Chapter 1

An angry roar rang out. "Noelle, are you out of your mind?"

Jack Locke kicked open the frosted glass door of my office and slammed his phone down hard on my desk. On the screen was the company's main group chat.

Sasha Lane hid behind him, her eyes red and swollen.

"Sasha has severe depression. Do you have any idea your message could push her over the edge?" Jack planted both hands on my desk and glared down at me.

I ignored him and let my gaze fall on Sasha instead. She clutched the hem of Jack's suit jacket in a death grip.

"Mr. Locke, I only reminded everyone to take their personal belongings with them," I said, leaning back in my chair. I interlaced my fingers and rested my hands on my knees. "Getting the Porsche's leather seats cleaned cost much. That's not something the company can expense."

"Are you that hard up for that money?" Jack slapped the desk. "You're just jealous that I gave her a ride, so you humiliated her in front of everyone!"

Sasha let out a sob, her voice trembling as she said, "I'm sorry, Ms. Stanton. This is all my fault. I didn't know you were so possessive of Jack. I won't ever dare ride in his car again."

"What are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything wrong!"

Jack yanked her into his arms and turned to glare at me. "Apologize to Sasha in the group chat right now, Noelle."

I looked at him, the man who'd been living off me for three years. To protect his fragile ego, I'd hidden the fact that I was the one who'd acquired controlling shares and bought this company outright.

I made him the general manager, let him drive my Porsche, and even handed over all the HR authority to him. And this was how he was repaying me.

"An apology?" I picked up the fountain pen on my desk and tapped it lightly against the surface. "Sure. As long as she pays back the 500,000 dollars she embezzled, I won't just apologize. I'll resign on the spot and get out of your way."

Jack's expression shifted, and his gaze darted around for a second. "What do you mean by embezzlement? Watch what you say."

Sasha's body went rigid. Her grip on Jack's clothes tightened. "Jack, I didn't…"

Tears streamed down her face as she looked up at him.

"The payment records from the finance department are crystal clear. The money was wired straight to Sasha's personal account." I woke my computer while pushing a document toward them. "The funds were approved for a marketing event budget, except the marketing department never had the event. It doesn't exist."

Jack didn't so much as glance at the document. He swept it onto the floor.

"That was an advance on Sasha's salary!" he snapped, sounding justified. "Something happened back in her hometown, and she needed money urgently. I'm the general manager, so what's wrong with advancing a bit of her pay?"

"An advance of 500,000 dollars?" I let out a short, cold laugh. "She's an intern making 3,000 bucks a month. You gave her an advance of more than ten years of pay?"