Public Betrayal: My Husband's COO

Hort

n, every strategic pivot-it had my fingerprints all over it. Not just my father' s seed money, but my sweat, my intelligence, my vision. Bryon had been the charming face, the smooth talker

-tier tech firm. But he' d looked at me with those earnest, hopeful eyes and told me we could build something together, something truly impactful. He promised we' d be partners, equals. That my brill

ing support, my downplaying of my own genius so his ego could flourish – it was all for nothing. It was wasted. He

ightened

ze for too long. The whispers followed me like a shadow, but I ignored them. My focus

tartled, as I entered her office. She seemed to shrink under my

atical, effective a month ago. Backdated to when I first went on leave for my pregnancy." I looked at her, my eyes steel. "It' s a standard clause in my co

ed. "But Ms. Horton

ols are followed. Don't worry about AuraTech's future projects with my tech; I' ve ensured the remaining code is open-source and easily adaptable. My team ha

, nodded frantically. "Yes

tment – the product development and engineering hub. The heart

nt, loyal engineers and developers. They looked concerned, their faces

on his face. Dorian, smirking and confident, was right behind him, he

doing here? You're supposed to be home! You're pregnant, remember? What if something happens to the baby?" His voice

tured vaguely towards the HR office. "Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about." I threw Dorian's own wo

r department. With you... indisposed... I' ve decided to put Dorian in charge of product development, te

hile, preened, her chest swelling with pride. S

velopment?" I repeated, my voic

ening. "She's COO! She's perfectly capable.

dn't debug a simple syntax error if her life depended on it. She was a pretty face, a sharp tongue, and a master manipulator, but a product developer she was not. Her only "contribution" to AuraTech had been siphoning off compa

ork from a fishing net. She's a marketing and operations person, at best. Her taking over product development would be a disaster. Our entire engineerin

e's closer to me, and you're always so cold and distant!" He turned to Dorian, offering he

rmind," only to turn around and subtly ask me to "clean up" Dorian's "misinterpretations" of market tr

It's because she knows I actually care about your vision, Bryon. And that I' m not afraid to get my hands dirty, unlike some princesses." She shot me a

nt. A few of the senior engineers, the ones who had worked closely

bag and pulled out a sleek, thin tablet. "I'm criticizing your competency. Or rather, the complete lack thereof." I walked towards Dorian, holding out the tablet. "Here. Take a look

of unease in her eyes. "What

rojects you signed off on that were clearly financially unsound. The 'marketing budget' that somehow ended up funding your lavish trips and designer wardrobe, all disguised as 'business expenses'." I leaned in, my voice dropping to a whisp