Chapter 3

My phone rang again.

Vivian opened with the same question.

"Are you coming back for the afternoon meeting or not?"

I looked at Mom's bill. "Have payroll advance me one month's salary."

"What for?"

"I still need five thousand dollars for Mom's treatment."

She paused. "We're managing a cash-flow shortage, and payroll's already been locked for the cycle."

"You're management. You can't be the first one to break the rules."

"It's five thousand dollars, Vivian."

"It isn't about the amount. It's about the rules. If I make an exception for you, what about everyone else?"

I actually laughed.

"Interns don't qualify for performance bonuses, but Caleb got a secret five-thousand-dollar payout. Is that part of the rules, too?"

Her voice hardened instantly. "Where did you hear that?"

"Does it matter?"

"That was a targeted incentive. He's been doing well, and his family is struggling. He needs encouragement."

Hearing that excuse again made my head ache.

"My mother's in the hospital, and that's a private problem. But his family having money trouble is company business?"

"Adrian!" Her voice rose. "You can't target an intern just because you're upset about your bonus. Business is business. I can't play favorites just because you're my husband."

There was no point arguing.

"You've got work to do."

"What about the meeting—"

I ended the call.

Less than a minute later, Caleb texted me.

The first message read: "Mr. Lockhart, I'm sorry. Can we talk about the $5,000?"

Before I could reply, a wall of text followed.

First, he apologized for going over my head to Vivian. He said he'd only been concerned about the Halstead account and hadn't known she'd blame me. Then he offered to transfer his bonus to me.

"You deserve this money more than I do. I only helped with the project. You did the real work."

His next messages explained the debt from his father's surgery and the rent coming due at the end of the month.

"But don't worry about me. I'm young. I'll find a way. Your mom's treatment is more important."

It sounded generous. It also left him protected no matter what I did.

If I accepted, I'd be taking a desperate intern's money. If I declined, he would keep his bonus and get credit for offering it.

I sent one reply.

"Vivian gave it to you. Keep it."

He wasn't finished.

"Mr. Lockhart, are you still angry with me? Ms. Hart's only been looking out for me because she knows what things are like at home. Please don't fight with her because of me."

I put the phone down.

The person who kept letting him cross the line had never been Caleb himself.

I scrolled through my contacts until I found Grant Ellison, the founder of Westbridge Technologies.

Six months earlier, Grant had openly tried to recruit me. I'd turned him down, telling him the company I'd built with Vivian meant too much to leave.

When he answered, I got straight to the point.

"Is that job offer still on the table?"

He didn't immediately say yes.

"Did you and Vivian have a fight? If you're doing this in the heat of the moment, I'm not interested."

"I'll resign properly, and a lawyer will handle my ownership stake. This isn't a tantrum."

Only then did he discuss terms: business director, a higher salary, and the freedom to build my own team.

"I have one condition," I told him.

"Let's hear it."

"Once I sign, I need a five-thousand-dollar advance."

Silence.

Then Grant asked, "Five thousand? Not fifty thousand?"