Chapter 2

The slam of the door echoed through the quiet office.

Looking at the mess on the floor, I bent down, picked up an unbroken green leaf, and twirled it between my fingers.

A bit of cool, clear plant sap rubbed off against my thumb.

My assistant, Zoe, poked her head in, her eyes red. "Chloe, is he..."

"I'm fine." I tossed the leaf into the trash can and wiped my hands with a wet wipe. "Set up a meeting with Arthur Miller. Tell him three o'clock at our usual café."

Zoe nodded, then hesitated. "Chloe... we just heard that two of the backup leads we were pitching were intercepted by Richard's team."

My hand paused.

"He works fast when he's panicked."

Zoe looked anxious. "What do we do?"

"They were just backups." I walked back to my desk, sat down, and opened my laptop. "Did he really think those three clients were my only cards? Pull up Proposal B. We’re presenting it to Arthur this afternoon."

Zoe blinked in surprise, then broke into a wide grin and hurried off.

The office fell silent, save for the faint hum of the air conditioner.

I stared at the blinking cursor on my screen.

Just three days ago, I was sitting in Richard’s gold-trimmed executive suite signing termination papers. He had made HR watch me clear my desk as if terrified I’d steal a pack of sticky notes.

Looking back, his paranoid, petty face was almost laughable.

My phone buzzed on the desk.

It was a notification from our private WhatsApp group—a team chat with the core staff from my old company.

I had created the group years ago to manage project workflows. Richard never joined because he thought keeping track of day-to-day operations was beneath him.

When I resigned, I tried to leave the chat, but everyone insisted I stay.

The message was from Hank, the lead software architect: *Chloe, got a minute for a call?*

Instead of texting back, I dialed his number directly.

He picked up on the first ring. His voice was hushed, backed by the low whir of office printers.

"Chloe, did you hear? Richard threw a massive tantrum this morning. He made Lily from Admin cry in the hallway."

"Expected."

"And that's not all," Hank muttered. "He called an emergency meeting at ten and announced a fifty percent cut to all performance bonuses, claiming the company is facing operational hardship. But Chloe... the day after you left, he literally leased himself a brand-new Porsche."

I leaned back against my chair, spinning a pen between my fingers.

"Everyone’s furious," Hank continued. "Ever since you walked out, the legacy client handovers have been a total trainwreck. That new director has no clue what he’s doing. He just calls endless Zoom meetings."

"Yesterday, our key suppliers called and threatened to halt all deliveries if their invoices aren't cleared. Richard told Accounting to sit on the payments."

"How much is he withholding?" I asked.

"Three major invoices. About two hundred and fifty grand total."

Two hundred and fifty grand.

Richard was so obsessed with chasing new vanity clients that he completely ignored the fact his backyard was already on fire.

"Hank," I said calmly. "I still have everyone's resumes on file. If any of you want to jump ship, my doors are open. Same pay, better terms."

The line went silent for a few seconds.

Then Hank let out a quiet chuckle. "I was waiting for you to say that. A dozen of us in the chat already talked it over. Once your new place is set up, we're resigning together."

"Not yet," I tapped the desk lightly. "He’s backed into a corner right now. If you walk out today, he’ll claim you breached your non-competes. Give it a couple of days. Let him dig his hole a little deeper."