Chapter 1

My company was hit by a massive PR crisis. I didn’t sleep for seventy-two hours straight.

I personally drafted eight different versions of the official statement, coordinated with twenty-three major media outlets, and successfully pushed the trending hashtag down from the number one spot until it vanished completely.

At the victory party, our Vice President, Raymond Miller, raised his glass and walked toward Chloe Sterling, our intern.

"Chloe did an outstanding job this time! Her full-time contract starts next month, and her salary will be set at the manager level."

Nobody looked at me.

After the party, Raymond sent me a private message on WhatsApp: "Claire, you’re highly experienced. Make sure to mentor Chloe more in the future. She’s the daughter of a close friend of our Chairman."

At the exact same time, a recruiter from our biggest rival sent me a message: "Ms. Vance, your company’s recent PR strategy was brilliant. Do you have time for a quick chat?"

I took screenshots of both messages and saved them to the same folder on my phone.

Then, I replied to the recruiter with just two words:

"Anytime."

One month later, the company made the trending topics again.

This time, nobody could suppress it.