Chapter 3

Since Robert liked to pretend he was broke, I'd make it a reality.

After sending the message, I was just about to rest when a few coworkers marched over, dumped a stack of unfinished work onto my desk, and spoke as if it were my civic duty.

"Melanie, write up this proposal for me."

"Melanie, go print these files."

Someone else ordered me to go downstairs and grab him a cup of coffee.

Because Robert treated me like garbage, they had all learned to follow his lead.

When I didn't immediately jump to it, one colleague whispered, "Melanie seemed pretty pissed earlier. Do you think she'll actually help us?"

Another scoffed. "What are you worried about? She's all talk. You know what she's like."

In my last life, I had complained plenty of times about them dumping their workloads on me. But every time, Robert told me to be the bigger person, and every time, I brainwashed myself into accepting it.

After all, it was my company too. I didn't want to watch the business I had poured years of sweat into go down the drain.

But over time, they realized I never bit back. Backed by Robert, they handled me however they pleased.

Did they really think I was a pushover?

I let out a cold laugh and swept the files straight into the trash can. "Are you all paralyzed? If your limbs work perfectly fine, do your own damn work. If you can't handle basic tasks, hand in your resignation. And from now on, stop leaving your garbage on my desk."

The office went dead silent. Everyone stared at me like they were seeing a ghost.

As the tension hung heavy in the air, Robert came back with Ellie clinging to his arm.

Before anyone could say a word, he slammed his phone onto my desk and asked coldly, "Melanie Reid, what the hell is this junk? Ellie just got ripped apart by the shareholders because of you!"

I glanced down at the screen. A group chat was open.

Robert had shared Ellie's proposal.

Thanks to my track record of always delivering, he trusted me so much that he sent it out without even reviewing it. He also went on and on praising Ellie in the group chat and took the chance to suggest promoting her.

Instead, the shareholders had absolutely roasted him.

"You want to promote her over a piece of absolute garbage like this? Are you messing with us, Mr. Schmidt?"

Only then did Robert realize something was wrong. He tried to delete the proposal, but the time limit had passed.

Ellie's eyes brimmed with tears. She pointed a finger at me while sobbing. "Melanie, if you didn't want to help, you could have just said so. There was no need to stab me in the back like this.

"Robert, I'll just do it myself next time. I don't care if it ruins my hand. Anything is better than being backstabbed by Melanie."

Robert slammed his hand on the desk. "Melanie, you've gone too far! Apologize to Ellie right now!"

I didn't even bother looking up. "Why should I?"

His temper flared. "You promised to handle Ellie's work, but you deliberately sabotaged her instead. You don't think you owe her an apology?"

I scoffed and shot right back. "First of all, I never promised anything. You forced that file on me. Second, even if I did agree to help her, I never said I'd do a good job. So how exactly did I break my word?"

Robert's and Ellie's faces turned ashen. They wanted to argue, but they couldn't find a single flaw in my logic.

Ellie squeezed out two pathetic tears, whimpering. "Melanie, I had no idea you hated me this much. If there's no room for me here, I'll just resign!"

She made a dramatic show of turning to leave, but Robert caught her by the arm.

The rest of the office rushed to chime in, seizing the opportunity to throw me under the bus for my behavior earlier.