Chapter 2

"Get lost," Dalton commanded without wasting any more of his words.

Carina's face went ghostly pale, her eyes reddening instantly. "How can you humiliate me like this, Mr. Scott? I'm just trying to do what's best for the company and—"

Dalton slammed the door shut in her face, causing her nose to almost get clamped in the process.

I stepped out of the walk-in closet and gave Dalton a thumbs-up. "Nice showing, Mr. Scott."

Dalton brushed off the part of his robe Carina had almost touched, his expression disdainful.

"You let someone like that lead a department at your company? Sooner or later, it's going to go under."

Snorting, I replied, "It won't be for much longer. Once I get my hands on the evidence I'm waiting for, I won't have to deal with these clowns anymore. I bet she's going to take her anger out on me tomorrow. Just wait and see. You'll get to enjoy the show, too."

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Sure enough, it was a message from Carina.

"That investor is impossible to deal with, Bee! He's got such a nasty temper. I'm such a good friend, aren't I? I went through hell just for you, you know. You have to finish up the data for the core project for me tomorrow. Otherwise, I won't be able to keep my footing at the company."

As I stared at the words on the screen, my lips curled into a smile.

…

Early the next morning, the moment I walked into the office, a stack of documents came flying straight at me.

Carina stood in front of my desk in sky-high stilettos. With one hand on her hip, she jabbed a finger at me and tore into me.

"Bailey! Don't think sharing a last name with the investor somehow makes you special. I told you to prepare the investor information package, but this is the garbage you gave me? And you even had the nerve to show up late today! Thanks to you, I got an earful from our CEO, Mr. Hammond!"

All around us, my coworkers turned to watch, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

I glanced at my phone—I'd come in to work right on time—then looked down at the documents scattered on the floor.

I wasn't the one who prepared them. Carina had compiled a bunch of data from God-knew-where herself.

She'd gotten shut down at the presidential suite of the hotel last night and was here to make herself feel better by venting her fury on me today.

I crouched down, picking up the documents one by one, head lowered as I said, "I'm sorry, Ms. Lewis. I'll redo them right away."

Carina scoffed, her voice jumping an octave. "You're redoing them, huh? You think you can afford to waste Mr. Scott's time like that? A useless piece of trash like you would've been fired long ago if I hadn't been looking out for you out of consideration for our friendship back in college!"

A few of the coworkers who usually sucked up to Carina the most immediately chimed in.

"Exactly! Ms. Lewis treats you so well, and you don't even appreciate it."

"All you do is coast along every day. You can't even make a decent presentation deck."

"I bet she's just jealous that Ms. Lewis is young and accomplished, so she's deliberately trying to cause trouble for Ms. Lewis."

Their mockery didn't stir anything in me. I simply found it amusing.

Carina poked me in the shoulder with her long, sharp nails and declared, "Before you leave work today, you need to give me the final quotation proposal for the project.

"Also, run down to the cafe and get me an iced latte. I want the ice to fill exactly three-quarters of the cup—no more, no less."

I nodded dutifully and went off. When I reached the elevator, I took out my phone and sent a message to Dalton's assistant, Ian Davis. "Have you done what I asked for? Make sure you keep a close eye on everything."

After returning from the coffee run, I sat at my desk and fired up my computer to start working on the proposal Carina asked for.

The project in question was the company's trump card this year. It was also the biggest leverage in the hands of Carina and the CEO of Lumina Corporation, John Hammond.

The two of them thought they'd done a good job hiding all of their secret machinations. They had no clue that I'd completed ample preparations way before that.

At 5:00 pm, I emailed the completed document to Carina. Less than ten minutes later, she summoned me to her office.

She was lounging in her executive chair, staring at the data on her screen, greed flickering in her eyes.

"Did you prepare this proposal all by yourself, Bee? Did you show it to anyone else?"

I replied, "Yeah, I did it myself. No one else has seen it, Ms. Lewis."