Chapter 4

That night, I stood at the hotel entrance for a long time.

The dinner was cancelled, but the booking deposit was non-refundable.

The hotel policy stated that last-minute cancellations incurred a 100% penalty.

Thirty-five thousand dollars, gone down the drain.

More importantly, Grandview formally blacklisted us.

I didn't get back to my apartment until nearly 10:00 PM.

I opened my laptop and began filling out my daily compliance log for HQ.

I uploaded the timeline, the location, the recorded audio files, and the videos into the secure folder.

Once done, I backed up everything. I kept every recording, starting from Chloe calling the client a pig to the gossiping in the hallways.

Then, I opened our encrypted messenger and sent a brief report to the Director of Compliance at HQ:

*“An intern has overstepped her authority to interfere with a major commercial contract, leveraging gender politics to create internal hostility, resulting in massive financial loss. I am compiling the full chain of evidence. Recommend continuing observation according to the original plan. Do not intervene yet.”*

A few minutes later, the Director replied: *“Received. Stay safe. Document everything.”*

I shut my laptop and walked to the window.

What was Chloe’s actual angle?

Was she really just a naive intern with an overactive sense of justice?

I highly doubted it.

I shook my head, refusing to overthink.

But my "workplace paranoia" was screaming at me: this was far from over.

The next morning, the atmosphere in the office was suffocating.

Mr. Sterling sat at the head of the conference table, his face dark.

The department heads stared at their folders in silence.

"A thirty-million-dollar deal, gone in one night," Mr. Sterling finally spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but each word hit like a brick. "Who is going to give me an explanation?"

Every eye in the room immediately shot to me.

Just as I was about to speak, the conference room door was pushed open.

Chloe walked in.

She was wearing a simple cream-colored linen dress today. Her hair flowed loosely over her shoulders, her face was completely makeup-free, and her eyes were puffy and red as if she had been crying all night.

"Mr. Sterling, managers," her voice was soft, trembling slightly. "I’m so sorry. I... I came to apologize."

She walked to the front of the table and bowed deeply.

"Everything that happened yesterday was my fault. I shouldn't have changed the budget form, and I shouldn't have posted those things in the group chat... But I swear I had no bad intentions. I just felt that business shouldn't rely on expensive dinners..."

She looked up, a perfect tear spilling down her cheek.

"My family raised me to be honest and clean. My mother is a high school teacher. She always told me that girls must maintain their dignity in the workplace and never take shortcuts... When I saw Manager Sera request such a massive entertainment budget the moment she got here, I was scared. I didn't want our company to become one of those toxic places run on alcohol and favors..."

She sobbed softly, her voice shaky but perfectly audible to everyone.

"I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have judged the client, and I shouldn't have gone over Manager Sera's head... But I really did it for the good of the company... Manager Sera, can you ever forgive me?"

Once again, the spotlight was on me.

A few young female department heads were already looking at her with deep sympathy.

Someone whispered, "Chloe meant well. She just went about it the wrong way..."

I pulled out my phone and pulled up the screenshots.

"You stated in the group chat, and I quote: 'If a client refuses to partner with us just because we won’t eat with them, then we don't need their dirty money anyway.' May I ask, what was the business basis for that statement? Did you perform a risk assessment? Did you calculate the potential financial damage? Did you consult the sales department before making that call?"

Chloe froze, unable to utter a single word. She just stood there, crying silently.

Mr. Sterling rubbed his temples. "Alright, that’s enough. What’s done is done. Our priority right now is to figure out how to salvage our relationship with Grandview."

Chloe covered her face and ran out of the room.

The moment the door slammed shut, I heard her whisper under her breath, "What a pretentious bitch..."

When I left the office, my phone buzzed.

A notification from the company's anonymous internal forum popped up.

I tapped it. It was a freshly posted thread, the title pinned in bold:

*[Exposing the corrupt female executive from HQ! A $30 million deal was ruined because she insisted on sleeping with a client!]*