Chapter 1

As I walked past the office area, I could hear the whispers buzzing around me.

“Look at her, she’s out. She looks like she just saw a ghost,” someone muttered.

“Man! $2 million gone just like that. Anyone would go crazy,” another voice chimed in.

“So what if she's mad? She lost the money because she didn't work hard enough. Mr. Miller is right, hard work is the only thing that matters,” a third insisted.

“Exactly. Chloe works late every day. She’s actually dedicated. But Bennett? She leaves right on the dot and still wants the money. Who does she think she is?” a woman scoffed.

Then, a sharp voice cut through the others. It was Maya Lynch, who was always trailing behind Chloe like a lost puppy.

“She thought her seniority made her untouchable, but it totally backfired. She got exactly what she deserved,” Maya said, completely gloating.

“Right? She thought the company would crash without her, but Chloe stepped in and did a much better job on the project! All that talk about Bennett leading the team? Total nonsense,” another added quickly.

“I heard she was at the hospital every single day last month. Something must be wrong with her family,” someone whispered.

“Pfft, everyone has family drama. Why does she think she’s special?” a voice sneered.

“The company rewards hard work. Someone like Chloe is the real role model here,” a colleague pronounced.

“Bennett just couldn’t keep up anymore. It was only a matter of time before she got kicked out,” another concluded.

“Giving the $2 million to Chloe? She earned every penny. It’s good to reward the younger generation,” someone declared.

“Old timers like her need to pack up. It’s time to make way for new blood,” a final voice said with relish.

Their words were pure venom, full of joy over my downfall while twisting the facts. They had no idea that my real family was the most powerful syndicate in the city. Growing up in a underworld empire, I understood business, resources, and power better than anyone. It was my own sharp instincts and the elite connections I brought in that built this company from nothing. Without my leadership and the massive deals I personally closed, this place would have gone bankrupt years ago.

All they cared about was the past month when I started leaving on time to visit my sick grandfather.

Especially Maya. She used to call me 'bestie' every day, but now she was shouting the loudest. She kept spitting nonsense, claiming I was useless and just occupying a space without doing real work.

I wasn’t going to take it anymore. I stopped, turned around, and walked straight to Maya Lynch’s desk. She was still ranting with a smug smile on her face.

My eyes scanned her desk and landed on a luxury custom crystal globe.

It was a commemorative gift I had personally designed and handed out to the team after I secured our first massive contract last year.

Without a word, I picked it up.

Right in front of her shocked face, I casually tossed it straight into the trash can.

The open workspace instantly fell into a dead, stunned silence.

The room went dead silent. No more whispering, no more pointing.

Maya’s face turned completely white. Her lips shook, but she couldn’t squeeze out a single word.

I shot her a cold, careless look. Everyone else instantly looked down, pretending to be drowning in work.

I didn't say a word. I just turned around and walked away.

In that quiet hallway, I walked into my office, shut the door, and began packing my things.

My hand brushed against a framed photo on my desk. It was a picture of me and the tech team after our first system launch test.

Back then, everyone was smiling for real, full of energy.

Now, everything was ruined.

The anger in my chest turned into pure disappointment.

Seven years. For seven long years, I gave my life to this place. I was a top-tier coder from a powerful underworld family, and I chose to build this tech infrastructure from scratch.

How many nights was I the only one fixing server crashes in the dark?

How many weekends did I spend writing code alone in the server room?

How many times did I rewrite the worst bugs and save this team from failing?

That new shopping app—the one that just made $100 million in sales—its entire core framework, the main algorithms, and the security system were all written by me. Every single line of code was my hard work.

But everything changed last month when my grandfather fell critically ill. I had to rush to the hospital because my family needed me.

By then, the core engine of the app was fully finished. We were just running basic, repetitive testing—easy work that required zero high-level skills.

Since I was busy, I had to pass the work down.

Chloe Davis, the quiet and sweet intern, came to my desk. She acted so nice, offering to help with the workload so I could go see my family.

I felt grateful. I handed her the simplest data-entry and testing tasks. I even praised her in front of the whole department for being a hard worker.

I never imagined that Ethan would look at those simple, repetitive tasks and call them 'the core of the project.'

And I never thought my time spent at the hospital would be used against me, turning into 'proof' that I only left on time and didn't care about the company.

Suddenly, my office door pushed open, and a familiar face walked in.

It was Chloe. She looked nervous and guilty, taking small steps toward me.

“Ms. Bennett… about that $2 million… I feel so bad. I don't deserve it. It belongs to you, and I want to give it back,” she said, her voice shaking.

I kept packing and didn't look up.

I remembered how Chloe looked when she first started. She was always holding her notebook, looking so shy. Every time she had a coding error, she would run to my desk, eager to learn.

“Fine,” I said. I stopped packing, looked her dead in the eye, and pulled out my phone. “Transfer it to my account right now. I'm waiting.”

The fake guilt on her face instantly froze.

A look of shock and anger flashed in her eyes. She clearly didn’t expect me to actually say yes.

After a long, awkward silence, she forced a fake laugh.

“Ms. Bennett, I was just being polite. You actually want to take it?” she said, her voice turning sharp.

Chloe tilted her head, a nasty smile appearing on her face. “I got this money because of my hard work. Mr. Miller saw it. I did the core work, I stayed late, and I closed the office. What right do you have to take it from me?”

She looked around my private office with greedy eyes, feeling totally satisfied with herself.

“Actually,” she smirked, “I should thank you for walking away and leaving this spot for me.”