Chapter 2

I couldn't take it anymore.

"Why isn't Tristan being punished for his mistake?"

Wendy poured me a glass of water and smiled.

"Honey, Tristan came back from overseas with a PhD. Talent like that is rare. We're lucky he even agreed to work here, so of course I have to keep him happy. I can't just punish him whenever I feel like it."

"A top graduate who's dead last every month and still hasn't passed probation after six months?"

That shut her up.

Then Tristan pushed the door open.

Acting all ashamed, he made a bet. If he ranked last again next month, he'd eat a plate of pasta mixed with live worms.

To protect his ego, Wendy turned his personal punishment into a company-wide rule.

Maybe the threat worked, because Tristan did land three clients this time.

But when it came time to sign, every deal crashed.

No question—he was dead last again.

Last night, I went to bed early because I felt sick. I wanted to recover and watch Tristan face the music.

Instead, Wendy secretly changed the penalty rules overnight and set my alarm later, making me late so I'd take Tristan's punishment.

Unbelievable.

I stayed silent.

The whole room went tense. Even Wendy looked ready to speak.

Tristan lowered his head, pretending to be sorry. "I was wrong. Mr. Depp is Wendy's husband, so this company is basically his turf. I'm just a lowly intern. I had no right to enforce company rules.

"I'll quit right now before he holds a grudge and comes after me."

He said that, but didn't even touch his badge.

Everyone saw the act.

Wendy bought it anyway and grabbed his arm. "Don't talk like that. This company is fair. Who would dare abuse their power or make things hard for you?"

I let out a cold laugh.

My phone buzzed.

Messages from Wendy's trusted staff popped up in a group chat:

[Here we go again. Ms. Kline is so sharp. How did she fall for an idiot like him?]

[Exactly. To save him from punishment, Ms. Kline handed over connections she'd spent years building. Deals that only needed signatures, and he still blew them. Unreal.]

Seconds later, the two staff who sent the messages turned pale and hurried to delete them.

Clearly, they'd sent them to the wrong group.

I glanced around.

Everyone had their heads down, clearly watching the drama unfold.

I frowned.

I used to think Wendy only bent the rules over small things, no matter how unreasonable she got.

I never thought she'd burn her own connections and hand Tristan extra support just to save him from a bet he made himself.

And she called this "for the good of the company"?

What a joke.

Wendy still had no clue about the group chat.

After babying Tristan for ages, he stood there with fake tears in his eyes.

Then she glared at me. "Enough. If you don't want to be punished, don't be late.

"Back when you made mistakes, you could drink toilet water without even blinking. What, now that you're management, you forgot where you came from?

"Besides, worms are packed with protein. Some people can't even buy them. Why are you being so dramatic?"

Just like always, she tore me down in front of everyone.

Like I would still be dumb enough to believe the lies she dressed up as love.