Chapter 2

Chloe was lounging in her ergonomic chair with her legs crossed on her desk, binge-watching a reality TV show at full blast.

Seeing me approach like a storm, she didn't even flinch.

"Chloe." I stopped in front of her desk, keeping my voice low, but loud enough for the entire open-plan floor to hear.

Chloe finally tilted her head up. Instead of looking guilty, she raised an arrogant eyebrow and slapped her phone face down. "Well, if it isn’t our superstar manager Avery. What’s up? Upset about the announcement? I was nice enough to blur your face. What else do you want?"

I shoved my phone in front of her face, displaying the chat. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Exactly what it says."

Chloe shrugged as if it were obvious. "I was conducting routine restroom discipline checks. I caught you hiding in a stall on your phone. You’re barely in the office anyway, and when you finally show up, you spend half the day hiding in the toilet. As HR manager, it’s my job to enforce company policy."

"Restroom discipline check? By crawling on the dirty floor to take photos under the stall door?"

I scoffed. "Besides, I left my desk at 3:20 and walked back at 3:24. That was less than four minutes! In those four minutes, I was confirming critical contract details with our biggest client! You call that slacking off?"

Chloe was momentarily caught off guard. Then, embarrassment morphed into venomous spite. Her voice pitched high: "Why are you bringing up the client? I'm HR, not a project manager! All I saw was you playing on your phone! And who knows what you're actually doing when you claim to be out meeting clients?"

"I'm out of the office because I'm a project manager! My job is in the field, closing deals, not warming a chair!"

I gritted my teeth. "Didn't Robert tell you that eighty percent of this company’s annual revenue came from my accounts? Without me, your HR department wouldn't even have a paycheck!"

At the mention of Robert, Chloe’s eyes flickered with brief hesitation, but pure jealousy quickly overtook her.

She eyed me up and down, sneering, "Look at you bragging. A single young woman landing that many massive accounts? Who knows which rich men you’re sleeping with or getting drunk with at night to get those signatures!"

Boom.

The last thread of my composure snapped.

"Say that again?!" I stepped forward, glaring straight into her eyes.

"I said you—"

"Enough!"

A furious shout cut Chloe off.

Robert emerged from his executive office, his face dark as thunder. "What is all this screaming about? You’re making a complete scene!"

I turned toward Robert, expecting at least a shred of professional decency.

After all, I had just brought him the biggest deal of his corporate life.