Chapter 2

In Mr. Walker’s office, the atmosphere was suffocating. He didn’t give me any chance to explain and just threw a file in front of me.

“Jason, the company is kicking off Project Phoenix. I don’t need to tell you how important this project is.”

“Originally, you were the first choice to lead it.”

Mr. Walker crossed his fingers and looked at me sharply.

“But now, look at the mess you’ve made!”

“What matters most to the company? Its reputation! You’re stuck in a scandal right now. How are you supposed to win people over? How are you supposed to lead a team?”

My heart sank.

Project Phoenix was something I had fought for after countless all-nighters and half a year of leading the team through a brutal push. It was my biggest performance target for the year.

“Mr. Walker, this is slander! Tina and I are completely innocent. I can swear to God!” I argued anxiously.

Mr. Walker gave a cold laugh.

“Now the whole department is saying you harassed a new female coworker while drunk.”

“Jason, rumors are dangerous. Until this is fully investigated, you’re stepping away from the project.”

“I’ll hand it off to someone else for now. Cool off first and handle your personal mess.”

My heart went ice-cold.

This was the classic move to smooth things over. For the sake of company stability, he would rather sacrifice me.

As for the truth, he didn’t care at all.

“Mr. Walker—”

“That’s enough. Get out.” He waved his hand and picked up his teacup, clearly unwilling to say more.

I walked out of the director’s office like a man who had lost his soul, and what greeted me were all kinds of looks from my coworkers.

Some were sympathetic, some were contemptuous, some were gloating, and more than a few were deliberately avoiding me.

The coworkers who usually acted like buddies with me now looked at me like I was bad luck and all lowered their heads to pretend they were busy.

It felt like the whole world was against me.

As for Tina, she was being surrounded by a few female coworkers right then.

They were comforting her while shooting hateful looks at me.

Tina, meanwhile, acted weak and frightened at just the right moments.

Every time my gaze drifted over, she would shrink behind someone else in fear.

She was too good at this.

By using her position as a vulnerable woman, she easily won everyone’s sympathy and nailed me to the shame board.

After work, I dragged my exhausted body home, hoping to get some comfort from my wife, Sarah.

But the moment I opened the door, I saw her cold face.

“You still know how to come back?” She was sitting on the sofa with a pillow in her arms.

“What’s wrong, babe?” I walked over and tried to hug her.

She shoved her phone screen in front of me.

It was a post from an anonymous workplace forum, with the title:

“Let’s expose that married, greasy sales manager at my company who publicly harassed the new girl. Gross!”

The post used vague aliases and highly inflammatory language to vividly describe “that night’s story.”

It said how I had “used the excuse of covering for her drinks to put my hands all over the girl,” and how I had “used lewd looks to hint at more,”

and it even made up the lie that I had “kept harassing her by message afterward.”

There were over a hundred comments below it.

“This kind of guy should be castrated!”

“Poor girl. And poor his wife, married to a piece of trash.”

“Don’t say that. Maybe his wife is already used to it. Birds of a feather.”

Every comment was like a knife stabbing hard into my heart.

“Babe, this isn’t true! Tina set me up!” I grabbed her hand and tried to explain.

“Set you up? She’s just a young girl who just joined the company. Why would she set up a sales manager like you for no reason?”

Sarah’s eyes were red as she slammed her phone onto the coffee table, her voice trembling.

“Jason, is what this says true?”

“No! Babe, this is a setup!” I hurried to defend myself.

“A setup? Then why would she set up someone else?” Her tears finally fell.

“Do you know how I felt when my best friend forwarded me this post? I felt like the sky had collapsed on me.”

“I didn’t do it!” I felt completely speechless, and a wave of helplessness washed over me.

I tried to reach for her hand, but she yanked away.

She turned around, went into the bedroom, and came back with a folder, then threw it in front of me.

It was a printed divorce agreement.

She looked at me with nothing but disappointment and resolve in her eyes. “I’ve thought about it all afternoon. We should separate.”

After saying that, she turned and went into the bedroom, slamming the door hard behind her.

That night, I sat alone in the guest room until dawn.

The city outside was lit up, but my world was pitch-black.

I realized Tina’s attack was all-out.

She was destroying my career at the company, destroying my reputation online, and now she was starting to destroy my family.

This woman was terrifyingly scheming.

I couldn’t just sit here and wait to die.

Private communication was useless now. I needed evidence. I needed ironclad proof that would shut everyone up for good.

I forced myself to calm down and replayed that night in my mind.

The drinking, the client, the private room—wait. There were cameras in the private room! I went to that restaurant all the time, and I was on decent terms with Mr. Grant. He would definitely have a backup of the footage.

At dawn, I picked up my phone and called the manager of the restaurant where we had that client dinner.

We had dealt with each other a few times and were on decent terms.

“Hey, Grant, this is Jason. I need to ask you for a favor—”

I briefly explained the situation, and there was a few seconds of silence on the other end.

Mr. Grant sighed. “Jason, normally we can’t just give out security footage to outsiders.”

“But for your situation, I’ll trust you once. I’m not in the store this afternoon, so you’ll need to come pick it up yourself. I’ll leave instructions at the front desk.”