Chad's anger kept mounting with each word she spoke. He especially hated the way she kept referring to James as 'my man', the possessive term grated against his nerves like sandpaper. He had expected James to be so betrayed by Victoria's actions that their relationship would crumble immediately. This conversation was not going according to his plans at all.
"So you two are still together?" he asked, unable to keep the disbelief out of his voice.
"That's none of your business," Victoria cut in sharply, her tone brooking no argument.
Chad's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Even after knowing what kind of slippery witch you are, James is quite strong hearted, isn't he?"
"Enough!" Victoria snapped, her patience finally reaching its breaking point. "I won't warn you again. Stay out of James's lane."
Chad let out a snort of laughter that held no amusement whatsoever. His eyes glittered with malicious satisfaction as he leaned forward.
"And what will you do if I keep pressing him?" he challenged.
Victoria's response was immediate, and her smile was sharp enough to cut diamond. "I'm not sure you have such valuable time and resources in your hands right now, Chad. After all, you lost the Anderson deal to me."
The jab landed with devastating accuracy. Chad felt the blood rush to his face as angry veins popped along his forehead and his jaw clenched so tightly it ached. The reminder of his failure, delivered with such casual cruelty, was like salt in an open wound. He raised his hand and pointed toward the door, his voice shaking with barely controlled fury.
"Get out."
Victoria felt a sliver of victory at his obvious distress. She had found his weak spot and pressed it with surgical precision. "Guess you're not in love with me anymore, huh?" she said with false sweetness. "I'm leaving, but not because you told me to. I'm leaving because I can't bear to see your ugly face any longer."
She paused at the door, turning back with a smile that was pure provocation. "I'm going home to my Papi."
The way she said the last word, so coyly and deliberately suggestive, left no doubt about her meaning. Chad wasn't stupid; he knew exactly what she was implying, and the image of Victoria with James having sex sent his rage into the stratosphere.
The moment the office door closed behind her, Chad's control finally shattered completely. He grabbed the ceramic coffee cup from his desk and hurled it at the wall with all his strength. It exploded against the pristine white surface in a shower of fragments, the sound echoing through the office like a gunshot.
His assistant outside heard the commotion but wasn't brave enough to inquire about his wellbeing. Everyone in the building knew about the lost Anderson contract, and it was obvious that their boss wasn't taking the defeat well. The smart thing to do was to stay out of his way until the storm passed, however long that might take.
Chad stood among the ceramic fragments, his chest heaving with uncontrolled rage. The fury boiling inside him demanded an outlet, a target for the violence he could barely contain. But the person he most wanted to destroy, the woman who had just humiliated him in his own office, was gone. His hands shook with the need to lash out, to break something else, to make someone pay for the crushing defeat he had just endured.
"Victoria," he growled her name like a curse, his voice echoing in the empty office. How dare she take the Anderson deal from him? How dare she waltz into his sanctuary and throw his failure in his face with that smug superiority? She thought she was untouchable, perched high on her pedestal of success, but she was about to learn exactly what Chad Winters was capable of when pushed too far.
She would pay for this. She would regret every condescending word, every mocking smile, every moment she had made him feel small and defeated. She should just wait and see what he had in store for her.
Chad's moral compass, the ethical foundation that had guided his business practices for years, crumbled under the weight of his wounded pride and consuming jealousy. He had always prided himself on playing the game with a certain degree of honor, on winning through skill rather than outright sabotage. However, Victoria had stripped away those pretenses, reduced him to something raw and vengeful that he barely recognized.
With trembling fingers, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found the name he was looking for. Daniel Harris. The former dissolved board member of Sharp Innovations had been reaching out for months, practically begging for an opportunity to strike back at Victoria. Chad had always hesitated before, unwilling to cross certain lines, unwilling to engage in the kind of corporate warfare that could destroy careers and lives.
Well, no more.
His fingers moved across the screen with deadly purpose as he typed out his response to Daniel's latest message. The alliance he was forging would be Victoria's downfall, a coordinated attack that would drag her down from her high pedestal so thoroughly that even her precious James wouldn't be able to save her.
But Daniel wouldn't be enough. Chad's mind was already racing ahead, calculating the most devastating combination of enemies he could unleash against Victoria's empire. Elena Vasquez. Victoria's longest lasting enemy, the one rival who had never stopped trying to destroy Sharp Innovations. Elena had resources, connections, and most importantly, a personal vendetta against Victoria that matched Chad's own thirst for revenge.
The plan began forming in his mind with crystalline clarity, each element designed to cause maximum damage to everything Victoria held dear. Her company, her reputation, her sense of invincibility, all of it would crumble under the coordinated assault he was about to unleash.
"Just you wait," Chad whispered to the empty office, his voice carrying such menace that his own reflection in the window seemed to recoil from the sight of what he had become. The man staring back at him was someone he barely recognized, someone who had abandoned every principle he had once held sacred in pursuit of petty revenge.
However, he was past caring about principles now. Victoria Sharp had pushed him too far, humiliated him too completely, and now she would face the consequences of crossing Chad Winters when he had nothing left to lose.