Chapter 2

Henry stood beside me and explained, "This is from Mr. Lane in Sales. He even printed it in color. How considerate."

I didn't argue and turned to the next page.

It was entirely filled with QR codes, with a "thoughtful" line beside them that read, "Anyone in Finance with time to spare can scan the code and issue the invoice yourselves."

I set down the stack of expense reports and looked at Henry. I held back from saying that we were a legitimate company in the middle of going public, and none of this was reimbursable.

Instead, I smiled and said, "My head's killing me. I'm going to grab some meds. Since you're so considerate of everyone, you can approve it."

Ignoring Henry's attempt to stop me, I walked out.

It was almost lunchtime. Instead of sticking around like I usually did, I went straight out of the building.

Before lunch was even over, I got a string of calls from Janet Walker, the finance director. She even tagged me in the team chat. "Ronan Cooper, get to my office now!"

I took my time and got back at the last possible minute before we were back on the clock. Besides Janet, a few other department heads were there too, set up like I was on trial.

Seeing how calm I was, Janet slammed the desk. "Ronan, I received several complaints about you today. What do you have to say for yourself?"

I took my time, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

Before I could speak, Henry poured fuel on the fire. "Ms. Walker, look at that attitude. He has zero respect for you!"

Janet grew even angrier. "Ronan, show some respect! Quit throwing your seniority around!"

I smiled, unfazed.

Back when the company had only a dozen people, I was the finance manager. Now, the company had over 1,000 employees, and I was still just the finance manager.

I shouldered nearly the same liability as the company's legal representative, but took home about the same pay as a janitor.

I'd assumed that as the company grew, I'd get a promotion and a raise. But what I got instead was Janet, a finance director parachuted in from above. She was the boss's wife, so I had no choice but to deal with it.

On her first day, she asked me to expense a Louis Vuitton bag. She didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

"What's with that look?" she had said. "The company belongs to my husband. He put me in charge of the money. It's perfectly reasonable for me to use our own money to buy a bag."

I had forced a smile. "For an amount that large, we'll need the receipt."

She stood at the mirror, reapplying her lipstick, and asked with a blank look, "What's a receipt? Can't you figure it out yourself?"

Then, she waved me off. "And you call yourself a professional. You need me for something this small. What a joke!"

With a superior like that, it was hard to fake respect.

The other department heads backed Janet's criticism.

Edward Lane from the Sales Department spoke up sternly. "Ronan, I've been wanting to say this for a long time. Times have changed. You're still stuck on those outdated rules, nitpicking our department every day. What's wrong with you?"

I shot him a cold look. "Nitpicking? Mr. Lane, are you talking about when your department landed a one-million-dollar deal and you blew 400,000 dollars on 'client entertainment' and 60,000 dollars on gifts for their executives? Then you requested a 200,000-dollar bonus for your department, which I denied.

"Or do you mean when you asked me to issue a fake two-million-dollar invoice for your client, and I refused?"

Edward pointed at me, his face flushing bright red. "How dare you?"

He looked completely furious. "Finance exists because Sales feeds you! I'm the top closer here! Ronan, you're basically the help. You don't get to tell me what to do!"