Chapter 3

For the next three days, I went to work as if nothing had happened.

I made coffee, printed documents, and smiled as I responded to everyone's requests.

"Chloe, can you look over this contract for me?"

"Chloe, there's a bug in this data. Can you double-check it?"

"Chloe, grab me an iced Americano from downstairs, will you?"

I accepted all of it.

"Sure."

"No problem."

"Just a second."

When they looked at me, there was a faint, barely noticeable pity in their eyes.

Like they were looking at a lamb about to be slaughtered.

Harrison called me into his office once.

"Chloe, you've been working hard lately. The proposal for the 'Starlight Project' is absolutely perfect."

He patted my shoulder, looking extremely pleased.

"Once the project launches, I will personally request a bonus for you from the board."

I lowered my head, acting incredibly grateful.

"Thank you, Harrison. It’s just my job."

He walked away, satisfied.

The moment he turned, I saw Brandon posting in the group chat.

"The old fox is dangling carrots again."

"Poor Chloe, she actually bought it."

"She’s literally getting fired next week, and she’s still dreaming."

I expressionlessly closed the Snapchat monitoring tool.

It was a plugin I had casually installed on the department's public router last month when I was helping the IT department test some software.

I started digging up the old files.

I didn't have many virtues, but I had an excellent memory.

I remembered during my second year, there was a prestigious training program at our European headquarters.

My sales performance was the highest in the department back then.

Everyone assumed I would get the spot.

But in the end, the person who went was Harrison's cousin, Ethan.

Harrison had told me, "Chloe, you're still young. You have plenty of opportunities. Focus on the project at hand first."

And I believed him.

I stayed up for three consecutive nights to clean up the disastrous mess Ethan had left behind.

On the final project report, the only name signed was Harrison Vance.

Because of that project, he won the Manager of the Year award.

I logged into the company’s internal server.

I found the project folder from three years ago.

Deep inside the folder, there was an encrypted document.

Inside were all the original raw data and my operation logs.

As well as the email exchange showing how Harrison had ordered me, step by step, to alter the data to cover up his cousin's massive errors.

I zipped the files and sent them to my private email.

Then, I remembered another thing.

At last year's annual gala, the company held a raffle.

The grand prize was a brand-new Tesla.

Before the raffle, a girl from HR secretly told me that my name had been entered five times into the drawing box.

She said, "Chloe, you're so nice. We all hope you win."

But the winner turned out to be Brandon.

He was so excited he practically jumped onto the stage, claiming he was the luckiest guy alive.

Everyone went to congratulate him.

Only I noticed Harrison standing in the corner, giving Brandon a subtle "OK" hand gesture.

After the gala, I was responsible for cleaning up the venue.

In the hidden compartment of the raffle box, I found a pile of crumpled paper balls.

I opened them. Every single one had my name on it.

At the time, I thought it was just a mistake.

Now, I realized it was all rigged.

***

### Chapter 3