Chapter 2

Did I look like an easy mark?

"Then you should be going after him, not dragging an innocent person into this."

The word innocent sent Claire into a rage.

"Innocent? What's innocent about you? You're just trying to avoid responsibility!"

She sounded so certain that, for a moment, I almost wondered if I really was the one in the wrong.

"First, that baby belongs to you and your ex. It has nothing to do with me.

"Second, I'm not avoiding responsibility. I was never responsible in the first place.

"And if you're feeling too unwell to work, take medical leave and go home.

"You don't get to dump your work on me."

She opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off.

"I'm sorry, but I'm busy and don't have time to help you. Please leave."

With that, I sat down and returned to work.

I didn't acknowledge her again.

Since we were surrounded by coworkers, Claire couldn't make a bigger scene.

She glared at me for a moment, her expression dark.

Then she reluctantly snatched back the documents and walked away.

I soon put the incident out of my mind.

By the time I finished my work, it was already two in the afternoon.

Today was payday. The company usually deposited everyone's pay around one.

But I hadn't received a notification.

The balance in my account hadn't changed either.

"Wendy, did you get paid?"

"Yeah, Cameron. Mine came in at one. You didn't get yours?"

I asked around and discovered that every one of my coworkers had already been paid.

Confused, I went to Finance to find out what had happened.

"You didn't receive it? That's strange. We've already processed everyone's pay."

Helen checked the system and confirmed that every employee's salary had been issued.

For some reason, I immediately suspected Claire.

She worked in Finance. It would've been easy for her to tamper with my paycheck.

I found her and went straight to the point.

"Where's my salary?"

Claire folded her arms and smiled smugly.

"I took it. You refused to pay for my abortion, so I had no choice but to collect the money myself."

I took a deep breath and forced myself to remain calm.

"My salary and bonus came to four thousand dollars last month. You took all of it?"

She smiled at me.

"Yes. Anything left after the abortion is compensation for me.

"That's what you get for refusing to do my work."

I was almost impressed by the way Claire's mind worked.

As far as she was concerned, I was obligated to do her job.

She also believed she had every right to take my paycheck as compensation.

Four thousand dollars was more than enough for me to report her to the police, yet she was standing there looking proud of herself.

"Do you realize what you did was illegal? Return the money now, and I won't take this any further."

I thought I was being remarkably generous.

Claire merely shrugged, clearly unconcerned.

"You're the reason I got pregnant, so you should be paying for the abortion. I only made sure you fulfilled your responsibility."

Her complete lack of remorse pushed me past my limit.

I grabbed her arm and dragged her toward Mr. Leedon's office.

Claire struggled the entire way, but she wasn't strong enough to break free.

After several failed attempts, she changed tactics and began attacking me instead.

"What are you doing? I'm pregnant! If something happens to my baby, can you afford the consequences?"

"It's only four thousand dollars. How can you be this cheap? That's nothing compared to what I've suffered!"

"You'd better not make a big deal out of this. It won't end well for you!"

All the way there, Claire accused me of being heartless and complained about how difficult her life had become.

I found the whole thing ridiculous.

She was too afraid to confront the man who had actually gotten her pregnant, so she'd chosen to blame another woman instead.

Then she'd abused her position to steal my salary.

Yet somehow, she still believed everything was my fault.

I dragged her into Mr. Leedon's office.

"Mr. Leedon, Claire used her access to steal my salary."

I explained what had happened without bothering to soften my words.

Claire had already exhausted every ounce of patience I had left.

At this point, I no longer cared about workplace diplomacy.