Chapter 1

The next morning, I'd barely stepped through the front door of the office before the receptionist stopped me.

"Taylor, congratulations! I heard your team split a hundred thousand dollars!"

Her eyes practically lit up, and she was still holding half a sausage bun in one hand.

"You've got to take the whole company out for a big seafood dinner at The Captain's Table tonight, don't you think?"

Before I could get a word out, the tech department's group chat had already exploded.

Everyone was tagging me, demanding a tiny share of the bonus.

Someone else chimed in, dripping with sarcasm: [Must've just been luck. The results weren't even that impressive.]

I didn't bother replying. I walked straight to my desk.

Haley was slumped over her desk, crying, her shoulders shaking with every breath.

The antique monitor, still smeared with dried chili sauce, sat right in front of her. Its screen was covered in scratches, like something dug up out of a grave.

Drew's face was dark as a storm cloud, that letterless keyboard sitting in front of him.

The gaps between the keys were packed with some unidentifiable black grime.

Gabe had it worse. His grease-slicked mouse wouldn't even fit into a modern USB port. He sat there gripping an adapter, his hand shaking like he had Parkinson's.

These were the "hundred-thousand-dollar winners" the entire company was so jealous of.

"Taylor, there's no way we can work like this."

Drew slammed the keyboard down on the desk, and a couple of keys popped loose.

"That old Scrooge must've dumped every piece of e-waste in the warehouse straight onto us.

"And that social media post looked so real, my mom called me this morning asking if I could lend my uncle money for a house."

Haley lifted her head, her eyes swollen like walnuts.

"I told her I didn't have it, and she called me an ungrateful brat, said the second I got money I stopped acknowledging family, told me not to even bother coming home for the holidays..."

I looked at the three of them, my team, the people who'd busted their backs beside me all year long.

Something hot flared up in my chest.

But I didn't let it show. I sat down calmly and pressed the power button on that wreck of a computer.

A deafening whir tore through the office, like a tractor had driven straight into the building.

Coworkers all around us turned to stare, clapping their hands over their ears in disgust.

"What is that? Why's it so loud?"

"They finally get money, and they still won't spring for a decent computer. Cheap as hell."

That was when Cyrus walked in, his beer belly leading the way, his face flushed with satisfaction.

He was still carrying that thermos of his, steeping with chamomile tea.

He was clearly savoring the attention, basking in it like the hundred-thousand-dollar bonus really had come out of his own generous pocket.

"Well, look at everyone, all here already."

He strolled over to our team, beaming down at us, completely ignoring the pile of garbage hardware on our desks.

"Morale's looking good. Perfect timing, actually. The client's smart-city project needs to move fast."

"The core module has to go live by Friday. It's a big contract. I wouldn't trust it to just anyone, so it's got to be you, my hundred-thousand-dollar dream team, carrying the flag."