Chapter 5

I zoomed in on the attached photo. It was a picture of my dad picking me up from work today.

The photo only caught the back of my head, but my dad's face was clear as day.

Judging by the angle, it was taken secretly from the office lobby.

As soon as the photo was posted, the internet mob immediately began tearing me apart.

[Ew, that guy looks old enough to be her dad.]

[Society is so trash. Even side chicks can open companies now. Anyone know who his wife is?]

[I do! Isn't that the CEO of SKY Group? I'm going to DM their official Instagram right now!]

[This sugar baby is disgusting. If I were the wife, I'd ruin her life.]

Of course, there were a few rational people in the comments.

[Isn't it a bit much to make up rumors like this? What if that’s literally just her dad? Didn't you guys say she’s a billionaire heiress?]

Georgina immediately clapped back at the rational commenter.

[Are you seriously defending her? Are you a side chick too?]

[Also, I’m not making things up. I looked it up online. The CEO of SKY Group is named Mr. Rodriguez, but Jessica’s last name is Vance!]

I let out a cold laugh.

She had done some homework, but unfortunately, she was still an idiot.

The CEO of SKY Group was indeed Mr. Rodriguez. But the actual Chairman of the entire conglomerate was Mrs. Vance—my mother.

My dad had married into my mother's old-money family, which meant he basically worked for my mom. I proudly carried my mother's surname.

Instead of arguing in the comments, I forwarded the link to my family’s personal attorney.

[Please send a cease-and-desist letter and prepare a defamation lawsuit for everyone in this thread who is fabricating rumors about me, starting with Georgina.]

I hated drama. I preferred solving my problems with quick, brutal efficiency.

Once my lawyer replied with a professional 'Understood,' I went to sleep.

But to my surprise, before my lawyer's letters could even be sent, my employees decided to double down.

The next morning, as soon as I sat down in my office, my laptop kept pinging with new email notifications.

I clicked on them. Every single one was a resignation letter. Even the reasons they wrote were identical.

It was clearly a coordinated strike.

If they thought they could intimidate me with a mass walkout, they were sorely mistaken.

I chuckled, and right on cue, someone tagged me in the Slack group chat.

"Jessica, please approve my resignation. Thanks!"

"Jessica, mine too."

I took a screenshot of my flooded inbox and dropped it into the group chat.

I typed: [Georgina convinced you all to quit, yet she hasn't sent in her own resignation.]

The chat went dead silent.

A few minutes later, Georgina typed back defensively: [My internet was just lagging!]

Almost instantly, her resignation letter popped up in my inbox.

I nodded in satisfaction. Since they wanted to stand in solidarity, they might as well go down together.

I didn't reply to any of them, nor did I approve the letters yet. Instead, I called Grace and Margaret into my office.

Nobody knew what we discussed during that hour.

All I knew was that the moment they stepped out, the rest of the office pounced on them.

"Grace, what did Jessica say to you? Did she ask you to convince us to stay?"

Before Grace could even answer, Georgina scoffed loudly.

"Of course she did! If we all leave, the company will literally fall apart. She’s desperate."

Grace ignored the noise and simply looked at them with pity. "You guys are going to regret this."

The office erupted into mocking laughter. It was at that exact moment that I opened my office door and stepped out.

The laughter died down instantly.

I swept my gaze across the smug faces in the room and said calmly, "Everyone, conference room. Now."

Once everyone was seated, their faces practically glowing with triumph, I couldn't help but curl my lips into a smile.

"I didn't approve your resignations immediately because I wanted to make sure your final paychecks are calculated correctly before you leave."

"We will do this one by one. Once your paycheck is settled, I'll approve your resignation. Let's begin."