Chapter 3

The next morning, I submitted my formal resignation.

The HR director stared at her monitor, her finger hovering over the approval button, completely hesitating.

"Director Cross, does Mr. Sterling know about this?"

"He's about to find out."

The very second the words left my mouth, a wave of chaos erupted from the engineering department.

A developer dashed out of the conference room, his face totally drained of color. "The client dashboard just crashed! The demonstration API that went live last night was modified, and the core reporting suite is completely wiped!"

I stood up immediately.

We had just secured the investment term sheet from Genesis Capital at last night’s launch event, and the first batch of enterprise clients was scheduled to begin their live trials today.

If things fell apart right now, our series funding would completely evaporate.

Winston walked out of his executive office, his expression terrifyingly cold. "Who accessed the permissions?"

The engineering manager cast the system logs onto the primary presentation screen.

The last high-level administrative operation had been executed using my account credentials.

The timestamp read 1:47 AM.

Every single eye in the room locked onto me.

After getting home last night, I had spent my time packing everything Winston had ever given me into a cardboard box. By 1:30 AM, I was already fast asleep.

Winston stared at me. "Natalie, explain this."

"It wasn't me."

Sera stood off to the side, looking completely pale and shaken. "But you’re the only person who holds the password to that account."

I turned my gaze directly onto her. "And you."

She froze.

"Last month, you said you needed to audit the client inventory list. I granted you temporary administrative access."

Sera’s eyes instantly brimmed with tears. "Natalie, I know you’re furious about what happened last night, but you can't just throw false accusations at me like this."

Winston instinctively stepped forward, placing his body directly between her and me.

I had witnessed this exact movement too many times to count.

Every single time Sera felt wronged, he would instantly step up, physically walling me off to turn me into the problematic person who needed to be disciplined.

I looked at him calmly. "Trace the login IP address. Pull the security footage. It will take you exactly ten minutes."

Winston didn't move a muscle.

The engineering manager spoke up in a low voice. "Mr. Sterling, the investors are already demanding an incident report."

Sera pressed a hand against her forehead, her voice trembling violently. "If our funding falls through because I was the main presenter last night, I really don't know how I'll ever look the team in the eye again."

Winston closed his eyes for a brief moment.

Then, he slid a document across the conference table right in front of me. "Take the fall for this first. Just say it was an operational error during your offboarding transition. The company will protect you, and I will personally cover any financial damages out of my own pocket."

The conference room descended into a dead, suffocating silence.

I stared down at that piece of paper, a roaring sound filling my ears like pouring rain.

"You know it wasn't me."

Winston remained silent for two long seconds. "I'm not saying it was definitively you. But the company cannot fall into a state of panic right now. Sera is our product lead, and she just spearheaded the launch. She cannot afford to have a permanent stain on her professional record."

A hollow laugh escaped my lips. "So I can?"

His brow knitted tightly together in frustration. "You're the Director of Operations. The industry will just write this off as a procedural oversight on the logistics side. This isn't going to actually ruin your career."

I picked up the document.

The tension in Winston’s eyes relaxed slightly.

But in the very next second, right in front of his face, I tore the paper into shreds.

"I won't sign it."

His expression turned completely hostile. "Natalie, do not force my hand to handle this strictly through corporate disciplinary channels."

I tossed the shredded pieces into the trash can. "Do whatever you want."

By 3:00 PM, an internal HR notification was blasted out to the entire company channel.

Effective immediately, Director of Operations Natalie Cross has been suspended from all duties pending an internal investigation due to personal emotions compromising the offboarding transition, resulting in a critical client-facing trial incident.

The moment the notification went live, my phone blew up.

Clients called to demand if I was sabotaging the firm as an act of personal retaliation.

Old colleagues sent texts asking how I could have let myself change this much.

Even my mother, Clara Cross, called, her voice incredibly cautious and delicate as she spoke. "Nat... did you and Winston get into a fight?"

I stood inside the emergency stairwell, leaning my back heavily against the concrete wall, my throat aching so intensely it physically hurt to breathe.

"Mom, I quit."

Clara fell silent for a long time before she finally answered. "Then come back home. Your father and I can take care of you."

I covered my eyes with my hand, and the tears finally broke through.

At that exact same moment, a text message from Winston flashed across my screen.

【Take two days to cool your head. Once this all blows over, I'll take you to the beach.】

I blocked his number permanently.