Chapter 2

"Ethan, you can leave, but you must hand over your client database."

The call was from Chloe in Admin, her voice tight with the awkwardness of being forced to play messenger.

I had just stepped out of the office building. My ID badge was probably still sitting on the receptionist's desk, and already, this call was chasing me down.

"That database is the result of three years of my own hard work, client by client. It has nothing to do with the company."

Chloe was silent for two seconds before lowering her voice. "Ethan, these aren't my words. Richard's exact words were—if you don't hand it over, they will sue you for leaking trade secrets."

I stood by the curb, watching my reflection in the glass facade of the skyscraper across the street.

"Trade secrets? A list of public contacts?"

"Ethan, I'm just the messenger. Please don't make this hard for me."

The line went dead.

I shoved my phone into my pocket. Before I could take two steps, it buzzed again.

This time, it was a client. David Harrison, the developer behind the luxury waterfront estate project.

"Ethan, what's going on? Some kid named Tyler just called me, claiming he's taking over your accounts. He wanted to go over our negotiated terms again?"

I paused.

"Mr. Harrison, I just resigned. It must be the company's transition process."

"Transition?" David let out a dry laugh. "That kid couldn't even tell me the total square footage of the project. The first thing out of his mouth was asking about my budget. I told him I only deal with you, and he said—"

David hesitated.

"What did he say?"

"He said you were fired for gross misconduct and warned me not to contact you again."

I gripped my phone, my knuckles turning white.

Fired.

I resigned on my own terms, but in his mouth, it became a shameful termination.

"Mr. Harrison, I'll explain everything to you later."

"No need. I trust you, Ethan. But that kid's attitude... what the hell is going on with your company?"

I couldn't answer, because I didn't know how to explain the sheer audacity of it.

After hanging up, two text messages popped up.

One was from Mrs. Clara Bennet from the Lakefront project: *Ethan, did you quit? Someone texted me using your name, saying we need to resign our contract.*

The other was from Marcus Sinclair, a VIP client I had nurtured for two years: *Ethan, someone claiming to be your colleague added me on Snapchat and immediately started spamming me with listings. What's the deal here?*

I read through them one by one, my fingers hovering over the screen.

Not only did he steal my commission, but he also swiped my physical contact book and was hitting up my clients one by one.

My phone buzzed again.

It was a message from Richard, sent not privately, but to the entire department WhatsApp group.

"Notice: Due to Ethan Vance's sudden resignation under personal circumstances, all his client accounts are now transferred to Tyler Sterling. Please cooperate with the handover. If any clients contact Ethan, please redirect them to Tyler."

A string of "Understood" messages followed immediately.

Tyler Sterling—the guy who literally put the wrong square footage on three contracts and almost got us sued.

Right after, Tyler sent a voice note to the group.

I tapped it. His arrogant, nasal voice leaked through the speaker, sounding like he had just rolled out of bed. "Thanks, team! From now on, Ethan’s clients are my clients. If you guys have any extra leads, throw them my way. Dinner's on me at the end of the year!"

He followed it with a smirking emoji.

Nobody else said a word.

But nobody protested, either.

I left the group chat, standing on the sidewalk as my screen slowly went dark.

Three years.

From my very first cold call to a $50 million deal. For three years, I hadn't taken a single day off. My phone was on 24/7. Even if a client called at 2 AM, I answered.

Now, with a single group chat notification, it all belonged to Tyler.

My phone rang again.

My dad.

"Did you pack up your files?"

"Yes. Three years of commission records, inflated expense sheets, and contract discrepancies. I have everything."

Silence on the other end for two seconds.

"The corporate audit team will arrive the day after tomorrow. Don't go back to that office."

"Dad, they took all my clients."

My dad didn't say anything at first.

Then, he said something I didn't expect.

"Let them take them. The more they steal, the easier it will be to lock them up."