Chapter 3 The Price of Silence

Then, Gavin's tone softened as he put on an air of benevolent generosity.

"Alright. What's done is done. The company isn't completely heartless. Here's what I'll do. I'll give you your full performance bonus for this month, and I'll increase your base salary by 20 percent."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, opened an email draft he had clearly prepared in advance, and held it out to me. "Right now, you're going to use your work email to send Ms. Wayman an apology.

"Just say that you passed out because you deliberately hid the severity of your condition and insisted on coming to work when you shouldn't have. Make it clear that your condition had absolutely nothing to do with the company's management.

"Once you send the email, you can rest and recover without worrying about work."

I stared at the few lines on the screen and actually started laughing out of sheer anger.

I hid my condition? The company had nothing to do with my current state?

He was trying to dump all the blame for overworking an employee onto me, the victim, just to preserve his fake image as a compassionate manager.

"Mr. Bright, you really have this all figured out." I drawled, refusing to take the phone. Instead, I just stared coldly at him.

Gavin frowned and ground his teeth. "Is this not enough? Then, I'll give you another two months of paid sick leave. That's my final offer. Seraphina, don't be so greedy."

I parted my lips and enunciated my answer clearly, "I refuse."

Gavin's expression darkened instantly. "What did you just say?"

I pulled the oxygen tube from my nose, sat upright against the headboard, and met his gaze head-on.

"I said I refuse. Not only am I refusing to send that liability-waiver email, but I'm also going to report you to the Labor Department for forcing employees to work overtime. I'll also be taking you to the Labor Arbitration Board for illegal employment practices."

Gavin lost his temper. He pointed a finger in my face and started cursing me out, screaming, "You wouldn't dare! Seraphina, did that fever fry your brain? Do you really think filing a complaint will do anything? The company's legal team will eat you alive."

Tessa, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up. She whipped a business card from her pocket and casually flicked it at Gavin's face.

"Perhaps they are. But I promise you that I'm a lot meaner than they are. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Tessa Vance, senior partner at TrueNorth Legal. I'm Ms. Finch's attorney, and you will be talking to me from now on, Mr. Bright. Leave my client alone and let her rest."

Gavin stared at the gold-embossed business card lying on the floor, his face turning red with anger.

He glared at me as his mask of hypocrisy finally cracked apart to reveal the viciousness underneath.

"Fine, Seraphina. You want to do this the hard way, huh? Just you wait. I will make sure you're blacklisted throughout the industry."

After he leveled that threat at me, he kicked the hospital room door and stormed out, slamming it shut behind him.

The ward fell silent after his angry departure.

Tessa let out a cold laugh as she saved the recording and uploaded a copy to the cloud.

"An idiot at this level wouldn't even get a second glance from me in court. Sera, how do you want to take him down? Say the word, and I'll make sure he loses everything."

I leaned back against my pillow, my eyes flinty.

"Not just yet. Gavin cares desperately about his reputation, and he's extremely vindictive. He just threatened me. Knowing him, the first thing he'll do when he gets back to the office is destroy the evidence of my overtime and launch a smear campaign against me to cover his tracks."

"He'd better not!" Tessa's brows drew together, utterly vexed.