Chapter 3

The signing with Apex Group went off without a hitch.

They were already thrilled with my proposal, and since our company's quote was perfectly reasonable, closing the deal was a no-brainer.

With that wrapped up, everyone in the office breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Edward gave us a massive grin and told us to head home and relax for the next two days, promising our bonuses would be sorted out when we got back.

The team cheered, and I was more than ready to get some rest.

Back in my tiny apartment, I immediately muted the company group chat and a few other higher-ups. I grabbed a few cans of beer and a bowl of popcorn, then settled in to enjoy the soccer match.

But the peace didn't last long before my phone started blowing up. Annoyed, I picked it up only to find a string of missed calls from Joel.

"What's up, Joel?"

The second I picked up, Joel practically shouted into the receiver, "Man, you finally answered! Check the group chat now!"

"Why? You know I never look at it when I'm off the clock."

Joel was panicking. "Seriously, just look! Finley is absolutely losing it!"

Confused, I hung up and unmuted the work group. A barrage of notification pings instantly filled the room, with people tagging me left and right.

I patiently scrolled up to figure out what the hell was going on.

It turned out that Finley wanted to throw a celebratory dinner tonight since the department had just landed a major account.

But it was a long weekend, and a bunch of people had already left town for quick trips. Someone joked that Finley could just give everyone the cash equivalent of the dinner money instead.

Everyone backed the idea, but Finley seriously stated it was a team-building event and attendance was mandatory.

He tagged everyone a few times. Meanwhile, people in our side chat were tagging me to see what I was going to do, but since I had my notifications muted, I hadn't seen a single thing.

Feeling like his authority was being challenged, Finley ordered everyone to get to the office immediately. When everyone else showed up and I was still missing, he snapped and started trashing me in the group chat.

"Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you landed the deal!

"@Asher, get over here right now! If I don't see you in five minutes, you're fired!"

That message was from an hour ago. He had sent several more after that, all tagging me, and my private chat with him was completely flooded.

Looking at the texts, I just laughed in disbelief and didn't bother replying. I threw my phone onto the couch and went back to my game.

When I was off the clock, I wouldn't answer to anyone. No way I was going into the office.

But when the weekend ended and I arrived at work, I found Finley standing right by the time clock, blocking me from punching in.

"Asher Saunders, you're already fired! What are you even doing here?"

I stared at him, completely bewildered. "Since when?"

He pulled out his phone and sneered. "I said it over the weekend. If you didn't show up within five minutes, you'd be fired!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Just because you say I'm fired doesn't mean I am. Where's the paperwork? You don't own this place!"

Finley glared at me with a cold smirk. "I'm the manager. If I say you're done, you're done."