Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO HAD BEEN COPYING MY LIFE
My mother-in-law arrived at my office the next morning carrying a shopping bag.
At seventy-one, she still walked like everyone else was late.
She put the bag on my desk.
“Look.”
Inside was a silk scarf.
Blue.
Hermès.
I recognized it immediately.
I had bought the same one in Paris three years earlier.
Not similar.
The same limited seasonal print.
“Why do you have this?”
She sat.
“Because I saw Secretary Jang wearing it at the company Christmas dinner.”
I stared.
“You noticed?”
“I notice women who stare at my son like he’s dessert.”
Despite everything, I almost laughed.
Then she became serious.
“After the dinner, I asked Shiaoza why she had your scarf.”
“My scarf?”
“She told people he bought it for her.”
I frowned.
“He didn’t buy mine.”
“You bought yours.”
“Yes.”
My mother-in-law nodded.
“She bought the same one afterward.”
I looked at the scarf.
“What else?”
She took out photographs.
Company events.
Charity dinners.
One after another.
Tong Tong wearing a cream coat nearly identical to mine.
A necklace with the same green stone.
Shoes I had worn at an anniversary dinner.
Even a hairstyle.
Individually, coincidence.
Together?
Something else.
“She was copying me.”
My mother-in-law’s expression softened.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“At least three years.”
I stared at the photographs.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“I told Shiaoza.”
Of course.
“What did he say?”
“That I was imagining things.”
My stomach tightened.
“He said Tong Tong admired your style.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That’s generous.”
“I called it creepy.”
Better.
My mother-in-law continued.
“He asked me not to upset you while you were working so much.”
There it was again.
Protection through silence.
Men deciding which truths women could handle.
I hated it.
“Did you ever speak to her?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
My mother-in-law smiled without humor.
“She said I should be grateful someone was taking care of my son while his wife chased her career.”
My face went cold.
“She said that to you?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t kill her?”
“I am old, not reckless.”
I laughed once.
Then cried.
My mother-in-law reached across my desk.
“You worked because that company needed you.”
I nodded.
“You and my son both neglected the marriage.”
That hurt.
But it was fair.
She continued.
“He chose a worse way to cope.”
Also fair.
I looked down.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing for me.”
She squeezed my hand.
“Decide what you can live with.”
After she left, HR brought me the next file.
Forty-eight employee complaints now.
Not all about Tong Tong.
That mattered.
A culture this broken rarely had one villain.
Several executives had copied her behavior because they believed proximity to Shiaoza protected them too.
One vice president had referred to junior analysts as “replaceable.”
Another required assistants to pick up his children from school.
A director routinely denied employees vacation if they refused weekend social events.
The elevator was not the disease.
It was a symptom.
I called an emergency leadership meeting.
Tong Tong arrived with an attorney.
Smart.
Shiaoza sat at the other end of the table.
I did not look at him first.
I addressed everyone.
“Effective today, all disciplinary actions involving employees below director level are under temporary review.”
Several executives shifted.
“All executive assistants lose independent authority over compensation, transfers, termination recommendations, and access privileges pending audit.”
Tong Tong’s lawyer spoke.
“My client believes she is being targeted personally.”
I looked at her.
“She is.”
The room froze.
I continued.
“Because evidence indicates she exercised authority outside her job description.”
Tong Tong crossed her arms.
“President Shiao gave me authority.”
I looked at my husband.
He did not hide.
He said:
“I gave her too much.”
That surprised people.
Tong Tong’s head snapped toward him.
He continued.
“I also failed to review how she used it.”
Her face hardened.
“So now you blame me?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I blame myself for my part.”
That answer annoyed her more than anger would have.
Because she wanted him to defend her.
Or attack her.
Anything that proved their bond still mattered.
She looked at me.
“You think you won.”
I almost laughed.
“This is not a marriage competition.”
Her eyes flashed.
“Really?”
There it was.
Publicly.
The room became silent.
Tong Tong leaned forward.
“You were never here.”
Shiaoza closed his eyes.
I stayed still.
She continued.
“You were always in California. London. Seattle. Shanghai.”
“Tong Tong,” my husband warned.
She ignored him.
“I was here when he was sick.”
I looked at Shiaoza.
“Sick?”
He looked ashamed.
“Flu.”
She laughed.
“Flu?”
She turned toward me.
“He had pneumonia two years ago.”
My chest tightened.
He had told me it was a bad cold.
I was in Los Angeles negotiating a merger.
I offered to fly back.
He told me not to.
Tong Tong said:
“I took him to the hospital.”
My husband said quietly:
“I asked you because you were my assistant.”
“You held my hand.”
His face hardened.
“Because I had a fever of one hundred and four.”
“You told me you needed me.”
“As an employee.”
Tong Tong laughed bitterly.
“You knew how I felt.”
Silence.
Shiaoza did not deny it.
That was important.
She turned to me.
“He knew.”
My stomach tightened.
“He knew I loved him.”
There it was.
Not affair.
Something in some ways more humiliating.
My husband had knowingly kept a woman in intimate daily proximity who loved him.
Because it was useful.
Because it fed him.
Because he believed he could control the boundary.
Tong Tong continued.
“And he kept me.”
Shiaoza’s face broke.
“Yes.”
Everyone looked at him.
He said it again.
“Yes.”
Tong Tong went quiet.
He continued.
“I knew.”
I stared.
He looked at me.
“I told myself as long as I didn’t cross the physical line, I wasn’t betraying you.”
His voice tightened.
“I was wrong.”
Tong Tong’s eyes filled.
“You said I mattered.”
“You did.”
She looked hopeful.
Shiaoza destroyed it.
“But not in the way you wanted.”
Her face changed.
“You gave me gifts.”
“Yes.”
“You called me every night when you traveled.”
“For work.”
“You told me things you didn’t tell her.”
That landed.
He looked down.
“Yes.”
Tong Tong’s voice cracked.
“You let me build my life around you.”
He looked at her.
“That was wrong.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t get to change the meaning now because she came back.”
I finally spoke.
“I did not come back to claim my husband.”
Tong Tong turned.
“I came back to run this company.”
Her face tightened.
“And whether I stay married to him will not be decided in this conference room.”
I looked around.
“But your employment will.”
Her attorney straightened.
I slid forward a file.
Falsified expense approvals.
Improper access restrictions.
Retaliatory personnel actions.
Misrepresentation of executive authority.
Tong Tong stared.
I continued.
“You are suspended effective immediately pending investigation.”
Her face emptied.
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“Shiaoza.”
She turned toward him.
Not President Shiao.
Shiaoza.
He looked at her.
For years, this moment had probably been the test she imagined.
Would he protect her?
Would he choose her?
He said:
“Follow the process.”
Her face shattered.
“After everything?”
He looked devastated.
But stayed where he was.
“After everything.”
Security did not drag her out.
No humiliation.
She collected her phone.
Her attorney gathered papers.
At the door, Tong Tong stopped.
Then looked at me.
“You think he’ll choose you now.”
I stared.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to be chosen over another woman.”
My voice stayed calm.
“I want a husband who never creates the contest.”
She went pale.
Then left.
The room remained silent.
I dismissed everyone except Shiaoza.
He stayed seated.
I closed the door.
“Did you love her?”
“No.”
“Did you use her feelings?”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt.
“Why?”
“Because when you were gone…”
He stopped.
I waited.
“She made me feel admired.”
There it was.
“She laughed at everything I said.”
He gave a broken smile.
“You didn’t.”
“No.”
“You challenged me.”
“Yes.”
“You were building your own career.”
“Yes.”
“And instead of being proud without making it about me…”
His voice cracked.
“I started resenting that you didn’t need me the way she did.”
I stared at him.
That was probably the most truthful thing he had said.
“You wanted dependence.”
“I wanted importance.”
“Same thing, sometimes.”
He nodded.
I sat opposite him.
“Do you want to save our marriage?”
“Yes.”
Immediate.
I believed him.
That did not mean I wanted the same.
“What are you willing to lose?”
He frowned.
“What?”
“People say they want to save marriages until saving them costs something.”
I looked at him.
“Privacy.”
“Okay.”
“Pride.”
“Yes.”
“Your job.”
His face changed.
There.
Not because I was threatening him.
Because now the question touched identity.
“You want me to resign?”
“I haven’t decided.”
He stared.
I continued.
“But you used company authority to maintain a relationship that damaged employees.”
His face tightened.
“You signed decisions without reviewing them.”
“Yes.”
“You ignored complaints.”
“Yes.”
“You let her use your name.”
“Yes.”
I leaned back.
“The board will review your conduct.”
He swallowed.
“And if they ask you to step down?”
Long pause.
Then:
“I will.”
That surprised me.
Maybe because he finally understood the problem was bigger than our house.
Then my phone buzzed.
Internal audit.
A message:
We found something in Secretary Jang’s office. You need to see it before anything is removed.
Ten minutes later, Shiaoza and I stood inside Tong Tong’s locked office while two auditors documented everything.
At first, nothing looked unusual.
Then one auditor opened the lower cabinet.
Inside were six boxes.
Photographs.
Letters.
Printed emails.
Gifts.
Copies of my interviews.
Magazine profiles.
Company announcements.
A photograph from my wedding.
My stomach turned.
Then Shiaoza found a folder.
His face went white.
“What?”
I asked.
He handed it to me.
Inside was a draft resignation letter.
Not hers.
Mine.
Written as though I had submitted it six months earlier.
The letter stated I intended to leave the company permanently for “personal and marital reasons.”
My signature had been copied onto the bottom.
I stared.
“She planned to remove me professionally too.”
Shiaoza looked sick.
Then an auditor found another document.
A proposed board memo naming Tong Tong interim chief of staff to the CEO—
after Shiaoza became CEO.
I looked at my husband.
He stared back.
Neither of us needed to say it.
Tong Tong had not only imagined replacing me in his personal life.
She had been preparing for the possibility that he would replace me at the top of the company too.
And someone else had helped her draft the paperwork.
Because the metadata showed the document had not been created on her computer.
May you like
It came from a board member.
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