Chapter 1

Our company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Everyone was frantically sending out resumes, desperate to jump ship.

I was the only one digging my heels in, holding up the resignation process and refusing to let anyone go under every excuse in the book.

My coworkers turned on me. They mocked me, calling me the boss’s loyal lapdog, and blasted my name all over social media. The comment sections blew up with furious insults labeling me a corporate traitor, sparking a massive online crusade against toxic hustle culture.

Then my boyfriend dropped to his knees, begging me to set him free.

"Chloe, I'm begging you, just approve my resignation! My mom had a heart attack—she needs emergency surgery right now!"

"If you just sign off on it, I'll get my severance payout, and my mom will live!"

"How can you be so cold-blooded? Do you really want to watch my mom die?"

What he didn't know was that our company wasn't actually going under. We were being acquired and restructured.

And the owner of the acquiring corporation was a member of the board of directors at the very hospital where his mother was being treated.

The donor heart his family had been desperately praying for only needed that new boss's green light.

"Company policy states that any early resignation requires a three-month advance notice," I said steadily. "I cannot approve your request."

I clenched my fists in my pockets, desperately biting back the urge to blurt out the truth.

My boyfriend, Ethan, gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white around the paperwork.

"Chloe, how can you be so vicious? My mom is lying in a hospital bed right now, clinging to life, waiting on this severance check for her surgery!" he roared. "If you don't stamp that paper, we are done!"

Our coworkers crowded around us, hurling accusations to break my resolve.

"Chloe, your own boyfriend is on his knees begging you, and you're still acting like an unfeeling monster! Have you no heart?"

"Ethan has treated you like a queen since day one! Now his mother is on the brink of death, and you won't lift a single finger to help!"

"How can a woman be this cruel?"

Every single pair of eyes was glued to the corporate seal resting in my pocket.

I took a deep breath, fighting the burning impulse to explain everything.

Three days.

Just three more days.

If Ethan could just hold out for three more days, not only would he survive the restructuring and double his pay and benefits, but he would also secure a brand-new donor heart for his mother.

"Ethan, please, you have to trust me," I pleaded softly, dropping my defensive tone. "I'm doing this for your own good. Just wait a little longer. Just wait a few more days, and everything will be okay."

"I can wait, but my mom can't!"

Ethan slammed his fist against the wall, his eyes bloodshot with rage. He pointed a trembling finger right in my face. "Chloe, do you have any humanity left? My mom treated you like her own daughter! She's lying there in critical condition, and you're still playing the loyal little lackey for corporate scum!"

"Your best friend, Vanessa, was right all along! You're sleeping with the boss, aren't you? That's why you're defending him like a dog!"

The room erupted into chaos.

"I knew it! No wonder Chloe sold us out—she's been sleeping her way to the top!"

"Leaving her own boyfriend's mother to die just to suck up to a rich sugar daddy... absolutely disgusting."

"A toxic, manipulative btch like her deserves hell!"

As the vile rumors spiraled out of control, our CEO, Julian, stepped up beside me. His face was stone-cold.

"Enough," Julian barked, his voice cutting through the noise like a blade. "One more lie out of any of you, and security will throw you out onto the street."

Under the terms of the acquisition, if our core team retained at least eighty percent of its staff, everyone would keep their jobs with boosted compensation. The only catch was strict confidentiality. To save as many people from being fired as possible, I had no choice but to find excuses to stall every single resignation.

Ethan snapped. He lunged forward and slapped me hard across the face.

SMACK!

"I was blind to ever love you, Chloe! You're just another gold-digging whore!" he spat, his chest heaving with venomous disgust. "I always wondered how you got hired after me and still managed to earn a higher salary. You climbed into the boss's bed, didn't you? You shameless slut!"

He glared at me with pure hatred. "We're over! We are completely done!"