Chapter 2

The conference room fell into a dead, stunned silence.

Richard clearly hadn't expected me to admit to it so readily.

The lecture he had prepared died in his throat.

I pulled out my USB drive and slid the beautifully bound, but completely empty, paper copy of the slide deck over to Becca.

"Since Becca is so capable, she might as well take the Director position too. For this afternoon's client pitch, let our star intern lead the presentation."

I forced a smile, looking at the stunned crowd.

"I quit. Consider this my resignation, effective immediately."

With that, I pushed my chair back and strode out.

Richard finally snapped out of his daze, slamming his hand hard against the table.

"Chloe! What kind of attitude is this? You steal from your subordinate and then throw a tantrum? Nobody is irreplaceable in this company!"

Just as I reached the door, Becca suddenly took a step sideways to block my path, putting on an act of noble self-sacrifice.

"Chloe, please don't be impulsive. Everyone will be so sad if you leave."

Her inner thoughts broadcasted right on schedule:

[It’s fine. I don't mind suffering a little. Even though I have a much better, finalized version of the deck on my laptop, the draft Chloe took is still good enough. It should help Mr. Davis secure the deal. As long as everyone's hard work doesn't go to waste, I'm willing to let Chloe take all the credit.]

Hearing that she had a "better, finalized version," Richard’s confidence surged. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Becca, don't stop her! Let her get lost! Go hand over your work!"

I went back to my desk and booted up my computer.

I isolated the core audience database file—the actual brain of the entire project—encrypted it, and saved it to my private cloud.

As I was packing my things into a cardboard box, Becca wandered over. Under the guise of "handing over the work," she couldn't hide the smug triumph in her eyes.

I transferred the ownership of all seven client communication WhatsApp groups over to her.

"They're all yours now. The client's chairman, Arthur Kingsley, has a very mild temper. Just present your finalized version and wing it. Hope you get that full-time contract soon."

I left the groups, shut down the laptop, and walked out.