Chapter 3

The marks from his fingers stung across my cheek like they’d been seared by fire.

Looking at my raging father standing before me, and Delphine standing beside him gloating, I suddenly found the whole situation hilarious.

I nodded. “Fine. I won’t change it.

“And I’m leaving.”

I turned around and walked straight into the HR office.

When I pushed the door open, Sienna was sitting in her executive chair, filing her nails. Seeing me walk in, she didn’t even bother lifting her eyelids.

“What? Can’t handle working in the cleaning department?” Sienna pulled open a drawer, produced a long stack of corporate fine notices, and slapped them onto the desk. “Evangeline, your stress tolerance is pathetic. Looking for your employment exit clearance, are you? Pay off these fines first.”

I stepped forward and picked up the stack of penalty slips.

The items listed line after line were truly something to behold:

“Entered the office with the wrong foot three times last month, violating company policy. That’s a $200 fine.”

“Excessive breathing at your desk, consuming company resources and distracting your coworkers. That’s a $400 fine.”

“Charging a personal phone using company electricity, classified as unauthorized use of corporate property. That’s a $700 fine.”

“Keyboard wear-and-tear fees. Office chair depreciation fees. Compensation for workplace-related vision strain…”

Sienna tapped her fingernails against the desk.

“Adding it all up, you don’t get any base salary, and you owe the company $11,000. Pay up and leave. Otherwise, I’ll have legal sue you.”

I was so angry I laughed out loud.

“Sienna, do you honestly think your family wrote the labor laws?” I scoffed. “This garbage fine sheet wouldn’t even sell for a penny at a scrap yard.”

Right in front of her, I tore the entire stack of fine slips into tiny pieces.

Then I slammed the paper scraps straight into her face.

Shredded paper rained down all over her outfit.

“Evangeline! Have you lost your mind?!” Sienna screamed as she leaped out of her chair.

Just then, the office door was pushed open.

My mother, Valentina, rushed in and grabbed my arm in a vice grip.

“Evangeline! Are you sick? Do you need me to get your head checked?” she shrieked, her voice sharp and grating, dripping with control.

“Did you meet some rich guy out there? Are you trying to jump ship? Let me tell you right now—not a chance! If you want to leave, then leave your hands behind! This company trained those hands to write code! Without the Rhodes family, without us, you wouldn’t even be able to support yourself! You’re a useless nobody. Who would ever want you?!”

I yanked my arm out of her grip, looking at her face, twisted with frantic rage.

“Whether I’m a useless nobody or not, you’ll all find out very soon.”

I didn’t bother listening to any more of their screeching.

I turned around and strode out through the front doors of Rhodes Enterprises, leaving behind Leander’s enraged roars echoing in my wake.

“Get out! Get the hell out of this family! I’ll blackball you across the entire industry! Let’s see which company dares to hire an ungrateful backstabber who turned on her own blood! Sooner or later, you’ll be on your knees, begging me to take you back!”

After leaving Rhodes Enterprises, I made a quick trip back to the house.

Taking advantage of the fact that none of them had returned yet, I grabbed my ID documents and a few changes of clothes.

As for everything else, I left it all behind.

I rented a cheap basement apartment.

It was dark and damp, furnished with nothing more than a rickety single bed. Yet, I felt the air here was ten thousand times fresher than inside the Rhodes family mansion.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I pulled out my backup phone and opened that text message from Nexora Technologies.

Nexora Technologies was the largest internet behemoth in the country.

Compared to it, Rhodes Enterprises was an insignificant speck of dust.

Taking a deep breath, I dialed the number listed in the text message.

The line was picked up almost instantly.

“Ms. Rhodes, you’ve finally made up your mind,” a calm voice answered.

It was the CEO of Nexora Technologies, Gideon Parker.

“Mr. Parker, I accept your offer,” I said softly.

A low chuckle came from the other end of the phone line.

“Ms. Rhodes, tomorrow morning at ten o’clock, in the top-floor executive conference room at Nexora Technologies. I look forward to your onboarding. An eight-million-dollar annual salary package—I stick to my word.”