Chapter 1

My parents, Leander and Valentina Rhodes, were cutthroat capitalists through and through, bringing the company’s toxic corporate culture right into our home.

Eating a serving of pork ribs meant a performance deduction. Using the washing machine required paying a depreciation fee.

Just to survive, I spent day and night coding and developing software.

Finally, a photo-editing app I developed completely on my own went viral, earning my parents’ company $7 million.

At the celebration dinner, my eldest sister, Sienna Rhodes, who managed HR, received a $70,000 bonus. My youngest sister, Delphine Rhodes, who worked in business development, walked away with a brand-new Porsche.

Meanwhile, my paycheck showed nothing more than my unchanging $600 base salary.

“Sienna hired two cleaners for the company. That’s called building talent pipeline infrastructure—she deserves a reward!”

“Delphine took a client out for a steak dinner and secured the distribution deal. That’s expanding our territory—she deserves a massive bonus!”

Finally, my parents shoved a supermarket gift card into my hand.

“As for you, Evangeline, all you do is sit at your desk, tapping away on a keyboard in the air conditioning. There’s really nothing to reward.”

“Still, Sienna and Delphine spoke up on your behalf, so take this gift card.”

Ever since we were kids, Sienna was the family decision-maker; everything she said was taken seriously. Delphine was the baby of the family, showered with love—even when she made a mistake, it was always someone else’s fault.

As for me, stuck in the middle, it felt like I was born to be forgotten.

Even though I was supposed to be the star of this celebration dinner, no one remembered. No one cared.

Watching the four of them laughing and enjoying their happy family moment, I silently put down the gift card.

Then, I opened a text message from a rival tech giant offering me an $8 million annual salary package.

Chapter 1

“What’s with that attitude? Are you really acting like you’re above receiving a supermarket gift card?”

Sienna shot me a look, her voice completely unbothered by her own open contempt.

“Evangeline, you need to learn some gratitude. The company provides you with a platform, gives you a computer, and even covers your healthcare and benefits. You just typed a few useless lines of code—do you seriously think you’re some kind of hero here?”

I looked up at her.

“A few useless lines of code? Without those lines of code, the underlying logic of that photo-editing app wouldn’t even run. The company couldn’t even pay staff salaries last month. Where did you get the money to buy a Porsche?”

“Silence!”

My father, Leander, slammed his hand onto the dining table. He pointed right at my nose, the veins on his forehead bulging.

“Who do you think you’re talking to? Without the platform our family company provided, that useless app of yours wouldn’t even have been qualified for launch! Besides, any value you create belongs to the company’s surplus value! Rule number one of our corporate culture is absolute obedience! Are you questioning the company’s compensation system right now?”

Delphine covered her mouth and giggled from the side. She twirled her new Porsche key ring around her finger and let out a deliberate sigh.

“Oh, Evangeline, don’t make Dad angry. Sienna is just looking at the big picture. Sure, your six-hundred-dollar salary isn’t much, but you rarely go out or buy makeup anyway, so it’s plenty for you. It’s not like me—I’m out running around meeting clients every single day, working so hard out in the sun.”

Delphine glanced down at her car keys and continued, “By the way, my new car still needs a set of premium floor mats. Why don’t you use this month’s salary to buy them for me? Just consider it your contribution to expanding the company’s business.”

Looking at Delphine’s perfectly made-up face made my stomach churn with disgust.

“Why should I use my salary to buy you floor mats? You all walked away with seven million dollars in profit, and I didn’t get a single dime in bonuses. Now you’re even trying to squeeze out my six-hundred-dollar base salary?”

My mother, Valentina, frowned as she lowered her fork and stared at me, disappointment written all over her face.

“Evangeline, why have you become so petty? Why are you drawing lines between family members? Neither of your sisters has it easy. As the middle child, what’s wrong with stepping up and carrying a bit more of the weight? I’m doing this for your own good—I’m afraid having too much money will spoil you. Besides, you eat our food and live under our roof. Does any of that come for free?”

I took a deep breath, forcing down the coldness rising in my heart.

I stood up and looked Leander dead in the eye.

“In that case, I quit. I’m formally submitting my resignation.”

The dining room fell dead silent for a second.

Then Leander burst into a cold laugh, his eyes full of scorn.

“Quit?” he mocked. “Evangeline, have you lost your mind?”

He turned around, pulled a thick stack of documents from his briefcase, and slapped them straight into my face.

Papers scattered across the floor.

“Take a good look at what’s written on those!”

I looked down at the ground.

The top sheet was a Non-Compete Agreement.

Below it was an itemized bill, filled line after line with dense text.

“When you were three years old, you had a fever. The doctor’s bill came out to five dollars. Calculated at an eight percent annual interest rate, that debt is now three hundred dollars.

“When you were ten, you ate a fast-food meal that cost seven dollars. That counts as an excess personal expense, so we have to adjust it for inflation and capital holding costs.

“The computer you use is a fixed company asset. Your daily keystroke count exceeded normal wear-and-tear standards, so you owe a depreciation fee.

“Then there’s your utilities, food, and room usage for the past few years…”

Leander leaned back in his chair, completely ruthless.

“If you want to leave, fine. But clear the tab first. The total comes to $1.75 million.

“If you’re short even a single cent, I’ll sue you into bankruptcy and put you behind bars!”

I looked at the absurd bill in disbelief.

“Are you insane?”

Sienna walked over and snatched the phone right out of my pocket.

“Evangeline, I’m taking away your phone and other devices effective immediately,” she said coldly. “You’re clearing out of your master bedroom too—I’m turning it into my walk-in closet tomorrow. Tonight, you sleep in the storage room.

“At 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, hand over all your source code to Engineering Director William Hayes.

“And after that, go downstairs and wash the mops for the janitors!”

Chapter 2

A heavy, suffocating smell of mold hung in the air inside the storage room.

Propped against a stack of discarded cardboard boxes, I endured a sleepless night.

Early the next morning, I showed up right on time in the Rhodes Enterprises main conference room.

Sienna stood before the projector, hosting an all-hands staff meeting.

“Team, today we are carrying out a deep optimization of our organizational structure,” Sienna said, adopting her usual corporate jargon as her gaze swept across the room.

“The massive success of our photo-editing app proves the forward-thinking nature of our HR architecture. This is a victory for our tech, but more importantly, a victory for our underlying organizational logic. However, we have also identified certain disharmonious elements within our team.”

She suddenly locked her eyes on me.

“Evangeline, your work attitude is deeply problematic. You lack team spirit, you have no vision for the bigger picture, and you fail to complete effective business loops. To empower you and align your fundamental mindset, I have decided to send you to the front lines for training. Starting today, your workstation is reassigned to the janitorial department.”

Gasps erupted across the room.

A few coworkers who had always held a grudge against me covered their mouths, hiding quiet sneers.

Ignoring their mockery, I turned around and headed straight for the server room.

I needed to log into the servers to back up the underlying core logic code I had written. That code was my own sweat and blood—I could not leave it in the hands of this greedy family.

Yet, as my fingers typed my password into the terminal, a striking red window flashed across the monitor:

[ACCESS DENIED: INSUFFICIENT PRIVILEGES]

“Don’t waste your time,” a greasy voice called out from behind me.

Engineering Director William Hayes.

Sienna’s personal henchman—an incompetent engineer who couldn’t even write the code for “Hello, World.”

“Ms. Sienna Rhodes has already transferred the root administrator privileges to me,” William bragged, smugly waving a flash drive in his hand. “Evangeline, you’re nothing but a code monkey. Do you even understand what trade secrets are? Our core assets belong in reliable hands. Right now, you don’t even have the right to look at that code.”

I shot him an icy look.

“Do you even understand the architecture of that codebase? If a bug pops up, do you even know how to fix it?”

William scoffed softly.

“What a joke. The app is already live—what bugs could there possibly be? Even if there were, we could just hire a few cheap freelancers to handle it. Do you really think you’re indispensable?”

Just then, Delphine burst into the server room in a flurry, leading a middle-aged man behind her.

“Mr. Alexander Bennett, right this way, please! This is our core technical operations area,” Delphine introduced in her sweetest voice.

When she turned and caught sight of me, her face instantly soured.

“Evangeline, why are you still dawdling around here? Can’t you see Mr. Bennett is here? Go pour us some water!”

Mr. Bennett looked me up and down, his brows furrowing slightly.

“Ms. Rhodes, this is your technical backbone? She looks a bit dim-witted.”

Delphine quickly flashed an apologetic smile.

“Don’t mind her, Mr. Bennett; she’s just an errand girl. Oh, by the way, you mentioned earlier that the filter button’s color looks bad and you wanted to change it to a vibrant shade of black?”

Mr. Bennett nodded approvingly. “Exactly. Something low-key yet luxurious. A black that glows in the dark.”

Delphine immediately pointed a finger at me.

“Evangeline, did you hear that? Go alter the core code right now and run a demo for Mr. Bennett!”

I stood rooted to the spot, unmoving.

“A vibrant shade of black? That’s color theory nonsense,” I said flatly. “Besides, you can’t just modify the core codebase on a whim. It will crash the entire rendering engine’s stability.”

Delphine panicked and rushed forward, shoving me hard.

“What do you know! The client’s demands come first! Just do what you’re told—what’s with all the excuses? Are you intentionally trying to sabotage my business partnership?”

Mr. Bennett’s expression darkened as well.

“Ms. Rhodes, your company’s service attitude makes me seriously question your professionalism.”

Terrified of losing the deal, Delphine quickly tried to appease Mr. Bennett before pulling out her phone and dialing Leander’s number.

In less than two minutes, Leander stormed into the server room, furious.

“Evangeline! What trouble are you causing now?!”

Without a word of explanation, he lunged forward and slapped me hard across the face.

“The company pays you to do your job, not to put up with that attitude!” he bellowed. “If you don’t adjust that color for Mr. Bennett today, pack your things and get the hell out of my company! And you’ll owe us a hundred thousand dollars in damages for breaching the client contract!”

Chapter 3

The marks from his fingers stung across my cheek like they’d been seared by fire.

Looking at my raging father standing before me, and Delphine standing beside him gloating, I suddenly found the whole situation hilarious.

I nodded. “Fine. I won’t change it.

“And I’m leaving.”

I turned around and walked straight into the HR office.

When I pushed the door open, Sienna was sitting in her executive chair, filing her nails. Seeing me walk in, she didn’t even bother lifting her eyelids.

“What? Can’t handle working in the cleaning department?” Sienna pulled open a drawer, produced a long stack of corporate fine notices, and slapped them onto the desk. “Evangeline, your stress tolerance is pathetic. Looking for your employment exit clearance, are you? Pay off these fines first.”

I stepped forward and picked up the stack of penalty slips.

The items listed line after line were truly something to behold:

“Entered the office with the wrong foot three times last month, violating company policy. That’s a $200 fine.”

“Excessive breathing at your desk, consuming company resources and distracting your coworkers. That’s a $400 fine.”

“Charging a personal phone using company electricity, classified as unauthorized use of corporate property. That’s a $700 fine.”

“Keyboard wear-and-tear fees. Office chair depreciation fees. Compensation for workplace-related vision strain…”

Sienna tapped her fingernails against the desk.

“Adding it all up, you don’t get any base salary, and you owe the company $11,000. Pay up and leave. Otherwise, I’ll have legal sue you.”

I was so angry I laughed out loud.

“Sienna, do you honestly think your family wrote the labor laws?” I scoffed. “This garbage fine sheet wouldn’t even sell for a penny at a scrap yard.”

Right in front of her, I tore the entire stack of fine slips into tiny pieces.

Then I slammed the paper scraps straight into her face.

Shredded paper rained down all over her outfit.

“Evangeline! Have you lost your mind?!” Sienna screamed as she leaped out of her chair.

Just then, the office door was pushed open.

My mother, Valentina, rushed in and grabbed my arm in a vice grip.

“Evangeline! Are you sick? Do you need me to get your head checked?” she shrieked, her voice sharp and grating, dripping with control.

“Did you meet some rich guy out there? Are you trying to jump ship? Let me tell you right now—not a chance! If you want to leave, then leave your hands behind! This company trained those hands to write code! Without the Rhodes family, without us, you wouldn’t even be able to support yourself! You’re a useless nobody. Who would ever want you?!”

I yanked my arm out of her grip, looking at her face, twisted with frantic rage.

“Whether I’m a useless nobody or not, you’ll all find out very soon.”

I didn’t bother listening to any more of their screeching.

I turned around and strode out through the front doors of Rhodes Enterprises, leaving behind Leander’s enraged roars echoing in my wake.

“Get out! Get the hell out of this family! I’ll blackball you across the entire industry! Let’s see which company dares to hire an ungrateful backstabber who turned on her own blood! Sooner or later, you’ll be on your knees, begging me to take you back!”

After leaving Rhodes Enterprises, I made a quick trip back to the house.

Taking advantage of the fact that none of them had returned yet, I grabbed my ID documents and a few changes of clothes.

As for everything else, I left it all behind.

I rented a cheap basement apartment.

It was dark and damp, furnished with nothing more than a rickety single bed. Yet, I felt the air here was ten thousand times fresher than inside the Rhodes family mansion.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I pulled out my backup phone and opened that text message from Nexora Technologies.

Nexora Technologies was the largest internet behemoth in the country.

Compared to it, Rhodes Enterprises was an insignificant speck of dust.

Taking a deep breath, I dialed the number listed in the text message.

The line was picked up almost instantly.

“Ms. Rhodes, you’ve finally made up your mind,” a calm voice answered.

It was the CEO of Nexora Technologies, Gideon Parker.

“Mr. Parker, I accept your offer,” I said softly.

A low chuckle came from the other end of the phone line.

“Ms. Rhodes, tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, in the top-floor executive conference room at Nexora Technologies. I look forward to your onboarding. An eight-million-dollar annual salary package—I stick to my word.”

Chapter 4

At nine-thirty the next morning, wearing a tailored black business suit, I stepped into the headquarters building of Nexora Technologies.

I had barely entered the luxurious, expansive lobby when a sharp voice suddenly rang out from the side.

“Well, well! Isn’t this our family’s ungrateful leech who got thrown out on her ear?”

I stopped in my tracks and turned to look.

There stood Leander, Valentina, Sienna, and Delphine, the picture-perfect family of four, dressed to impress in the lobby lounge. Leander was sharp in a tailored suit, while Valentina carried a limited-edition Hermès bag. Sienna and Delphine were dressed to the nines, looking every bit like socialites.

They had come to Nexora Technologies today to secure the next round of funding for the photo-editing app.

Delphine strutted over to me, looking my business suit up and down before letting out an exaggerated, hand-covered giggle.

“Evangeline, dressed like that, you didn’t come to Nexora Technologies to apply for a janitorial job, did you? I heard even their cleaning staff need a college degree—the standards are super high. Are you even qualified?”

Sienna walked over as well, crossing her arms in her usual condescending posture.

“Evangeline, don’t waste your breath. Dad already sent out a blackball letter across the entire industry yesterday. Everyone in the circle knows you’re a toxic cancer who lacks professional ethics and turned on her own company. Which company would ever dare hire you?”

Sienna leaned in close, lowering her voice with pure condescension.

“If you get down on your knees and beg me right now, I might still save you a spot in the janitorial department at Rhodes Enterprises. It’s better than ending up on the streets with nothing to your name.”

I looked at them coldly, not even feeling the desire to argue.

“Move,” I said flatly.

Seeing my arrogant attitude, Leander blew his top. He strode over, pointing a finger right in my face and shouting curses.

“You’re an embarrassment! What the hell are you doing here? Are you trying to drag the Rhodes family name through the mud? We have a meeting with CEO Parker today to discuss a multimillion-dollar deal! If you mess this up for us, I swear I’ll break your legs!”

Leander turned around and roared at the lobby security staff.

“Security! Where’s security?!” he hollered. “Throw this intruder out! Don’t let her interfere with our meeting with Mr. Parker!”

A few security guards heard the commotion and immediately headed our way.

Delphine looked at me triumphantly. “Evangeline, why are you still here? Once security throws you out onto the street, it’s going to be really embarrassing.”

Valentina added a cold sneer from the side. “Evangeline, this is what happens when you refuse to listen. It would have been so much better if you’d admitted your mistake sooner and come home to apologize to your father.”

Just as the security guards reached me, ready to lay hands on me and drag me out, the private executive elevator doors slid open.

A team of executives in high-end tailored suits strode briskly out of the elevator.

Leading the group was a tall man with sharp, icy features—the CEO of Nexora Technologies himself, Gideon Parker.

The moment Leander spotted Gideon, his eyes lit up. His anger instantly vanished, replaced by a fawning smile as he hurried over to greet him.

“Ah, Mr. Parker! Hello, hello! I am Leander Rhodes from Rhodes Enterprises. We had an appointment earlier…”

Leander extended both hands, eager to shake Gideon’s hand.

However, Gideon didn’t even cast a glance in his direction. Ignoring Leander’s outstretched hands completely, he walked right past him.

Under the shocked, bewildered gazes of the four Rhodes family members, Gideon walked with steady steps and stopped directly in front of me.

“Ms. Rhodes, welcome to Nexora Technologies.”