Chapter 185

Did Alicia think she was so above it all that I was going to back off because of Jonathan?

I couldn’t care less about Jonathan. So why would I bother with Alicia?

“And what right do you have to speak to me here?”

I jabbed a finger at her nose. “This is between Jonathan and me! Are you going to leave or not? If not, I’ll beat you up!”

“How dare you? Are you crazy, Elise?”

I raised my fist, ready to charge forward. Alicia fled in a panic, stealing glances at Jonathan as if expecting him to come to her rescue. “Jonathan…”

“Shouting his name won’t help you! Stop running if you’ve got the guts!”

I lost it. I didn’t care what anyone else thought, let alone care about how Jonathan saw me. All I knew was that I wanted this situation resolved.

“Alicia, are you leaving or not?”

Alicia finally left. I slammed the door shut with a resounding bang.

It was only after her departure that I turned around to look at the man behind me.

I was expecting to be met with his anger and a demand to know why I’d driven Alicia out. Surely he would want to be informed of the reason I was being so rude to his precious darling. But to my surprise, I found a faint trace of amusement in his eyes.

“What’s so funny?” My anger boiled over. I marched up to him and shoved him. “You think I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, Jonathan? If you want to fight me on this, know that I’m not a pushover. I won’t let you get away with this!”

Jonathan looked a little helpless. “You’re the one who chose to go against me.”

“When did I ever go against you? I started my company far away from you. It’s you who’s making my life difficult!”

Jonathan said nothing and sat back down. “I told you, Elise. I never agreed to your resignation.”

“So what? I’m not allowed to start my own company?”

“You can. If you wanted to start a company, you could’ve said the word, and I’d help you.”

“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you!”

I took a deep breath and stood in front of him. “Jonathan, I want to start my own business. I don’t want to keep orbiting around you anymore.”

His face darkened as he tapped his fingers lightly against the desk.

He remained silent, but I could already sense the frustration coming from him.

Chapter 185 (2/2)

“Why do you insist on rejecting my help?”

He genuinely seemed unable to comprehend why I was doing this. “You have Millenia Corporation. You have me. Anything you want to do can be easily accomplished. With the platform I built for you, you can be a successful entrepreneur at any time. Or you can be whatever else you want to be.”

“Don’t you get it?”

I planted both my hands on the desk and glared at him. “I want to rely on myself. I don’t want to live in your shadow! I don’t want you to control my every action!”

He paused. “If this is about Alicia…”

“This has nothing to do with Alicia!” I sucked in a breath and cut him off. “I don’t want to go back to the way things were, Jonathan. Back then, my world revolved around you. That version of me lived like a walking corpse.”

Jonathan’s expression turned grim. “You think revolving around me made you a walking corpse? That’s not what you used to say.”

“What did I use to say?” I looked at him in confusion.

Jonathan suddenly stood up and grabbed my chin. “You used to say that just looking at me was enough. Have you forgotten?”

“Yes, I forgot.”

I peeled his hand away. “Just treat it like I did. None of those words count anymore!”

I shook my head and took a step back. But Jonathan suddenly pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly by the waist. “I took those words seriously. And now you’re telling me they don’t count anymore?”