Chapter 3

Bill's POV

The entire office fell dead silent as everyone watched.

Reed leaned back in his chair, a smug smirk plastered on his face.

"Ms. Halfpenny," I said. "Reed went through my boxes, and I was recording to preserve evidence. Is there a problem with that?"

"Preserve evidence?"

Karen let out a cold laugh. "Do you still think you're an employee here? You're someone who's leaving. What right do you have to film here inside the office? Reed is just protecting company assets! Why were you recording? Were you trying to steal company secrets?"

"I was—"

"Enough!" she snapped, taking a step forward.

"Let me tell you something, Bill Kramer," she started, emphasizing every word. "You've been with this company for three years, which means the company spent three years training you. Now that you think you're all that and want to leave, that's fine."

"But not only do you not know how to be grateful, but you also want to take the company's property on your way out? Search your own conscience—is it even still there?"

Karen didn't care about the truth at all. She just wanted to publicly brand me as the ungrateful villain. That way, she'd be able to naturally claim my 100,000-dollar-worth of equipment for herself.

I scoffed.

"The company has taken advantage of my equipment worth 100,000 dollars for the past three years and never even said a 'thank you'. Now, you won't even let me take my own things with me. So tell me—who's the one without a conscience here?"

Karen's face turned crimson with anger. She jabbed her finger at me and spat out one final threat.

"If you dare walk out of these office doors with that equipment, I'll make sure you never work a day in this industry again!"

With that, she turned on her heel and stormed off.

I wasn't afraid of her threat. She didn't actually have the power to control the industry by herself.

After I finished packing up the rest of my things, I went to HR to collect my final paycheck from Kris.

"Bill…" Kris began, weighing her words carefully. "Your salary for this month… can't be issued just yet."

"Why?"

She pursed her lips.

"Ms. Halfpenny ordered it. She said your salary will only be released once you return the equipment to the company."

It felt like something was lodged in my chest, and I couldn't even breathe properly for a moment.

I took a deep breath.

"Kris, my salary has nothing to do with that equipment. That's compensation for the work I performed."

"I know, I know," she answered, her tone filled with a sense of helplessness. "I'm just an employee too. There's nothing I can do. Maybe… You should just give in and apologize?"

"No need."

I stood up.

"Please tell Ms. Halfpenny that I'll see her at arbitration."

When I returned to the office area, Reed was already announcing the news to the colleagues around him.

"Ms. Halfpenny said his salary has been withheld," he said, his voice bubbling with excitement. "She's serious this time. He can forget about taking even a single piece of that equipment."

He lowered his voice. "And let me tell you guys—I've wanted to use that 100,000-dollar setup of his for a long time. Ms. Halfpenny said that as long as the equipment stays, I'll get priority access."

I walked straight over to him and looked him dead in the eye.

"Reed, do you know why I never let you touch my equipment?"

He looked at me.

"With your skill level, even if I handed you the best equipment, you still wouldn't be able to shoot anything decent. In your hands, that gear is just scrap metal," I said flatly.

His face flushed crimson. "You!"

I turned to leave. "I'm just stating facts. Rather than obsessing over my equipment, you'd be better off signing up for a photography class. Start by learning how to set the white balance first."

When I returned to my desk, I found that all the boxes containing packed-up gear had disappeared. The only thing left on my desk was a temporary asset seizure notice, citing "suspicion of misappropriating company assets" as the reason.

Reed's smug laughter echoed from behind.

"Ms. Halfpenny already talked to the security team. You won't be able to take that equipment out of this building.

"Some people really think they're impressive. But in the end, they still have to leave their things behind like a good little boy."