All Chapters of They Stole My Stock Options, So I Tanked Their Billion-Dollar Deal: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Monday, seven-thirty. I showed up at the factory gate with my toolbox.A red banner hung over the door celebrating the launch of the new production line. Not one word of it had anything to do with me.I checked my voice recorder, confirmed it was working, tucked it into my pocket, and walked in.Kevin was already waiting by the control console, three slouching young guys beside him. I knew all of them. Every one was a relative of his.When he saw me, he nudged Leo, who immediately shoved a document in my face."This is the training agreement you signed before you went abroad. If you fail this assessment, on top of losing your stock options, you'll owe $500,000 in sponsorship costs, plus a year's worth of lost-labor damages."I scanned the signature at the bottom, and my fingers went still.That's when it came back to me: the day I flew out, a year ago. Nora had suddenly told me she'd found a resale apartment going for a discount, the place she wanted us to move into once we got married

For the next week, Kevin kept showing up to second-guess my work, and used the company's name to make me write a stack of pointless reports.Lucky for me, after a year of hard training abroad, none of this was anything I couldn't handle.When it became clear I wasn't cracking, and Leo and the others were the ones about to fall apart, Kevin switched to dirtier tactics.One evening, Nora came to find me holding a notice stamped by the president's office."Ethan, to reward all your hard work, Kevin went out of his way to petition the company and secured you the position of factory technical supervisor. Effective today, all equipment on the floor is your responsibility. You're on call twenty-four hours a day, and when a machine goes down, you have ten minutes to be on-site."I gave the notice a glance and nodded."Fine. Got it."Nora blinked, like she hadn't expected me to agree so easily. It took her a couple of seconds to recover before she threw out a parting shot."Ethan, for old times

He hung up, spun around, and bolted for the office building. Nora froze for a moment, then hurried after him.Half an hour later, Mr. Preston's secretary came running to the factory herself, voice urgent."Ethan, Mr. Preston wants to see you in his office."When I walked in, Kevin was standing off to the side, meek as a whipped dog. Nora wasn't with him.Mr. Preston, on the other hand, gave me a smile."Ethan, in one hour, Meridian Group is coming to tour our high-end production line, and they asked for you by name to run the walkthrough and the demo. This is worth nearly a billion in orders over the next three years, so get yourself ready."A week earlier, when Sales asked me to submit the production-line report and said Meridian was coming, I'd deliberately written my OEM certification into it. I just hadn't expected it to pay off this fast.I looked at Mr. Preston and shook my head."I'm sorry, sir. Right now I'm a mentor and technical supervisor. My duties are new-hire training and

Meridian's chief engineer knotted his brow and pointed at the screen."Kevin, what fault is this? What caused it? How long until it's back up?"Sweat was already beading on Kevin's forehead. His fingers stabbed frantically at the keyboard while he stammered, "This... this is a routine safety trip. Just restart it and it'll be fine..."But he hammered away for ages, and not only did the equipment refuse to restart, the fault codes kept multiplying.Mr. Lawson's expression changed too."Kevin, didn't you say you led the team that built this thing? You can't even manage a restart?"Watching Kevin fail to string a sentence together, Mr. Preston turned to me at the back of the crowd."Ethan, get over here and handle this, now!"I picked up my water cup, took a sip, and only then made my way forward, taking my time.I crossed through a wall of stunned looks, stepped up to the console, and didn't touch a thing. Instead I looked at Mr. Preston and spoke calmly, right in front of the client."M

Mr. Preston's smile froze solid."Ethan, don't push your luck!" He forced his fury down, a threat in his voice. "You cash in your options and then try to run? There's no way I'm letting that happen!""Don't think you can throw your weight around just because Meridian took a shine to you. Don't forget you've got a non-compete. Defect to Meridian and the company will sue you into the ground, and you'll never work in this field again!"I laughed scornfully."These options were a full year of hard training, traded for an OEM certification. They're not the company's charity."I paused. "And besides, who told you I was going to Meridian?"Mr. Preston's eyes went round as saucers."Even if it's not Meridian, no other company in this field will touch you either! And who besides Meridian and us could give you a package this good?!"I simply pulled the resignation letter I'd prepared in advance out of my bag."Relax, I'll honor the non-compete to the letter. I'm not like you people. I at least h