Chapter 1

My boss, Patrick Larkin, sat in the center of the conference room holding the promotion notice. Just as he was about to make the announcement, Michael Jones, one of my colleagues, shot to his feet.

After pulling out a photo, Michael called out, "Mr. Larkin! I have something to report. I found a problem with Connor Grady's attendance record."

Everyone turned toward me, but I kept quiet.

Patrick picked up the photo Michael tossed out and examined it carefully. "What's the problem?"

Michael loudly replied, "Company policy states that our lunch break is from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. However, at 1:31 pm, Connor was still napping in the break area. He exceeded his break time by one minute."

Someone in the conference room let out a barely audible snort of laughter, breaking the silence.

Patrick's expression darkened as he looked toward me. "Care to explain yourself, Connor?"

"I overslept by accident because I didn't hear my alarm," I calmly answered.

Michael swiftly fired back, "Failing to hear your alarm isn't a valid excuse. The company has explicit rules in place. Exceeding the allotted time by even one minute counts as an unexcused absence. If we don't put a stop to this kind of lax attitude, who will follow the rules in the future?"

He turned toward Patrick, his expression righteous and indignant, but he instinctively avoided my gaze.

During last month's technical review, my proposal had received unanimous approval, while his had been rejected. As a result, the core module he had been responsible for had been handed over to me.

Patrick set down the photo and looked around the conference room. "Michael makes a fair point. Rules are necessary to maintain order. Every employee must abide by company policy."

He rose to his feet and looked down at me with a cold, condescending gaze.

"Connor, I'm truly disappointed that a senior engineer like you would make such a basic mistake. You're on track for a promotion, but this reflects extremely poorly on you. To prevent anything like this from happening again, I've decided to revoke your eligibility for promotion this year."

Gasps rang out from all around.

I had the best performance in my department. The announcement regarding my upcoming promotion from senior engineer to lead engineer had been posted for a full three months now. The increase in salary and equity benefits I would've received with the promotion were worth more than 200 thousand dollars.

But it was all being taken away from me, all because I'd returned to work a minute late.

The corners of Michael's lips lifted slightly before he quickly suppressed his smile. He chimed in with a look of feigned sympathy, "You shouldn't have been so careless, Connor."

I looked at Patrick. He had just been transferred to the tech center and, as our new boss, he was eager to make his mark. I knew exactly what he was doing. He was seizing this opportunity to punish me in order to establish his authority and secure his footing here.

I nodded in silence, seemingly accepting this outcome.

"Meeting adjourned," Patrick said, looking thoroughly satisfied as he strode out of the conference room.

The others also started filing out. No one dared to comfort me. They were all too scared of being the next victim.

Before Michael left, he made a point of walking over to me. "It's nothing personal, Connor. I'm just a frank person who believes in following the rules."

I looked him in the eye and snorted. His expression stiffened, and he quickly walked away, leaving me alone in the now-empty conference room.

I stared at the promotion notice on the table for a long time. Then I took a deep breath and walked out.