Chapter 4

I woke up on Friday morning to forty-five missed calls and countless urgent text messages.

Most of them were from managers of other departments.

[Aria, the marketing proposal is a mess. Call me back immediately!]

[The client is demanding an emergency meeting. We need you to handle this.]

[Where are you?]

Even the CEO, Richard, had called me from Europe.

Clearly, they had no idea I had been fired.

When I picked up Richard's next call, his voice boomed through the speaker. "Aria! Why aren't you answering your phone during business hours? Do I pay you a top-tier salary so you can go on vacation whenever you want?"

"The other department heads are complaining to me! The entire sales department is in absolute chaos!"

"And what happened with Eleanor Vance? We were about to sign the contract, and now she's pulling out because she says our new proposal is 'garbage'!"

"You've never made a mistake like this in ten years. Have you lost your mind the moment I left the country?"

I waited for him to take a breath. "Mr. Davis, actually, I no longer—"

He cut me off instantly.

"I don't care what excuse you have! Get back to the office right now and fix this mess!"

He slammed the phone down.

When I tried to call back, it went straight to voicemail.

My phone rang all day, but I didn't answer. By evening, a friend from another department filled me in on the drama.

Apparently, after I left, the sales department fell apart.

Chloe's "elite team" was just a bunch of pampered college graduates who had no practical experience. Without me directing them, they had no idea how to execute a project.

When a major client demanded a revised proposal, they couldn't produce one, so they simply resubmitted an old draft with a few words changed.

The client was insulted and blacklisted the company on the spot.

Chloe, who usually rolled into the office at 10:00 AM, completely panicked when she heard the news. She lost her "sweet, modern boss" persona and screamed at everyone.

My friend sent me a leaked video of the office. Chloe's voice was screeching: "I give you guys perks! I let you go home early! And this is how you repay me?"

"Why is the proposal not ready? Why did we lose the account? Are you all completely useless?"

"Nobody goes home tonight! You will sleep in this office until this is fixed!"

My friend texted: "Aria, you should have seen their faces. They were stunned. And Chloe got ripped apart by the board of directors for over an hour. She came out of the meeting crying."

Fixing a crisis like that required years of client data and industry experience—things Chloe couldn't learn overnight.

Without me, they were sinking.

At 8:00 PM, I posted a photo of a freshly baked lemon cake on my Instagram.

"Rainy days are perfect for baking and sleeping in."

I wasn't a saint. They had humiliated me when I left, and I wasn't about to play the hero now.

Soon, a comment popped up from one of my former team members: "Aria, we finally realize how much you did for us."

It was deleted thirty seconds later.

The next morning, everyone in the sales department shared Chloe's late-night Instagram post.

It was posted at 1:00 AM: "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger! Rising above the challenges!"

I chuckled and closed the app to update my resume.

Just then, Stella called me.

After a moment of hesitation, I answered.

There was silence on the other end for a long time, followed by soft, muffled crying.

"Aria..." she sobbed.

"Can you... can you please come to the office?"

I didn't hesitate. "No, Stella."

She sounded shocked by my cold tone. After all, I used to protect her no matter what.

"Please, Aria. If you don't come, I'm going to get fired."

I smiled. "Well, let me see what's going on then." I hung up and called an Uber.

I wanted to see exactly how she was going to get fired.