Chapter 3

First thing the next morning, a company-wide email was blasted to everyone’s inbox.

The subject line was flagged in bright red: "URGENT WARNING: Public Reprimand of Operations Director Chloe for Violating Company Hustle Culture."

In the email, Gavin used the most dramatic, exaggerated language possible, elevating a simple water bottle to a threat against organizational discipline and the company's very survival.

At the bottom, he had attached a screenshot of the $100 fine and a picture of my employee ID badge.

It was nothing short of a public execution.

The moment I stepped into the office, I felt countless complicated stares locked onto me.

Some people immediately looked down, pretending to be busy. Others threw me quick, sympathetic glances from a distance. But Sienna didn’t even bother to hide her malice. She walked right up to me, her voice loud enough for the entire floor to hear.

"Oh, Chloe, where is your pretty little tumbler today?"

"Gavin said true hustlers should only drink iced double-espressos to keep their brains sharp. We wouldn't want to make stupid, low-level mistakes like "some" people do."

I ignored her completely and walked straight to my desk.

But the tumbler that had kept me company for years was gone. In its place sat a single bottle of ice-cold mineral water.

I looked up and saw Sienna standing not far away, grinning at me.

Without saying a word, I picked up the ice-cold bottle, walked over to the breakroom trash can, and threw it right in.

As I walked back to my desk, I saw Gavin standing right behind my chair. His face was so dark it looked like a thunderstorm was brewing.

"Chloe, it seems yesterday’s lesson wasn't enough for you," he said coldly.

"Gavin, I just don't like ice-cold water," I replied calmly.

"Fine. Very good," he nodded. He turned around and announced to the entire department:

"Starting today, all project proposals from the Operations Department must first be compiled by Sienna before being submitted to me for final approval."

"Chloe, your job will be to guide her and do the quality check."

Everyone froze.

This was an incredibly insulting arrangement.

I was the Operations Director. Sienna was just a college intern.

And now, he was making an intern my gatekeeper, while I was relegated to being her back-end support.

He had effectively stripped me of all my actual authority, turning me into a useless, powerless figurehead.

My team members exchanged looks of outrage, but none of them dared to speak up.

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Understood, Gavin."

The calmer I behaved, the uglier Gavin's expression became.

He was clearly baiting me, waiting for me to explode so he’d have a legitimate reason to fire me on the spot. But I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

Over the next few days, I became a ghost in my own department.

Sienna strutted around, taking over all my responsibilities. When she ran into things she didn’t understand, she would rather ask a junior associate than ask me. Gavin had given her massive authority, even letting her handle some of our smaller client accounts directly.

Meanwhile, my daily routine consisted of "guiding" and "checking."

Every time Sienna handed me a proposal, I reviewed it meticulously. I used a red font to highlight every single logical loophole and data error, wrote down detailed suggestions for improvement, and sent it back to her.

Every single time, she would just glance at it with annoyance, bypass my notes, and send her original, flawed draft straight to Gavin.

Naturally, Gavin didn't bother to read my redlines either. He would just sign off on whatever she gave him with a flourish of his pen.

I screenshotted every single proposal I revised, alongside Sienna's original draft and the final version Gavin approved. I saved them all into my encrypted folder.

I also noticed that Gavin had started frequently scheduling private meetings with Carter, the head of Lumina Group—our biggest VIP client.

But every time, Gavin would exclude me from the calendar invite using "executive alignment" as an excuse, taking only Sienna with him.

I had worked with Carter for years. We had long transitioned from business partners to close personal friends.

He knew about my health issues, and he respected my professional capabilities.

On the night after Gavin took Sienna to meet Carter for the first time, Carter sent me a message on Snapchat.

"Chloe, what is going on with your company?"

"This new VP is an absolute clown. He came in preaching about some toxic 'wolf culture' and demanded we triple our annual budget. He actually threatened to cut our prime ad placements if we didn't."

"And that assistant he brought? She couldn't even get our core KPIs from last month right."

"Since you weren't there, I didn't agree to a single thing."

Looking at the message, I smiled. Everything was going exactly as I expected.

I typed back: "Carter, we’re going through some management shifts. It’s a long story."

"Please bear with it for now. Let’s keep our specific project discussions private. Don't leave any official paper trails on the company channels."

"Got it," he replied.

I took a screenshot of that conversation too, saving it securely.

I knew Gavin was trying to dig up my roots. He wanted to steal my biggest client and then kick me out.

But the more rushed and desperate he was, the more mistakes he would make.

All I had to do was wait quietly and collect every single piece of dirt he dropped.