Chapter 4

Sean Delgado's eyes lit up at once. He answered Cicely with secret glee, then fixed a contemptuous stare on me.

"Neil, you heard what Ms. Harding said, didn't you!"

"So now I'm saying it—I'm firing you outright. No objections, right?"

I didn't look at him. I looked at the stunningly beautiful face beside him.

"You think I'm a good-for-nothing who got in through connections too?"

Cicely gave a scornful snort. "Aren't you?"

"It's not so much that you closed the deal—it's that they went along with it for my sake, and off the back of your colleagues' hard work."

"And you're still expecting a promotion and a raise?"

The moment Cicely finished speaking, everyone burst into harsh, jeering laughter at me.

"Neil, tried to steal the chicken and lost the rice, didn't you?"

"A parasite like you doesn't belong here at all. Get out, now."

"Yeah, get out, get out!"

Dylan Gilbert walked around to stand behind Sean, and seeing that, there wasn't much left for me to understand.

I'd probably been set up by them.

Everyone expected me to stand up and stumble out in disgrace—Sean included, who wanted to see me on my knees begging for mercy.

Cicely frowned. "You're actually in the mood to sit there playing on your phone?

Shouldn't you be standing up to apologize to Dylan and Sean?"

My fingertip stopped on the screen. I looked up, displeased, at the smug Sean.

Then I let my gaze settle on Cicely, her face cold as frost.

"I didn't do anything wrong, so why should I apologize to them?"

Sean slammed his hand on the table and stood. "You stole your colleague's credit, and you call that not doing anything wrong?"

With that, he picked up the tea he hadn't finished from the table and flung it at me.

I didn't escape it; my face was covered in water.

That stoked my anger. I set down my phone and faced the people in front of me with a cold, unforgiving air.

"On this matter of stealing credit—before the facts have even been checked, you rashly slap this slander on my head. Do you really think I'm that easy to push around?"

No sooner had I finished than a group of people rushed in through the door.

"Neil, we've been fired out of nowhere."

"That Assistant Delgado said we got in through connections, and used 'doing what's best for the company' as an excuse to purge us."

"But we really are technical staff who got in through your interviews!"

I turned to look at the crowd at the door and realized the people Sean wanted to purge were the very top talents I'd brought on.

Some purge. What a fine excuse.

Cicely gave them a cold glance. "So being brought in by Neil makes you something special?

He himself got in through connections. So hiring all of you just proves you never went through a formal interview to join the company, doesn't it?"

"I don't like wasting words, so I'll come right out and say it."

"Kindly hand in your resignation letters and leave. Today's the fifteenth, so last month's wages won't be paid out to you either."

"If you want to blame someone, blame Neil."

"Ms. Harding, this is too much—you're bullying us!"

"From the day we joined the company until now, what have we done that wasn't good enough? We've given it everything we had…"

"No matter how well you put it, I won't budge."

"When it comes down to it, you all got in through the back door, and clearing out the people who used the back door is exactly what we're doing today."

"I want the people out there interviewing to find jobs."

At those words, Cicely drew a round of admiring praise.

Sean walked over to me and kicked my chair.

"Neil, what are you still sitting here for? Get out already."

I curled my lips in a cold smile. "What's the rush? There'll be time enough to strut once they get here."

But just then came the sound of hurried running from the doorway.

"Move aside."

Several men in sharp suits, decked out in luxury brands, came up to me, breathing hard and unevenly.

"Mr. Dickerson, we're here!"

"Whatever you need, just say the word—we'll do it."