They Called Me the Freaking Rulebot

"What?" Bella froze, then shrieked, "Are you for real right now? Just admit you don't wanna approve them! You're clearly faking that headache!"I took a breath. Didn't bother answering.Back then, I might've broken it down for her—Reimbursement receipts had to be legit.Finance is the final checkpoint. If something's off, we're the ones in the hot seat.Not that it ever got through to her. She'd snapped at me before with that same eye-roll energy:"Rules don’t run the world—people do. Why are you so pressed?"I'd kept it professional, taught her how to review reimbursements the right way—over and over.But after what I heard in the bathroom, yeah... I went cold.If she didn't care, then why should I?I grabbed my thermos and turned to leave.Bella scowled and grabbed my arm. "What, running off now? Feeling guilty?"I didn't say a word.She raised her voice."You think it's just me? Everyone's fed up with you blocking their reimbursements. What, skimming the cash for your

Didn't bother arguing. Just glanced at my phone.Still no reply to the message I sent this morning.Everyone was suddenly a critic, taking turns throwing shade."Logistics is sick of her. She wants itemized receipts like we're stealing or something.""Procurement can't move without her picking through every contract.""HR's got beef too—"White noise.I typed a follow-up to the CEO, still off on his business trip:[Mr. Gainey, can you approve my resignation today?]***The screen finally lit up.Mr. Gainey replied:[Unbelievable! We're mid-IPO. You can't just bail. Whatever's going on, I'll fix it when I'm back. Don't stir up drama right now.]And just like that, any last shred of doubt? Gone.All I felt was ice.I'd already figured him out. Mr. Gainey didn't give a damn about finance department.If he did, he wouldn't have blown off every suggestion I made to tighten up reimbursements.Or trashed my idea to give the business teams even a basic crash course in finance.

I gave a small smirk. "Mr. Gainey, I'm officially on vacation. By the time I'm back, it'll be thirty days since I turned in my resignation. Doesn't matter if you approve it or not—I'm out. Whatever mess comes next? Not my problem."I tapped the screen and ended the call, cutting off his angry shouting mid-rant.Winnie, who'd been all smug two seconds ago, just stood there, frozen.Then her phone lit up like crazy.Caller ID? Mr. Gainey.She picked up, barely got out a sugary "Honey" before he snapped:"What the hell did you let Bella sign off on?! Where's the money?! Tell me RIGHT NOW! Who okayed those insane expenses? Is the company even running?! Why wasn't I told?!"Winnie paused, trying to play it cool."Babe, didn't you say we're going public soon? So what if we spent a little? We've got funds—don't be so tight. I finally earned some respect around here, and now you're making me look bad."Mr. Gainey was losing it."You—! I can't even deal with you right now! If you don'

First day off, I killed all the work chats and put my phone on mute. Silence hit different.No more explaining why receipts matter. No more tutorials on how to not screw up basic stuff. No more late-night number hunts over a few cents. And thank god—no more pretending my clueless superior actually knew finance.When they called me the "Rulebot," did it ever cross their minds? Maybe if they stopped messing up, I wouldn't have to keep telling them to fix it.With all that stress gone, I finally slept in—like really slept. After I woke up, I swung by the neighborhood grocery, grabbed some fresh stuff, and made myself a real breakfast.My phone lit up a few times—random numbers, a couple calls from the company landline.I didn't answer.Didn't have to. Pretty sure it was Mr. Gainey or Winnie, freaking out and begging for help.In the afternoon, I hit the library and finally grabbed a few books I'd been putting off forever.That night, I caught up with a friend I hadn't seen in ages

A week later, my former subordinate, Lena, hit me up with a quiet message:[The company's under official investigation.]Bella's nonsense claims were just the match.She didn't stop at greenlighting shady stuff—she snuck in bonus payments for herself too. The cash wasn't crazy, but at that point, it didn't even matter.The tax bureau and cops went full bloodhound—and it got uglier.Peter's sales team had been faking invoices for years, funneling cash into some secret stash. It added up to straight-up embezzlement.Winnie? She ran the company account like her personal piggy bank—designer bags, bling, even her home repairs were on the tab.She was the finance head who didn't know jack about finance, just power-tripped her way through it.The proof was stacked. Bella, Peter, Winnie—they were already in cuffs.Anyone with half a brain could see it—they weren't getting a slap on the wrist. What was waiting for them was the law, and the law doesn't go easy on frauds.I kept thinkin