Chapter 1

At the company's annual party, the boss suddenly announced he was canceling everyone's year-end bonus.

His reason: the economy was rough this year, and we all had to pull through the hard times together.

In my last life, as the sales champion, I was the one who led the charge against that empty-promise nonsense.

I brought the company ten million in business a year. On what grounds should even the bonus I'd earned be cut?

Only to be stabbed in the back by the apprentice who usually trailed along behind me, picking up my scraps.

"We come to work to grow our own value and grow with the company. Surely nobody here is only staring at that little bit of money?"

He secretly recorded me making my case and sent it to the boss.

The very next day I was branded with leaking trade secrets and destroying team unity.

I tried to take it to the labor board, only for the company's legal counsel to turn it around on me, and I ended up saddled with a million-dollar breach-of-contract penalty.

My savings were frozen. My house was auctioned off by the court.

With nowhere left to turn, I jumped from the roof of the company building.

Now I was living again, back at the exact annual party where the boss announced the bonuses were gone.

Facing that hypocrite's face.

I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Sure.

...

The moment the words left my mouth, the whole room went dead silent.

Everyone stared at me like I'd lost my mind.

Especially my dear apprentice, Max Fox. His mouth hung half-open, the words he'd been about to say frozen there, his eyes full of disbelief.

In my last life, this was the exact line he used to nail me to the pillar of shame as a greedy traitor.

And he, climbing over my corpse, became the boss's favorite: high-minded, full of promise.

This time I'd stolen his line right out from under him.

Even the boss, Finn Lambert, went blank for a second, that face of his puffy and greasy from years of drinking.

He'd clearly prepped an entire speech to handle the pushback from us ungrateful employees.

He might even have been ready to make an example of me, the sales champion, to scare the rest into line.

My sudden defection threw his whole plan into chaos.

A few seconds later, Finn was the first to recover, the muscles of his face folding into a fake smile that bunched up like a chrysanthemum.

"Well, well! Look at that! Look at that!"

He slapped his thigh, his voice booming over the entire room.

"That's our Director Pruitt for you! Emily Pruitt really gets it!"

"You want to know what a company pillar looks like? This is what a company pillar looks like!"

He raised his glass, lifting it toward me across the room.

"Everyone should learn from Director Pruitt! Only when the company does well can any of us do well!"

"Come on, let's all raise a glass to our clear-sighted Director Pruitt!"

I looked at Finn's greasy face, cold contempt curdling inside me.

Finn Lambert, our boss. Everyone called him Lambert the Skinflint.

The company's numbers this year had doubled from last year, and eighty percent of that came from Sales Department One, my team, who'd worked ourselves to the bone.

I alone had signed three deals worth ten million each.

The young ones on my team had lived on takeout for half a year and pulled all-nighters for three months straight, all banking on that year-end bonus so they could go home for a good holiday.

And now, with one line about a rough economy, he wanted to wipe out everything we'd earned?

I picked up the orange juice in front of me, lifted it toward him across the room, and drained it in one go.

Max snapped out of it, and as if terrified of falling a step behind, he hurried to raise his glass, chiming in loudly in a tone that came close to groveling.

"Right, right, right! My mentor is absolutely right! And Mr. Lambert is even more right!"

His face was flushed, though whether from excitement or from holding it all in, who could say.

"Under Mr. Lambert's brilliant leadership, the precious experience and life lessons we've gained can't be measured by any amount of money! That is the truly priceless wealth!"

Watching him practically try to carve the word loyal into his own forehead, I felt my stomach churn.

In my last life, this harmless-looking act was exactly what fooled me.

I taught him hands-on how to handle clients and work the field. I even handed him the easiest clients I had, the ones most likely to close, just to help him grow fast.

And what did I get?

This was how he repaid me.

Around me, my coworkers wore all kinds of expressions.

Some looked relieved, figuring that since even the sales champion had spoken up first, they didn't have to stick their necks out.

Some looked plainly disgusted, clearly thinking I'd thrown away my dignity just to flatter the boss.

And a few who were close to me had nothing but worry and confusion in their eyes.

I ignored all of it.

This farce was due for a new lead.