Chapter 4

By the next day, the news of Chloe’s massive failure had spread through the office.

"Did you hear? Chloe screwed up a five-million-dollar deal."

"I thought she was psychic? How did she get it so wrong?"

"Who knows? Maybe her luck is running dry."

"Luck? Honestly, I always thought it was sketchy. Nobody just 'dreams' of accurate financial bids."

"Shh, keep it down. She's still the boss’s favorite."

I walked past them with my mug, pretending not to hear a thing.

Back at my desk, I opened my laptop.

My phone buzzed. Chloe on Snapchat: "Nancy, did you spread rumors about me?"

I didn't reply.

Chloe: "I know you're mad that I took your clients, but I did it for the company. You can't destroy me just because you're jealous!"

I replied: "You’re overthinking."

She snapped back instantly: "Then why didn't you help me last night? If you had helped me analyze the data, we wouldn't have lost the client!"

I typed: "I don't work in Sales anymore."

Then I muted her.

Over the next week, Chloe’s "luck" failed repeatedly.

On Monday, she "manifested" a meeting with a major client, but they stood her up.

On Wednesday, she "dreamed" of a competitor's pricing. We pitched accordingly, and the client blocked our number.

On Friday, a client she had been trying to close for three months sent an email saying they were going with another agency.

The atmosphere in the sales department turned incredibly tense.

The colleagues who used to worship Chloe started whispering behind her back.

"Is she actually useless?"

"Seriously, that's three major accounts lost in a week."

"Were her past successes just lucky guesses?"

Chloe panicked. She started posting manifestation crystals and tarot cards on Snapchat, claiming she was "clearing her aura." She even went to a famous psychic in the city.

But none of it worked.

At the Monday morning meeting, Marcus called her out in front of everyone.

"Chloe, what is going on with you? You’re at the bottom of the leaderboard for three weeks straight. I think we need to stop talking about your 'luck'."

Chloe’s face turned bright red. "Marcus, I’ve just been having off-days. I’ll fix it."

"Fix it?" Marcus scoffed. "We all know how you got those early deals. Now that Nancy is gone, you can’t close a single thing?"

Chloe looked like she had been slapped.

I heard about the meeting while eating my lunch in Admin.

Lily asked me, "Nancy, you used to be close with Chloe. Does she actually have some kind of power?"

I smiled. "Do you believe in that?"

Lily thought about it. "Not really. But she was so accurate before."

"That's because," I paused, "someone else was making her 'luck' for her."

"Who?"

I didn't answer and went back to my lunch.

In the afternoon, Chloe stormed into Admin.

She stood in front of my desk, her eyes red, her voice shaking. "Nancy, tell me the truth. Are you doing this to punish me?"

I looked up. "Punish you for what?"

"You transferred, you refused to help me—you're doing this because I took your clients!" she screamed, attracting the attention of the entire room. "But I did what was best for the company! You're being selfish!"

Everyone in Admin stopped working and stared.

I laid down my pen and stood up. "Chloe, I transferred because I wanted to. It has nothing to do with you. I didn't help you because I don't work in Sales. That also has nothing to do with you. You lost those clients because of your own incompetence."

"You're lying!" Chloe’s tears spilled over. "You're just jealous of me! You want to see me fail!"

I chuckled. "Jealous of you? You're at the bottom of the leaderboard. What is there to be jealous of?"

Chloe gasped, completely speechless.

A few chuckles broke out from the surrounding desks.

Her face flushed crimson. In a fit of rage, she swept her hand across my desk, knocking my water mug right over.

Water splashed everywhere, completely soaking my files.

The Admin Director rushed over. "Chloe! What do you think you’re doing?!"

Chloe gasped, realizing what she had done. "I'm sorry! It was an accident..."

"Get out," the Director said, his voice cold.

Chloe bit her lip, glared at me, and ran out.

The Director helped me wipe down my desk, whispering, "Do you have history with her?"

"Not really," I smiled. "She just thinks I’m blocking her manifestations."

At the end of the day, as I walked out of the building, I saw Chloe waiting by the sidewalk.

She marched over and hissed in a low voice, "Nancy, don't think you've won. My luck will come back. When I'm back on top, I’ll make sure you pay."

I looked at her calmly. "Chloe, your luck never existed. Not then, and definitely not now."

Her face paled. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

I walked right past her.

Behind me, she screamed, "You'll regret this!"

I didn't look back.

Regret?

TThe only thing I regretted was referring her to this company in my past life.

This time, I was going to let her dig her own grave.