Chapter 3

I stood up, my voice trembling.

“That’s impossible. I sent one thousand dollars to every single person!”

Jake gave a cold laugh and shoved his phone toward my face.

“Then look for yourself.”

The bank notification on his screen read:

Deposit received: $100.00.

More than a dozen people behind him immediately pulled out their phones.

“Same here. Thirty.”

“Mine too.”

Linda stood off to the side with her arms crossed.

“Nora, I told you very clearly what needed to be done last night. You couldn’t even handle something this simple.”

“Linda, I sent one thousand dollars! I checked everything three times!”

“Then explain why everyone only received one hundred.”

I opened my mouth, then turned back to the computer and logged into the company’s online banking account.

The page loaded.

The company account showed a batch transfer of exactly one hundred thousand dollars on November 27th.

But when I scrolled down to the individual transactions, I froze.

Every payment to the tech department showed one hundred dollars.

One hundred employees.

Three thousand dollars total.

I stared at the screen, my head buzzing.

Thirty thousand dollars had left the company account.

But only three thousand had reached the employees.

Ninety thousand dollars had somehow vanished inside the system.

“What the hell is going on...”

“You’re still pretending?”

Jake grabbed me by the collar.

“Where’s the money?”

“I really sent one thousand dollars! I recorded everything!”

I yanked out my phone and pulled up the video from the night before.

On-screen, my own voice said,

“Jake Hall, one thousand dollars.”

Then the camera moved over the confirmation page.

The amount was perfectly clear.

$1, 000.

“You see? I really sent it!”

Linda glanced at the video.

For a split second, her expression changed.

Then her face hardened again.

“How do we know you didn’t fake that with AI?”

She gave a cold laugh.

“AI can generate practically anything now. Making a fake video isn’t exactly difficult.”

“I didn’t fake anything!”

“Then explain the bank records.”

Linda pointed at the computer.

I stared at the screen, unable to speak.

The video showed one thousand.

The banking records showed one thousand.

They directly contradicted each other.

And everyone trusted the bank.

“Nora, I really misjudged you.”

Jake shook his head.

“Thirty thousand turns into three thousand, and twenty-seven thousand disappears. You pocketed the difference and now you’re trying to lie your way out of it?”

Linda spoke up too.

“Nora, give back the twenty-seven thousand dollars.”

“I didn’t take it! I’ve never even seen that money!”

Linda looked at me with utter disappointment.

“I always thought you were honest.

“I had no idea you were this bold.

“Give the money back now and maybe we can still handle this internally.”

My entire body was shaking.

Ninety thousand dollars.

Where was I supposed to get twenty-seven thousand dollars?

I hadn’t even been working for a full year.

The only family I had was my grandmother, and she was bedridden.

There was no way I could come up with that kind of money.

The office doorway was packed with people.

Every single one of them was staring at me.

Suspicion.

Disgust.

Schadenfreude.

Exactly like in my previous life.

I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms.

“What’s all this noise?”

A voice suddenly came from the doorway.

The boss, Mr. Carter, had arrived.

He was dressed in a suit, his expression dark.

“Mr. Carter, perfect timing.”

Linda hurried over to him, looking both anxious and aggrieved.

“I put Nora in charge of distributing the tech department’s overtime bonuses.

“The approved budget was one hundred thousand dollars, but she only sent out three thousand.

“The remaining money is missing.”

Mr. Carter looked at me.

His gaze was ice-cold.

“Nora, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“Mr. Carter, I sent the full one hundred thousand.”

I quickly held out my phone.

“This is the video I recorded last night. Every single payment was one thousand dollars.”