and you trashed my name. Now people think I'm just like you. You make me sick." They expected me to lose it. To cry, scream, beg for sympathy. Instead, I walked to the bathroom, treated the burn, then packed up my stuff and walked out- head high, not a word. They thought they were defending workplace morals by trashing the 'homewrecker.' But a few days later, every inbox in that office lit up with the same video. Me, climbing out a third-story window with