Chapter 2

A collective gasp echoed across the floor.

I trembled with pure rage.

"Chloe Vance, stop making up disgusting lies! Julian Crawford literally just used my dying grandmother's hospital bills to blackmail me!"

Chloe smacked my hand away with disgust.

"Still trying to twist the truth?!"

Our coworker, Lisa, jumped out of her chair, looking at me with pure scorn.

"Wow, Nicole. I never knew you were this kind of girl."

"Acting all pure and professional on the outside, but totally rotten and cheap behind closed doors."

Kevin chimed in instantly, his tone dripping with mock righteousness.

"Seriously. If every employee acted like you, seducing the boss whenever they mess up, this company would collapse!"

"Chloe, you absolutely cannot let this slide. We need zero tolerance for this garbage."

Chloe tilted her chin up triumphantly, looking down her nose at me.

"Nicole Davis, not only is your Thanksgiving holiday overtime completely revoked,"

"You can kiss your entire base salary from last month goodbye, too!"

My eyes widened in shock. I took a step forward.

"On what grounds are you withholding my base salary?! I had the number one sales performance in the entire company last month!"

Chloe stepped back slightly, letting out a cruel laugh.

"On the grounds of severe moral misconduct and damaging our corporate image."

"Go reflect on your trashy behavior. Otherwise, you won't see a single dime this month, either."

With that, she sashayed back into her private finance office.

I dragged myself back to my cubicle, my chest heaving as I fought for air.

Lisa rolled her eyes, slamming a heavy stack of folders onto my desk with a smirk.

"Guess all that hard work you put in before was just an act to catch Mr. Crawford's eye."

"Since you love showing off so much, take care of these files for me, will you?"

Other colleagues immediately followed suit, tossing their folders onto my desk while whispering cruel mockeries.

Looking at these people kicking me while I was down, a bitter laugh caught in my throat.

Whenever they ran into work roadblocks or wanted to slack off, I always helped them out without asking for anything in return.

Turns out, I had been feeding a pack of ungrateful vipers all along.

I grabbed the thick folders off my desk and hurled them right back into Lisa's chest.

"If you think my hard work is an act, do your own damn job."

"From this second on, don't even think about dumping a single page of your work on me."

Lisa stumbled back two steps from the impact, her face twisting in fury as she pointed a finger at me.

"Nicole Davis, drop the attitude!"

"You just made an enemy out of Chloe Vance. Your days here are numbered!"

"Just wait until you're begging us on your knees for help!"

Before I could tear into her, my phone began vibrating frantically on my desk.

It was the hospital. My heart skipped a beat, and I snatched it up instantly.

The doctor's urgent voice came through the receiver.

"Ms. Davis, your grandmother's account has insufficient funds. The automated transaction just bounced."

"You must clear the remaining balance for her bypass surgery before 6:00 PM today."

"Otherwise, we will have no choice but to cancel tonight's procedure."

I frantically rummaged through my bag for my debit cards, my voice trembling uncontrollably.

"Doctor, how much is missing?"

"Three thousand dollars. Find a way to get it here as fast as you can."

The line went dead. I collapsed back into my chair, completely numb.

My checking account was supposed to have more than enough.

Then it hit me—over the past month, Julian and Chloe had made me run errands, buying luxury goods, paying out of pocket for their hotel suites, and ordering condoms during Thanksgiving.

It added up to exactly three thousand dollars.

And not a single one of those expense reports had been reimbursed.

I shot to my feet and charged straight back into the finance office.

"Chloe Vance, give me my money back!"

Chloe jumped, startled by my sudden entrance.

"Are you insane, Nicole? Who owes you money?!"

I slammed the stack of itemized expense receipts onto her desk.

"You're the one holding up my reimbursements, aren't you?!"

"Approve the three grand I fronted for you and Crawford right now!"

"My grandmother needs that money for life-saving surgery tonight!"

Chloe glanced down at the receipts, a venomous smirk spreading across her lips.

She picked up the receipts and invoices between two manicured fingers—and ripped them right down the middle.

My eyes blazed with fury. I lunged forward to grab them.

"What the hell are you doing?!"