Chapter 3

Bruce's smug grin froze for a split second, but then he let out a scoff and said in a raised voice, "It's just a measly 200 dollars. As if I'd care about a ticket that small. Once I sign that 500-million-dollar deal with Mr. Garner, the commission alone will be enough to buy ten cars."

He slapped the box of instant noodles forcefully.

"You, on the other hand, better appreciate this gesture while you can. You probably won't even get this much in the future. Odds are, you'll be fired in a few days, and then you won't even be able to afford instant noodles."

Ignoring him, I turned on my laptop and got to work. Honestly, I just found the whole thing ridiculous.

A few minutes later, Harvey's secretary, Tina Larson, came clicking over in her high heels and notified me haughtily, "Dana, Mr. Vance wants to see you in his office right now."

I shut my laptop and stood up, heading straight for the general manager's office.

Pushing the door open, I found Harvey on his phone, bragging nonstop, "Oh, Mr. Cameron Steele, Harbor Tech just had to fight us for that 500-million-dollar deal with Garner Group, didn't you? Well, now we've got it locked down, and all your early efforts have gone right down the drain.

"Honestly, you should've just bowed out gracefully from the start and saved yourself all that trouble. But hey, I knew what I was doing—I put our star employee Bruce on it, and the moment he took over, it was as good as done."

When Harvey saw me walk in, he hurriedly hung up the phone mid-laughter. Then, his grin instantly morphed into a condescending look.

"Dana, have a seat."

Instead of sitting, I stood perfectly straight, waiting for what he had to say.

Harvey didn't seem to mind in the slightest and just kept right on talking.

"You were originally handling that 500-million-dollar deal with Mr. Garner, but as you know, Bruce is your mentor and has more experience than you. You're a woman, after all—your work just isn't solid enough.

"So, management talked it over, and we're handing the project to Bruce. You'll be assisting him instead."

Of course. This was exactly how Harvey operated.

He had long wanted to put me in my place for a while now. First, he humiliated me with the instant noodles, then he snatched away the deal I'd worked so hard for and handed it straight to my enemy.

But unfortunately for him, he'd grossly overestimated himself.

He paused, his tone becoming even more arrogant. "Alright, from now on, you are officially Bruce's assistant and no longer need to go out visiting clients. Right now, you'll gather all the client materials and deal progress records you have and hand them over to Bruce.

"Then go down to the coffee shop and buy a long black for both Bruce and me. He has a client meeting this afternoon, and you'll be his driver."

His words reduced me to nothing more than an errand runner. There wasn't even a shred of respect in them.

Swallowing the revulsion rising in me, I pulled the resignation letter I'd prepared in advance from my bag and slammed it onto his desk.

"Mr. Vance, I quit. You'll have to find someone else to do your grunt work!"

Harvey froze, staring blankly at the resignation letter for two seconds. Then, he suddenly slammed the table and shot up, his face flushing a deep red.

"Dana, are you freaking out of your mind? How dare you resign? Why don't you take a good look in the mirror? You think you can survive in this industry without Cumulus Tech?

"Let me tell you something—you're nothing but a brainless fool! What else can you even do besides running around visiting clients?"

He jabbed his finger right in my face and tore into me, looking absolutely livid.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You're nothing but a low-level sales rep who gets by on youth and a pretty face to sweet-talk clients. Without the platform I gave you, you'd be lucky to get a single cup of instant noodles!

"I'm telling you—you're not getting a single cent of this month's pay. And those ten cups of instant noodles? You'd better return every last one of them, or else I'll make sure you regret it!"

I folded my arms calmly and looked at him with ice-cold eyes.

"So, you agree to sign it and let me go?"

Harvey was completely enraged by my attitude. He snatched up the resignation letter and scrawled his signature on it. Then, he hurled it right in my face, shouting, "Get the hell out right now! Go as far as you can!

"I'll make sure the entire industry knows you betrayed this company and stole confidential data. No one will ever hire you again! You'll spend your whole life stuck doing the most menial job.

"Don't even think about ever turning this around. Let's see how you survive in this city without a job. In the end, you'll be crying and crawling back to me!"