Chapter 1

The message had barely gone through when the typing indicator appeared.

Knowing Sabrina Georgiou's temper and how fiercely protective she was of me, I figured she was probably already calling the bodyguards and sending them over to deal with everyone.

Instead, a long voice message popped up.

I tapped the tranion button, and what I read nearly made me choke.

"What billionaire romance novel have you been reading these days? You're the only son in this family. Where did I suddenly get another brother from? Are you just looking for another excuse to quit your job?

"Dad already said you've been spoiled your whole life and need to learn what hard work actually feels like. I'm overseas negotiating an acquisition right now, so stop running around tattling to me about everything!"

Going to Sabrina whenever I had a problem had worked my entire life.

This was the first time it had ever backfired.

Before I could recover, Melanie Ashcroft snatched the phone out of my hand.

Finley Tatum glanced at the message and sneered. "Do you seriously think saving some random number as your sister is enough to convince everyone you're some billionaire heir? Have you even looked at yourself? Look at how broke you look."

Melanie tossed the phone back into my arms, her expression contemptuous.

"So much for that little rich-kid act. Do you really think you can make fun of Mr. Georgiou and get away with it? Clearly, you'll never learn your place."

She jerked her chin toward the storage room.

"Move those 50 boxes of old files up to the records room on the third floor. The elevator's down today, so you'll be taking the stairs. If you don't finish, you're not leaving."

My head snapped up.

"50 boxes? That's the logistics department's job. I'm in business planning!"

Melanie gave a mocking laugh.

"You can't even put together a decent proposal. Frankly, I have no idea how you got into business planning in the first place."

The second she turned toward Finley, however, her entire demeanor changed.

"Now, Finley is different. He joined the company and immediately turned in a flawless proposal. If all you're good for is taking up a desk, carrying a few boxes might finally make you useful."

Finley looked down his nose at me. "Ms. Ashcroft, maybe you should go easy on him. He could've been pampered his entire life. For all we know, he's never lifted anything heavier than a coffee cup."

He folded his arms and sneered.

"Still, my sister always says the company doesn't pay people to sit around doing nothing. If you can't even manage a basic task like this, wouldn't it be easier to quit now instead of waiting for her to come back and fire you herself?"

The two of them were so smug that I could feel my blood pressure rising.

Once I had enough evidence and Sabrina came home, Finley wasn't going to be the only one answering for this. I'd deal with Melanie right along with him.

I turned and headed for the storage room.

By the time I dragged all 50 boxes into the records room, seven or eight blood blisters had formed across my palms. The pain was excruciating.

I took a deep breath, shook out my hands, and headed back to my desk.

Then, I stopped.

My workstation had been completely trashed.

Someone had spilled coffee all over my keyboard, and the desktop tower was making a sharp sizzling sound from an electrical shor.