Chapter 4

The next day, I arrived at Sienna's office as promised with my resignation letter.

As I walked closer, I saw my coworkers gathered outside the door, looking at me strangely.

Sienna sat in her office chair, her expression dark with anger.

Before I could even figure out what was happening, Harvey grabbed my arm. He looked disappointed in me.

"We were so close, Justin. How could you betray the company just to push me out?" he said. "Honestly, if you had just admitted that you stole the company's secrets, I wouldn't have called the police."

I yanked my arm away from him.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "When did I ever steal anything?"

Sienna slammed her hand on the desk and shot to her feet.

"You're still denying it? Who else could it be?" she snarled. "You just couldn't stand Harvey taking your position, so you destroyed his project overnight!"

I froze for a moment, and my anger overwhelmed my judgment. "So what if I did steal it? That was my project!"

Sienna thought I was lashing out because I felt guilty. She looked even more scornful and coldly said two words, "Search him."

As soon as she said it, the company's security guards moved toward me before I could react.

"I'll do it myself!" I yelled.

Under everyone's shocked gaze, I had already undone the third button of my shirt.

The office air conditioning was on full blast, but the chill I felt came from deep within.

"That's enough!"

As I was undoing the last button, Sienna suddenly shouted for me to stop.

"Justin, haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?" she asked.

Harvey immediately draped his jacket over me and apologized to everyone.

"I'll take full responsibility for all the losses caused by this incident. Please forgive me," he said.

Hearing that, Sienna looked even more sorry for him. "This isn't your fault. I won't let you take the blame."

After saying that, she stood in front of me with the authority of a boss.

"Don't you have a sum of money? Use it to cover everyone's losses," she said. "You can't let your coworkers pay for your mistake."

I looked up in shock, realizing exactly what money she meant.

"Sienna Jepsen, that's the inheritance Dad left me!" I yelled.

Even during my hardest financial days, I never touched a single cent from that account.

Seeing that I refused the way out she had offered, the little patience Sienna had left finally ran out.

She tapped on her phone a few times, and a notification for a 300,000-dollar deduction appeared on my phone.

I had only given her the password to my account because I trusted her.

I stared at her with bloodshot eyes, but she remained completely calm.

"Consider this a small punishment. It saves everyone the hassle of dealing with the police," she said. "That said, you really aren't fit to stay at this company anymore."

A termination notice fell at my feet.

It felt like every ounce of strength had been drained from my body.

…

After I walked out of the company, I called the police. "Hello, I would like to report a theft and ask for an investigation."

After explaining everything, I picked up my suitcase and boarded my international flight on time.

Sienna, from that day on, we were worlds apart. May we never see each other again.

After a 13-hour flight, I turned on my phone when I arrived. Missed calls flooded my screen.