Chapter 2

I had barely taken two steps when Cody's wounded, tearful voice floated after me again. "Ms. York, huh? And he said it so respectfully. Vi, I know he was trying to remind me that you're an arrogant CEO, while I'm just some poor boy who crawled out of the slums. Are you going to get sick of me one day and abandon me?"

Then, I heard Violet call me back. "Scott!"

I turned back around, resigned to my fate. "Yes?"

She rubbed her temples. "From now on, when Cody is around, just call me by my name."

I gaped at her. Was she still sane?

Seeing how confused I looked, Violet added with a straight face, "Every time you call me 'Ms. York', you'll be fined 200 dollars."

My body reacted before my brain could catch up. I snapped to attention and practically shouted, "Got it, Ms—I mean, Violet! Understood!"

…

The second I stepped out of the office, a bunch of nosy coworkers swarmed over, wiggling their eyebrows at me. "Mr. Colson, what's going on in there?"

Even the head of the tech department, Mr. Lane, sidled over with the most punchable grin imaginable. "Well, well, well. Who would've known? Mr. Colson, heir to the richest family, boldly pursuing his true love…"

I smacked him across the back. "Richest family, my foot! Get your team together and head to the meeting room. If we screw up the bid in two weeks, your entire tech department can pack up and get out!"

With that, Mr. Lane shrank back and scurried off to round up his people.

…

I had no idea what kind of deep, soul-baring conversation Violet had with Cody behind closed doors, but for the next three days, he stopped staging those tragic "please leave my girlfriend" performances in front of me.

Instead, he started showing up at the office every single day like some kind of NPC, respawning at fixed points and going around giving everyone pep talks.

"You've got this, Terry! You're the best!

"Keep it up, Bobby! I believe in you!

"Be happy today, too, Austin! Smile at life!"

He even hauled his stash of romance novels from home and placed them at the most prominent spot at the front desk. Every time someone walked by, he'd enthusiastically recommend them.

"This one's my favorite, 'Prince Charming in White'. I also love 'The Lady and Me' and 'From Nobody to Legend'…"

In no time, the entire company was suffering. Productivity didn't go up at all, but everyone's goosebumps certainly did.

Every day, on top of handling technical data and project progress, I also had to respond to the endless internal complaint emails sent to the CEO's office. In other words, Cody had increased my workload.

So, I printed every single complaint, bound them into a thick stack, and slapped it down on Violet's desk. She flipped through a couple of pages, her expression changing so many times that it looked like someone was ticking emojis off a list. At last, she let out a long sigh.

"Notify the finance department that starting this month, everyone in the CEO's office and the adjacent tech department gets their salary doubled."

The second money entered the conversation, my attitude changed. I bowed and scraped like a pro. "Thank you, boss! Brilliant decision, boss! Long live the boss!"

I'd barely finished when the office door flew open with a bang. Cody rushed in, his eyes red. "Vi, who cut Bobby's bangs? I'm so upset…"

I instantly wiped the flattery off my face and backed out, my expression blank.

Yeah, I wasn't thanking Violet for anything. The doubled salary was our compensation for emotional damage, and we deserved every single cent.

…

Two days later, Mr. and Mrs. York came back from their trip around the world and, on a whim, decided to inspect the company.

Worried that Cody would pull some new stunt in front of them, Violet specifically assigned me to accompany her parents for the entire visit.