The words hit Victoria like a physical assault. Even though she had known this was coming, hearing it stated so formally, so finally, made it real in a way that his note hadn't. Her heart began pounding so hard she was certain the others could hear it, the sound of her own pulse drowning out everything else in the room.
Amara excused herself quickly, perhaps sensing the tension in the air, leaving Victoria alone with Diane and the devastating confirmation of James's departure from every aspect of her life.
"The resignation is quite abrupt," Diane continued, clearly puzzled by the sudden development. "I was hoping you might have some insight into his reasoning. As his direct supervisor and given how integral he was to company operations, I wasn't sure whether to approve it without your input."
Victoria's response came without thought, born from pure desperation rather than rational consideration. "Reject it. I don't agree to him leaving."
Diane sighed and shook her head with the patience of someone delivering unwelcome news to a stubborn child. "Ms. Sharp, James was very clear in his letter. He stated that he would pay any contractual penalties or fines if the resignation was denied. You know our company policy, when an employee is able and willing to pay the departure penalties, the resignation is automatically approved."
The reminder of company policy felt like salt in an open wound. Victoria had helped draft those very policies, designed to protect the company from employees who might try to leave without proper notice. Now those same protections were being used to facilitate James's escape from her.
Victoria breathed in deeply, her usually brilliant mind feeling completely blank, as if all her intelligence and strategic thinking had abandoned her in this moment of crisis. Behind her dark sunglasses, fresh tears began to well up, threatening to spill over and expose her emotional state to her subordinate.
"Approve his resignation," she said finally, the words feeling like shards of glass in her throat. It was the hardest sentence she had ever spoken, a lie that went against every fiber of her being. She didn't want to approve anything. She wanted James back at his desk outside her office, wanted him in her bed, wanted him in her life. She wanted to turn back time and undo every terrible decision that had led to this moment.
Diane studied her carefully, clearly sensing that something was amiss despite Victoria's attempts to maintain her professional composure. "Ms. Sharp, are you alright? You seem..."
Victoria crossed her arms and straightened in her chair, donning the CEO persona that had served as her shield for so many years. "Do I look like I'm not alright?" she asked with forced authority, raising an eyebrow in the intimidating manner that had cowed countless employees and competitors.
Diane immediately backed down, shaking her head and clearly second guessing her observations. We're talking about this Victoria Sharp. A formidable woman. "Of course not. You're right, it's just... James is just another employee, after all. He can be replaced."
The casual dismissal of James as "just another employee" felt like a knife twisting in Victoria's chest, but she forced herself to nod as if she agreed with the assessment.
"Were you aware of his reasoning for leaving?" Diane asked, her curiosity clearly getting the better of her professional discretion.
Victoria sighed in her typical dismissive manner and raised her eyebrow again. "If you're that curious about an employee's personal motivations, perhaps you should ask the person in question. I'm too busy running a company to figure out why someone chooses to quit out of the blue. We just secured the Anderson contract, after all. There are more important things to focus on."
Diane nodded quickly, chastened by Victoria's response. "You're absolutely right. Congratulations again on the Anderson deal. That's what really matters."
"Exactly," Victoria replied, though the words felt hollow. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
The moment Diane left, Victoria grabbed her phone and called Amara. "I'm not to be disturbed for the rest of the day," she said curtly, ending the call before her assistant could respond or ask questions.
Victoria removed her sunglasses with trembling hands and immediately the tears she had been holding back came flooding out in massive, uncontrollable waves. Her beautiful blue eyes, usually so clear and commanding, were now raw and red, swollen from hours of crying. She looked like a completely different person, and she felt like one too.
Everything was a mess. Her life, her heart, her carefully constructed world. The man she had feared losing above all else was finally gone, and it was entirely her own doing. The man she had risked everything to keep close had abandoned her without a second thought, and she had no one to blame but herself.
Victoria sobbed until her throat was raw, until her chest ached from the violence of her crying, until she could barely breathe through her congested nose. She had never lost control like this, had never allowed herself to be so completely vulnerable, but the pain was too overwhelming to contain.
When the tears finally slowed enough for her to think clearly, Victoria found herself walking toward the hidden door in her office that led to the private bedroom she had installed years ago. She had used it for late nights when important deals required her presence around the clock, but it had become something else entirely after James had entered her life.
The moment she stepped into the small room, memories crashed over her like a tsunami. This was where she and James had made love when working hours became too tempting to resist. This was where they had joined together on the wall, where she had allowed herself to be soft and vulnerable in ways she had never been with anyone else.
The room and bed still smelled very faintly of his cologne, and Victoria collapsed onto it, burying her face in the pillows and inhaling deeply, trying to capture any remaining trace of the man she had lost. The memories were exquisite torture, each one a reminder of what she had thrown away, what she would never have again.
She remembered the way James looked at her when they made love, like she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She remembered his gentle but passionate hands, his soft words of affection but commanding nonetheless, the way he made her feel cherished and protected despite being the one with all the power in their professional relationship.
Those days were gone forever. She would never again feel his arms around her, never again wake up to his smile, never again share the intimate moments that had made her feel human instead of just successful. The future she had imagined, the life they could have built together, had been destroyed by her own choices.
For the first time in her career, Victoria Sharp accomplished absolutely nothing at work. She couldn't focus on contracts or strategy or the Anderson deal that should have been the crowning achievement of her professional life. Instead, she lay in that small bed, surrounded by memories of the only man she had ever truly loved, and cried until her body couldn't produce any more tears.
The exhaustion hit her like a physical force, the result of hours of uncontrolled sobbing and the emotional devastation of losing everything that mattered to her. Her eyes, swollen and burning, finally closed against her will, and Victoria Sharp, the untouchable CEO who had never shown weakness to anyone, passed out from the sheer overwhelming agony of her first real heartbreak.