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Home / Emotional Realism Short Story / They Replaced Me With an Intern, Now They’re Begging / Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

All Chapters of They Replaced Me With an Intern, Now They’re Begging: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

20 Chapters

Chapter 1

The moment I pushed open the door to Preston’s office, the whispering started behind me.“Look, there she is. Face like she just lost a case.”“Two million dollars. Poof. Gone. I’d be screaming bloody murder.”“What’s the point of losing it? She couldn’t hold onto it. Who’s to blame but herself? Preston was right. It’s all about people skills.”“Seriously. Chloe’s out there hustling. Victoria? She bolts at five on the dot. Every. Single. Day. Did she really think she could coast and still get all the credit? Delusional.”A voice, sharp and laced with venom, cut through the chatter. Brenda. The assistant who used to trail me like a shadow. “You ask me, she thought her track record made her untouchable. Well, she overplayed her hand. Serves her right!”“Totally. Acted like the firm would collapse without her. But Chloe steps in, and suddenly client satisfaction is through the roof! Makes you wonder how much of that ‘star lawyer’ title was just hype.”“I heard she was running off to Napa

Chapter 2

I was still packing up my desk when there was a soft knock on the door.“Come in.”Chloe slipped in, wearing that fake-humble smile I’d come to despise.“Victoria, I wanted to talk to you.”I didn’t look up, just kept sorting my files. “What’s there to talk about?”“About the two-million-dollar bonus.” She walked up to my desk, her face a mask of guilt. “Honestly, I feel like I don’t deserve it.”My hands paused.“What are you trying to say?”“I think we should split it,” she said, her voice dripping with false sincerity. “A million for you, a million for me. It’s only fair.”I finally looked up and met her eyes.“Split it?”“Yes. Fifty-fifty. One million each. It’s only fair.”I put down the file in my hands, picked up my phone, and opened my banking app.“Great. Wire it to me now.”I turned the screen toward her, my account information displayed clearly.Chloe’s smile faltered. For a split second.“What… what are you talking about?”“You said you wanted to split it. So let’s split it

Chapter 3

Preston stood in the doorway, his face a thundercloud.His eyes flickered between me, Chloe, and the shattered photo on the floor.“Getting physical in the office? Victoria, have you lost all sense of decency?”Chloe seized the moment, clutching her reddening cheek, her voice thick with tears.“Preston, I… I was just trying to apologize to Victoria, to offer to share the bonus… but she…”“Share the bonus?” Preston frowned. “You don’t owe her anything.”“I know, but I felt it wasn’t fair…” Chloe put on her best victim face. “But then she just… hit me…”“Enough!” Preston glared at me. “Victoria, I am so disappointed in you.”I pointed at the shattered glass on the floor. “She deliberately knocked over the photo of my father and stepped on it!”Preston glanced down, then dismissed it with a wave.“It’s a damn picture frame, Victoria. You assaulted a colleague over a picture frame?”“A picture frame?” My voice trembled. “That was the only photo I have of my father!”“Victoria, I can unders

Chapter 4

Back then, everyone treated Floyd’s words as a joke.After all, Preston was just a junior at Stanford, busy with fraternity parties and sailing regattas, with zero interest in the law.And Floyd, though in his sixties, was healthy and full of energy. It looked like he had at least another decade of work in him.No one could have predicted that fate would rewrite everything on one rainy night.It was my fifth year with the firm.A phone call jolted me awake at three in the morning.“Victoria, something’s happened,” the secretary’s voice was shaking. “Floyd was in a car accident on his way home.”At the hospital, I saw Preston for the last time before he became my boss.He held his father’s hand, the grief in his eyes raw and real.“Victoria,” Floyd said with his last breath, “take care of the firm. And take care of Preston.”After the funeral, Preston officially took over.At first, I thought he would continue his father’s legacy—focusing on professional excellence, with victory as the

Chapter 5

Preston’s voice was tight and rushed. "Victoria, this is not the time for one of your tantrums!""A tantrum?" I scoffed. "You’re unbelievable, Preston.""The firm's reputation is on the line. All of our jobs—""Including me?" I cut him off. "Last I checked, you said the firm was better off without me."Silence on the other end of the line."Victoria, you can't just leave us hanging.""'Leave you hanging?'" I stood and walked to the window. "Preston, you stole my credit! You gave my bonus to a rookie! You threw me out of the firm!"Each word was a perfectly aimed knife."Even worse," I went on, "you torched my reputation across the legal community. You told people I was emotionally unstable. That I had ethics problems. You even hinted that I took bribes!""I never—""No?" I laughed, a cold, sharp sound. "Then explain why every top firm in San Francisco turned me down."Preston's breathing grew ragged."Why did the HR director at Hartman & Associates ask me about an 'ethics dispute'?""V

Chapter 6

At nine p.m., while I was in the kitchen making my mother a late-night snack, my phone started blowing up. Text after text flooded in.I picked it up. The first was from my college friend, Jennifer:Victoria, what is this article on LinkedIn?The second was from the legal director of a former client:Saw the video online. I hope you have an explanation.The third was from my law school professor:What's going on, kid? The entire legal community is talking about you.I opened LinkedIn.The top trending article burned my eyes:Tarnished Gold: Exposing the Violent Temper of a Top LawyerThe author: Sterling & Locke, Official Account.It already had over a hundred thousand views and a thousand comments.I clicked on the article. It began with a dramatic flourish:"Today, we face a painful truth: reputation and ability are not always the same. A once-lauded 'golden lawyer,' when confronted by the brilliance of a younger colleague, lashed out with the most primitive of methods: violence."Be

Chapter 7

The next morning, my phone started buzzing again.I picked it up. Preston had posted again.The headline was even more vicious: REVEALED: How a Disgraced Ex-Employee Maliciously Sabotaged a Core Company Case."Yesterday, we exposed the violent behavior of a certain former employee. Today, we must disclose an even more shocking truth.""The appeal filed by the losing party in the Titan Project was no accident. After a thorough internal investigation, we discovered that this ex-employee deliberately booby-trapped the case files with procedural errors before her departure. Her goal was to make the firm lose the case as revenge for being fired."I almost laughed out loud.Procedural traps?Chloe was in charge of that part of the file.The article went on:"Luckily, our brilliant associate, Chloe, with her keen legal instincts, discovered and fixed these malicious traps just in time. Not only did she devise a perfect counter-strategy, but she is now preparing to countersue for malicious pro

Chapter 8

I turned on my own streaming equipment, adjusting the camera and microphone.The screen lit up: Truth_Teller_Law is now live.The title: The Truth About the 'Titan Project' and a Flawed Strategy.Within five minutes, nearly a thousand people had flooded into my stream."Hello everyone. I'm Victoria Chen." I looked calmly into the camera. "I'm sure many of you have seen some reports about me lately."The chat instantly exploded."It's the violent lawyer!""You've got some nerve showing your face.""Get lost. No one wants to hear your excuses!"I ignored the insults and continued. "I'm not here to 'clear my name.' I'm here to give a masterclass.""I'm going to talk about what really happened in the Titan Project case, and the fatal flaws in a certain 'perfect strategy' you might have heard about."The viewer count was climbing. Almost two thousand."First, let's review the core issue in the Titan Project..."I began to break down the legal logic of the case, pointing out the evidence col

Chapter 9

The mock trial was in chaos.Chloe stood frozen, her face ashen, the papers in her hand trembling.Without her core evidence, she had nothing.The opposing lawyer went in for the kill, firing one devastating question after another.Chloe could only stammer, "I... I need to re-evaluate..."The judge frowned. "Does the defense need to request a recess?""Yes... Yes, Your Honor," Chloe whispered, her voice barely audible.Preston's livestream was a ghost town of stunned silence.Over thirty thousand people had just witnessed a complete train wreck.I looked at Preston, whose face was sweating, his eyes wide with panic."That two-million-dollar bonus, Preston. Tell me again who earned it."He couldn't form a single word.My chat was a wildfire."HOLY SHIT! VICTORIA IS A GOD!""Where are all the haters from before? How's your face feel? Stings, doesn't it?""Preston and Chloe are a couple of clowns!""Sterling & Locke is DONE!""Victoria, we are so sorry!""THIS is what a real top lawyer lo

Chapter 10

Before I could even react to him mentioning Brenda's name, my mother exploded.She grabbed a golf club from behind the sofa and stormed toward Preston."You have the nerve to mention them?"She brandished the club, and Preston scrambled backward."Who slandered my daughter online? Who said she was unstable and had ethics problems?""Ma'am, I—""Now that your firm is sinking, you want to talk about loyalty?" my mother's voice trembled with rage. "You people are disgusting!"She pointed the club at the door. "Get out! Get out of my house right now!""Ma'am, please—""OUT!" My mother raised the club as if to swing. "If you don't leave now, I swear I will hit you!"Preston saw the look in her eyes and knew it was over. He scrambled to his feet and bolted for the door."You'll regret this, Victoria!" he shrieked from the doorway. "You're nothing without the firm I built!"SLAM!My mother slammed the door shut, cutting off his pathetic curses."Serves him right," she seethed, shaking. "That

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