Chapter 3

I pushed the break room door open.

They shut their mouths instantly.

I poured myself a glass of water and asked evenly,

"Done talking?"

Rachel forced an awkward laugh.

"Oh, we were just talking about something else!"

"Keep your voices down next time," I replied.

"Otherwise, you just sound pathetic."

After that, Paige acted even more like a victim.

During lunch break, she bought coffee for the entire team.

Everyone got a cup.

Only my cup had a note scribbled on it: "Half Sugar."

I don't drink half sugar.

I'm allergic to coffee and only drink herbal tea.

I placed the cup back on her desk.

"Thanks, but I don't drink this."

Paige jumped up immediately.

"I'm so sorry! I had no idea!"

Tyler looked up.

"Chloe, it's just a cup of coffee."

I looked at him.

"Then drink it for me."

He hesitated for two seconds, took it, and drank it.

Paige's eyes welled up again.

By that afternoon, rumors spread that I had deliberately humiliated her over a coffee run.

I didn't bother explaining.

I was too busy.

The annual investor pitch was our company's biggest deal of the year.

If our team secured this funding round, everyone's bonuses would double.

I was responsible for the core presentation deck.

Tyler handled client relations.

Paige was assigned to coordinate the files.

Marcus had made that assignment himself.

I had objected right from the start.

"She doesn't even know basic file-naming protocols."

"Giving her admin access to the main drive is a recipe for disaster."

Marcus sipped his tea and dismissed me.

"We need to give junior talent opportunities."

"Stop fixating on people's weaknesses."

Tyler backed him up.

"Paige is very hardworking."

"She just lacks experience."

I sneered.

"Lack of experience means you assist."

"You don't use the team's most critical deal as a sandbox."

Paige stood by the door, tears rolling silently down her cheeks.

"Marcus, forget it."

"Chloe doesn't trust me. I won't do it."

Marcus waved his hand dismissively.

"You're doing it."

"I call the shots here."

"Chloe, focus on your deck."

"Stay out of the rest."

So, I stayed out of it.

But I kept an ace up my sleeve.

Because I never leave my fate in the hands of people who resent me.

Yesterday evening at 7:00 PM.

I had packed my bag and was ready to leave.

Paige walked over clutching her laptop.

"Chloe, could you send me your final deck one more time?"

"I'm worried the version on the cloud drive isn't the absolute latest."

I looked at her.

"The cloud drive has version control tags."

"Check the version number."

She lowered her head.

"I'm scared of messing it up."

"Marcus said nothing can go wrong tomorrow."

I shut my laptop.

"Then you'd better learn how to read version numbers."

She lingered, refusing to move.

Tyler walked back in from outside carrying two cups of boba tea.

He handed one to Paige and set the other on his desk.

Seeing us standing there, his brow furrowed instantly.

"What's going on now?"

Paige quickly squeaked,

"Nothing!"

"I just wanted to verify Chloe's deck."

"She probably thinks I'm annoying."

Tyler turned to me.

"Is it really that hard to just send it again?"

I replied:

"It's not hard."

"But she's the coordinator, not a messenger."

"If she can't even navigate version control on Google Drive, who takes the blame when something breaks at tomorrow's investor pitch?"

Tyler slammed his boba down onto his desk.

"Can you stop blowing everything out of proportion?"

"I'll send it to her."

I reminded him:

"You don't have my final deck."

He scoffed. "I have the one from noon."

I smiled.

"That one is missing three pages of financial projections."

Paige looked up sharply.

"Wait, what?"

The panic on her face was very real.

Tyler stiffened.

"Then just upload it again."

I opened my laptop and uploaded the final deck to the company cloud right in front of the three of them.

Looking them in the eye, I stated clearly:

"Look at this."

"File name: Investor_Pitch_Core_Deck_Final_v9."

"Upload time: 7:12 PM."

"Uploaded by: Chloe."

Paige nodded hurriedly.

"Got it."

I added:

"Do not touch the master file."

"If you need to compile, make a duplicate."

"Before deleting anything, confirm it in the WhatsApp group first."

Paige bit her lip.

"Chloe, you're making it sound like I'm definitely going to delete something by mistake."

I held her gaze.

"Last week, you deleted an executed legal contract."

"The day before yesterday, you overwrote the pricing matrix."

"Yesterday, you emailed our confidential client list to a rival vendor with a similar name."

Her face went deathly pale.

Tyler cut in defensively.

"Weren't all those issues resolved?"

"Do you really need to keep digging up the past?"