Chapter 4

Liam spoke in a mocking tone, then deliberately stepped on the papers scattered across the floor.

Zack folded his arms and burst out laughing.

“If you’re that desperate to stay, why not take over the janitor’s job too?

“Come by my desk later and empty my trash.

“Otherwise, I’ll tell Bella to fire you!”

Only after they had mocked me to their hearts’ content did the two of them walk away laughing.

I stared at the documents scattered across the floor and took a deep breath.

Without a word, I crouched down and began picking them up one by one.

Before I could get far, the click of Bella’s heels approached.

She frowned and waved a hand in front of her nose.

“What’s that smell?”

Only then did she look at me.

“I’m hungry. Go get me a salad. Kale as the base, no tahini, and I want the freshest sweet shrimp they have."

She looked down at me and held out a credit card.

“And stop by the coffee shop on the way back. Get me an iced Americano with a light roast. Extra ice, no milk, one packet of sugar.”

I looked at the papers I had just picked up and clenched my jaw.

“I still have work to do.”

Bella’s expression immediately darkened.

“Work?”

She scoffed.

“What could possibly be more urgent than getting my lunch?

“Have you forgotten how you got this job back? You do whatever I tell you to do. Understand?”

I clenched my fists.

But I had no choice except to agree.

I went out into the 102-degree heat and waited in line for nearly two hours before finally getting everything Bella wanted.

By the time I returned to the office, it was almost one in the afternoon.

The moment Bella saw me, she snatched the bags from my hands with an annoyed expression.

She looked down at them and immediately started complaining.

“What took you so long? Did you crawl back here?

“My coffee’s barely even cold anymore!

“A turtle could move faster than you. God, you’ve completely ruined my lunch.”

Then she tossed a file at me.

“Here. This is your assignment for the week.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Mr. Grant and I discussed your salary.

“From now on, your base salary is conditional. You’ll have a quota to meet every week, and if you miss it, your pay gets docked.”

She straightened with a smug smile, then walked away in her heels.

I picked up the file, trembling with anger.

They were determined to squeeze every last bit of value out of me.

I couldn’t let this continue.

I refused to believe Bella’s so-called Contract Transfer System was completely flawless.

There had to be a loophole somewhere.

This time, I took every precaution I could think of.

Every message I exchanged with the client was screenshotted and saved word for word.

Every in-person meeting was recorded from beginning to end, both audio and video.

Before long, I won the project with my design skills.

But when it came time to sign the contract, I deliberately added one more safeguard.

Under the excuse of generating publicity for the client, I invited a small local news outlet to cover the signing.

The entire signing process was filmed and documented by their reporters.

The contract was signed without a hitch.

And sure enough, Bella showed up almost immediately.

She sauntered over to my desk and snatched the signed contract out of my hands.

“Gina, you worked so hard.”

She smiled.

“You landed another eighty-million-dollar deal for the company.”

Then she paused dramatically.

“Oh, sorry.

“For me.”

Right in front of me, Bella opened the contract.

Just as I expected, my name on the signature page had already been replaced with hers.

She gave me a triumphant smile.

“Congratulations. You’ve secured five hundred dollars of base pay for yourself this month.

“You’d better keep working hard, Gina.

“Five hundred dollars isn’t even enough to cover one of my dinners.”

I clenched my teeth and ignored her taunting.