Chapter 1

Seeing how composed I was, Vivian Lane hesitated for a moment. But in the next second, a smug, almost mocking smile curled at the corner of her mouth.

"Ethan, are you trying to act all noble in front of me, hoping I'll feel sorry for you? Don't think I don't know what's really going on. You've been pushing Lesley around behind his back—dumping all the grunt work and exhausting tasks on him. Classic workplace bullying. You're just another old-timer taking advantage of the new guys."

Lesley Gerard immediately played the victim, gently tugging at Vivian's sleeve in protest.

"Vivian, please don't say that. Ethan only does it for the company... and for you. I don't mind the hard work—I'm happy to help however I can."

Vivian shot me a look of pure disdain before turning to comfort Lesley.

"He's manipulating you, Lesley. Don't let him fool you."

Lesley widened his eyes in fake surprise. "Wait... I thought Ethan was just asking me to help out for the company's sake. I was even willing to take the blame for him if something went wrong. But to think he's actually that selfish..."

I rubbed my temples, already tired of this charade.

Ever since Lesley joined the company way ahead of schedule, he'd been making one mistake after another. Vivian, however, kept insisting I clean up his mess—and still acted like I was the problem.

She glared at me and spoke with the self-righteous tone of someone playing moral judge.

"Lesley works himself to the bone for this company. How dare you exploit him like that? You have a project bringing in nearly a million in profit. Hand it over to Lesley as compensation."

Like she had every right to make that call.

I couldn't help but let out a sarcastic laugh.

Give me a break.

That project? I had personally used my network to bring in an investor—someone who put in over a hundred million.

And now, because of Lesley's so-called "three do-not-disturbs," he missed the investor's call.

The investor was furious and pulled out. Without the funding, the project stalled, and every day of delay meant growing losses.

And Vivian wanted me to compensate Lesley with profits from another project?

Since this project belonged to Vivian's company, and I couldn't exactly take it back, I decided to let them deal with it.

I nodded and handed over all the project documents to Lesley. Then I passed the paperwork to Vivian.

"Still need your signature, Viv."

She frowned, clearly annoyed. "Isn't this your company's project? Why not just hand it directly to Lesley?"

So she wasn't completely oblivious.

I kept my expression neutral, though a cold smirk lingered inside.

"This project was funded with my personal capital. If the person in charge is changed to anyone other than me or you, we need your approval."

Vivian hesitated, her suspicious gaze scanning my face.

Meanwhile, Lesley was practically drooling over the five million investment figure. Still, he kept up his victim act.

"Ethan... are you really willing to hand over such a big project to me? All those late nights I worked on previous projects—I never got a single cent in profit sharing!"

Vivian's face darkened. She shot me another glare before grabbing the pen and signing the papers without a second thought.