Chapter 3

The livestream chat exploded instantly, comments flying across the screen in a rapid blur.

[Am I seeing things, or is that a straight-up brick in a phone box?!]

[Are they seriously playing people like this? Trash company can't even afford a real phone? They're going bankrupt for sure!]

[Dude went from lucky winner to absolute clown.]

The raffle winner picked up the brick and stared at Ms. Brown, who was standing right beside him to hand out the prize, in absolute disbelief, demanding to know what was going on.

Amelia Brown was visibly stunned, but she managed to regain her composure quickly. Trying to smooth things over, she said, “This... this was just a little stunt to liven up the room! Just a lighthearted joke, everyone!”

She turned and glared straight at Henry, sitting in the front row, whispering sharp orders under her breath. “Mr. Collins, joke's over. Hand over the real phone right now.”

But Henry didn't have a real phone. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he squirmed in his seat.

Seeing him freeze up, the surrounding employees began whispering among themselves.

“Isn't he the head of the planning department? He definitely pocketed the money himself.”

“Think about it. If the winner hadn't opened the box on stage and taken it home instead, he would've had to swallow that loss silently.”

“God, that's disgusting. How did a guy like him even get promoted to manager?”

Trapped by the mounting chatter, Henry looked like a rat backed into a corner. He frantically scanned the room until his eyes landed on me, and he bolted straight toward my table.

“It was you! You were in charge of buying the phone! You swapped it out and put a brick inside!”

I stood up calmly, making no effort to deny it. “You're right. I put the brick in there.”

Hearing me admit it, Henry treated it like a lifeline, instantly shouting to the whole crowd, “He confessed! You all heard him! He put the brick in the box!”

“Ms. Brown, Noah is just an intern in my department. I thought he was doing a decent job, so I trusted him with buying the prize. I had no idea he's a greedy thief who'd steal the funds!”

A smirk curled on my lips. “Mr. Collins, if we're talking about pocketing funds, I wouldn't dare compete with you. You handed me a single hundred-dollar bill to go out and buy a thousand-dollar iPhone.”

The room erupted into another wave of furious, hushed chatter.

“Wait, doesn't corporate fully reimburse event prizes? And Henry only gave him a hundred bucks? He was clearly forcing the intern to pay the difference out of pocket!”

“I heard that's his classic trick in the planning department. He uses it to squeeze interns before deciding if they get hired full time.”

“Well, Mr. Collins finally ran into a brick wall this time. This intern obviously isn't someone you mess with!”

Watching Henry's face turn a darker, uglier shade of red, I smiled, thoroughly enjoying every second of it.

“Mr. Collins, a hundred dollars can't even buy the cheapest knockoff phone on the market. So, I figured a brick was the best substitute.”

Losing all control, Henry shouted at me, “Shut your mouth, you little b*st*rd! Stop lying! I gave you the full budget! You stole the money yourself, and now you're trying to frame me!”

My voice turned cold. “Mr. Collins, I really underestimated how shameless you are, lying straight to everyone's faces.

“I actually recorded our conversation yesterday. Since you refuse to admit it, let's play it out loud and let everyone hear who's telling the truth.”

I took out my phone, brought up the audio file, and prepared to press play.

Before I could hit the button, Henry lunged at me, snatching the phone right out of my hand as we tumbled to the floor. Caught off guard, I was pinned down almost immediately.

Henry grabbed me by the collar with one hand, pulling his other arm back to throw a heavy punch straight toward my face.

“You little punk! You did this on purpose! I’m going to finish you!”

Just as his fist was about to crack against my jaw, a furious roar echoed from the entrance of the venue.

“Who dares to lay a single finger on him?!”