Chapter 2

This time, I couldn't make the same mistake again.

But what was I supposed to do?

While I was still thinking, the office door opened.

Mike Chandler from Facilities poked his head inside.

“Nora, there were some reports of payment issues on this batch of computers last time. The company decided to replace them all. We're swapping yours out now.”

Two movers stood behind him carrying a brand-new desktop computer.

I blinked.

A new computer?

Mike directed them as they unplugged my old machine and carried it away.

Then they set up the new one.

The moment they plugged it in, the screen lit up.

“Everything's already installed. You can use it right away.”

They came quickly and left just as fast.

Soon, I was alone in the office again.

I stared at the new computer, my heart pounding.

Could the computer have been the problem in my previous life?

I plugged in the flash drive and opened the employee list.

One hundred names.

One hundred bank accounts.

I checked them one by one.

Names.

Account numbers.

Banks.

Everything matched.

Then I called Finance.

“Rachel, Linda asked me to process the tech department's overtime bonuses. I just want to confirm the account balance first.”

“Give me a second.”

A few moments later, she came back on the line.

“The company account has enough funds. You're good to go.”

I hung up and took a deep breath.

Then I logged into the company's online banking system and entered the first transfer.

Recipient: Jake Hall.

Amount: $1, 000.

I clicked Confirm.

Then I pulled out my phone, started recording, and aimed the camera directly at the computer screen.

“It's November 27th, 2:07 p.m. I'm starting the payments now.”

I recorded the entire process.

With every transfer, I read the details aloud.

“Payment one. Jake Hall. One thousand dollars.

“Payment two. Daniel Leedon. One thousand dollars...”

One hundred transfers.

Exactly one hundred thousand dollars.

After sending the final payment, I logged out of the banking system.

Then I logged back in and pulled up the transaction history.

I took screenshots of every single transfer.

I also downloaded the bank receipts, saved them to the flash drive, and uploaded copies to my personal cloud storage.

By the time I finished, it was one in the morning.

I shut down the computer.

Then I opened my phone and reviewed the recording and screenshots one more time.

Every single payment showed one thousand dollars.

I finally let out a breath of relief.

This time, nothing could go wrong.

—

Early the next morning, my phone started vibrating nonstop beside me.

I thought it was my alarm.

But when I picked it up, I saw so many unread messages that I couldn't even count them.

“You said we'd get one thousand dollars. Why did I only receive one hundred?”

“Same here. One hundred dollars!”

“I barely slept for two days, and this is all we get?”

“What the hell is going on? Someone from Admin better explain this!”

I stared at the screen.

My fingers went ice-cold.

Before I could even process what I was seeing, another message popped up.

Linda had tagged me in the tech department's group chat.

“Nora, I put you in charge of this. What happened?”

That one message lit the fuse.

The group exploded.

“@Nora Quinn, explain yourself!”

“Where's the money?”

“What happened to the rest of it?”

I didn't have time to think.

I threw on a jacket and rushed to the office.

By the time I reached the door, people from the tech department were already blocking the entrance.

Jake was at the front, with more than a dozen furious employees behind him.

“Nora Quinn! Get out here!”

He slammed his phone down on my desk.

“You said we'd get one thousand dollars. Why did I only receive one hundred?

“I've worked in tech for ten years. I gave up two full days for this company, and all I get is one hundred bucks?

“Who pocketed the rest?

“Nora, you better explain this!”