Chapter 3

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?" Shane snapped in humiliation, shoving me hard in the chest.

Unfortunately for him, I was a year-rounder at the gym and was no feeble doormat. So, I barely budged, while he ended up stumbling back.

"Fuck! Clearly, we've been too nice to you! You think you can just walk away after this? Dream on! You'd better compensate us for the equipment you damaged before you go.

"I'm talking about that high-performance server we used for last week's demo. The motherboard's fried! You must've fried it because you didn't know what you were doing."

Shane then pointed at an old computer case gathering dust in the corner and barked, "Between the disassembly and repair costs, you owe the company 500 dollars!"

That machine was labeled as scrap long ago, and I'd been using it to prop up my monitor. I responded dryly, "That's a decommissioned piece of scrap from the warehouse."

"Save it! It was on your workstation, so you're responsible for it!" Kevin chimed in. "You can either pay up, or we'll call the cops on you right now! We'll report you for damaging company property! If you don't, you can forget about passing the background check for your next job."

To think that I'd once treated these two with utmost sincerity, viewing them as close friends.

They'd thrown away whatever modicum of shame they had in their bones just for 500 dollars.

"I don't have a single penny for the likes of you. So, go ahead and call the cops. I don't care."

Then, I picked up my briefcase and headed for the door.

Shane shot Kevin a look, and the two suddenly lunged at me, yanking violently at my briefcase.

During the struggle, the documents in my briefcase and my water bottle were left strewn on the floor… along with an external hard drive.

"What do we have here? My, my, James. How dare you save a copy of the company's confidential data without authorization!"

Shane pointed at the hard drive lying on the floor.

"Corporate spies are the scum of the industry! To think we used to think of you as a friend! I can't believe you'd turn out to be so dishonest!"

The crowd around us immediately started criticizing me.

"I'd never expected that from him. He looks so respectable, but it turns out he's a thief."

"I heard that he's been rather sticky-fingered way back when he was still in his old department."

"I can't believe that not only is he a sugar baby, but he's also a corporate spy!"

Shane and the others became even more emboldened when they saw how the crowd had turned against me.

Just then, a middle-aged woman in business attire strode over with a stern look on her face. "What's going on here?"

"Ms. Wallace!" Shane hastily scurried over to her and regaled her with a highly embellished version of the actual events.

Hortensia Wallace was the department manager and was infamous for being a social climber.

"Well, well! You dare commit theft right in front of me? James Connor, you've got some nerve!" she barked, utterly enraged.

Kevin sidled up to her and suggested maliciously, "Ms. Wallace, although we've recovered the hard drive, he might have already sent the data out. Why don't we destroy it just to be safe?"

Hortensia nodded. "You make a good point. We can't risk leaking such confidential information."

Once she gave the green light, Shane promptly raised my hard drive high in the air and brutally threw it against the ground. Then, he even stomped on it several times for good measure.

The external hard drive's casing cracked apart like an egg, scattering its parts everywhere.

My eyes turned flinty as the drive contained critical data that I hadn't had the chance to upload to the cloud.

These absolute imbeciles had no idea what they'd just destroyed.

"You'll pay for this," I said lowly.

Hortensia merely scoffed at me. "We'll pay? Please. You should be worrying about yourself."

Then, she turned to the guards and ordered. "Security! Throw him out. I want him out of my sight."

Two security guards stomped over and reached for my arms.

I shook them off and straightened my suit collar. "Don't touch me. I can leave without your help."

Lila kept snapping pictures of me with her phone, her lips flapping as she nattered, "Take a good look, everyone! This is what happens to corporate spies! Anyone who dares to hire him in the future might as well be letting a fox into the henhouse! Get lost, you loser!"

Kevin and his posse all raised their middle fingers at me, exaggerating their mouths as they hollered, "Get. The. Fuck. Out."

I smiled as I thought to myself, "Fine. Very well. Since you lot insist on salting the earth, don't blame me for not showing you any mercy."

"Sure. I'll go." I picked up my briefcase and walked away without a backward glance.

I sincerely hoped that these guys could continue grinning so brightly this time tomorrow.