He broke up with me at the company Christmas party. In front of everyone. While Serena Whitfield stood three feet away in a dress that cost more than my monthly salary, not bothering to pretend she wasn't the reason.

Derek Chen — CEO of Luminos Media, the company I had spent four years helping build from a mid-tier agency into a market leader — looked me in the eye and said: "Jade, I think we've run our course." He said it the way you'd say it about a subscription you'd forgotten to cancel. Mildly apologetic. Entirely certain.

I had given up a promotion at my previous company to follow him to Luminos. I had worked eighty-hour weeks. I had been the one who restructured the content division, who brought in the Harrington account, who built the editorial strategy that had tripled their digital revenue. I had done all of this while also being his girlfriend, his sounding board, his unpaid strategist, his plus-one at every event that required a presentable woman who knew the industry.

And he was done with me. At the Christmas party. In front of the team I had built.

I didn't cry. I picked up my champagne. I finished it. I set the glass down. I said: "All right." I got my coat. I left.