Chapter 1

Six months into the job, and the director was telling me I'd embezzled three hundred grand from the company.

"You really can't judge a person by their looks. Butter wouldn't melt, and here you are pocketing three hundred grand in kickbacks!"

"Own up now and I'll let you keep some dignity. Try to deny it and I call the police, you do a few years inside, and your whole life is finished!"

Three hundred grand landed on me like a boulder. My head buzzed, and I stood up to defend myself.

That was when a few lines of floating text flashed in front of my eyes.

【Do NOT protest your innocence! This is a trap he set! The bank card was opened using your stolen ID, and the transaction records are all forged!】

【The more you argue, the more he'll say you're a guilty woman making excuses. In the end you won't be able to explain anything, you'll carry a criminal record, and the whole industry will blacklist you!】

【Don't deny it! Just admit it!】

【Turn yourself in right now. Let the police check the accounts, trace where the money went, and pull the account-opening footage. He's more panicked than you are!】

I looked at the director, that look of certain victory on his face, and I laughed.

"You're right. That's exactly it. I embezzled the three hundred grand."

……

Bertram Lawrence stared at me, the smile still on his face, as if he hadn't quite caught what I'd said.

I pulled out my phone and, in front of everyone, dialed 911.

"Hello, I'd like to turn myself in. I'm suspected of misappropriating three hundred thousand dollars in company funds. I need the police to investigate where the money went and get the account-opening footage from the bank."

I put it on speaker so Bertram could hear every word.

Just as I expected, his face changed in an instant, and before I could go on he knocked the phone out of my hand.

"Have you lost your mind? You're young. Do you actually want to go to prison?!"

The phone hit the floor, the screen already cracked.

But the line had already received my report.

I bent down, picked up the broken phone, and looked back up at him.

"Which one of us has lost her mind, you'll find out soon enough."

Bertram lowered his voice, his eyes full of threat.

"The card is in your name. The transaction records spell it out clearly! The company is giving you a chance. Don't be too stupid to take it!"

"Then let the police look into it."

I met his eyes and forced the words out one at a time.

"Something I didn't do, no one is pinning on me."

Bertram stared at me for two seconds, then turned and pulled open the conference room door.

He called in the company's HR, Jade Whitney, and its legal counsel, Theo Lawrence.

The moment Jade walked in and saw me, she started sighing, hurried to my side, and let the regret pour into her voice.

"Davina Henson, listen to me. Once the police are involved, there's no closing this back up. You're a young woman. A criminal record, and your whole life is truly over."

"The director felt sorry for you too. He wanted to give you a chance. Let's handle this privately. You return the money nicely, the company drops the matter, all right?"

【Don't believe her! Felt sorry for you, my foot. This is the soft touch to go with his hard one. The moment you give an inch, all of them will swear you embezzled it! The five or six of them have already split that three hundred grand between themselves, and they're just waiting for you to fill the hole!】

【They're racing the clock. If they can get you locked down before the police arrive, the case never gets off the ground.】

Theo pushed a document across to me. The cover read "Private Settlement Agreement."

"You just need to sign."

He tapped the blank space in the lower right corner.

"Admit to an operational error, return the funds. Sign this and it's over and done with. Go to trial, land in a cell, leave a stain on your record, and you never recover."

Jade nodded away beside him.

"That's right, Vee. Take a sister's advice, don't make trouble for yourself."

The two of them sang the same tune back and forth, one playing good cop, one playing bad cop.

I glanced at the agreement. The amount, the dates, even the method of repayment had all been worked out for me, dense clauses filling an entire page, everything but my signature.

There it sat, out in the open, waiting for me to sign it.

【The agreement was prepared in advance. Remember to keep all the evidence. Don't throw anything away.】

I lifted my head and looked at the two of them.

"I'm not signing. I've already called the police. Everything can wait until they get here."