Chapter 1

The manager, Kate Bell, snatched my phone out of my hand and ended the call before the person on the other end of the line could get a word in.

She glared at me and said, "Trying to tattle, are you? I'll have you know that Mr. Samson is the one who made these arrangements."

I smiled. "Is that so?"

Kate grinned wickedly as she patted my shoulder. "The most valuable quality a person can possess is a sense of self-awareness. You need to think carefully about your own status. You're just a basic employee. What gives you the confidence to think that you can challenge me?

"You have two options. Either you work overtime, or you pack your things and get out of my sight."

My colleagues couldn't bear to stand by and do nothing anymore when they saw me being humiliated. They began sticking up for me.

"Just let it go. Most of our patrons are Lily's long-time customers. We're going to be in trouble if she leaves."

Fortunately, there were still people who knew that I was a core member of this shop.

"Lily's skills are second to none in this industry. You'll just be wasting her talents if you force her to do regular sales. You should treat Lily with more respect, Ms. Bell."

"All of us will be in hot water if you chase her off."

Kate's expression turned stormy. Her eyes glinted fiercely as she shouted, "It seems the entire world has gone mad! How dare you talk back to me when I'm bringing all of you on a trip? You ungrateful wretches. You're the ones who encouraged her bad habit of showing up late every two days."

I waved my hand and smiled at my colleagues, feeling glad that most of them were good people. Kate was the only ungrateful one among them.

"It's fine. You don't have to defend me."

The assistant manager, Claire Bernard, was usually all smiles and did everything she could to curry favor with me. However, she quickly changed her tune when she realized that Kate had opened up an opportunity for her to belittle me.

She sighed and said, "I've always shown you respect, Lily. You already benefited a lot by taking advantage of our male clients. Why don't you just apologize to Ms. Bell? We can put all of this behind us once you do."

"Is that so? Did I get in your way? Why don't you take a good, hard look in the mirror and think about whether you're worthy enough to challenge me?" I retorted mercilessly.

Claire used to always beg me for help whenever she faced a problem she couldn't solve. Now that Kate was taking the lead to harass me, she nearly tripped over herself in her eagerness to kick me when I was down.

"What do you mean?" Claire exclaimed furiously.

I shot a look of disdain at her before I swept my gaze over the interior of the shop. I had been in charge of decorating the shop when it first opened.

"Gilded Ages only managed to become the most successful business in the industry because of me. If you fire me, the shop will close down in less than two weeks."

Some of my colleagues nodded in agreement.

Kate and Claire burst into raucous laughter. They laughed so hard until they began struggling to breathe and had to lean against the wall to catch their breath.

Tears of mirth spilled down Claire's face. "All of us know that you used your looks to seduce those rich men into giving you their money, Lily. It's fine if you want to lie to us, but don't try to fool yourself."

"Fine."

I didn't feel upset at all. On the contrary, my body suddenly felt incredibly light.

I knew that Gilded Ages would never have achieved such tremendous success within three years without me. I had built it from the ground up, turning it into a massive business using my connections and skills.

I wondered if these parasites had forgotten their places because I had been too good-natured.

Kate said nothing else and began ushering everyone onto the bus.

Just then, a cab stopped in front of Gilded Ages. The door swung open to reveal a familiar-looking woman.

She greeted Kate like they were old friends before saying, "Nice to meet you, everyone. I'm Gilded Ages' new luxury goods restoration specialist, Rebecca Huntington. You can call me Becca. I hope we can build a good rapport during this trip. Everyone will also receive a 1,000 dollar raise every month!"

I smiled as I looked at Rebecca.

An interesting character had just joined the fray.