Chapter 3

Over the next few days, I went about my work as usual.

I replied to emails, managed my ongoing projects, and attended department meetings. I never mentioned the rejected reimbursement to anyone.

Whenever Arthur ran into me in the hallway, he would give me an approving nod.

When the down payment from the Apex Tech deal hit the company’s account, Arthur praised me in front of everyone during our weekly meeting. He said I had "great initiative" and "didn't cry over petty expenses."

I just kept my head down, doodling mindless lines on my notepad.

During lunch, my colleague Leo leaned in and lowered his voice.

"Hey Logan, is it true? They actually refused to reimburse you for the Apex dinner?"

Rumors sure traveled fast in this place.

"Yeah," I replied casually, digging into my salad.

"That's bullshit!" Leo hissed. "Twenty-five hundred bucks? And you’re just letting it go?"

"What else can I do?" I looked up at him. "It’s company policy."

"Company policy my ass!" Leo spat. "Arthur is just exploiting us to make his own budget look good. Last month, he took some clients to a VIP golf simulator lounge, spent five grand, and got every penny back!"

I didn't reply. Some things were better left unsaid.

That afternoon, my phone rang. It was Marcus, the lead engineer from Apex Tech. Outside of work, we had actually become pretty good friends.

"Logan, I need a quick favor," Marcus said, his voice sounding rushed.

"What's up, Marcus?"

"Our parent company is hosting a massive national tech summit next month. Huge budget, high profile. But our event planning agency just completely dropped the ball. Can your company handle a high-stakes event like this? We need speed and top-tier execution."

My heart skipped a beat.

The Apex Tech National Summit was legendary in our industry. The budget was easily in the seven-figure range.

"What are the specific requirements, Marcus? Send them over," I said, keeping my tone perfectly level.

"Awesome. I'll email you the RFP right now. I need an initial proposal and a quote by Thursday morning at the latest. A bunch of agencies are begging for this, but I love working with you, so I’m giving you first dibs."

"Thanks, Marcus. I'll look out for it."

A minute later, my inbox chimed.

I opened the document and scanned through it. The scale, technical requirements, and prestige of this event were far beyond our department’s usual scope, but our company definitely had the capacity to pull it off.

This was a massive opportunity. A goldmine of profit and reputation.

And it was the perfect lever.

I saved the document to a private folder and did not report it to Arthur.