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Home / Emotional Realism Short Story / No Contract, No Chains, All the Power / Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

All Chapters of No Contract, No Chains, All the Power: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

7 Chapters

Chapter 1

"Your employee badge is no longer valid, Zachary. Please leave the company by 6:00 pm," Lisa Wright from Human Resources declared.She placed a termination notice in front of me.I stared at the words on the paper and blinked in confusion. "I'm being laid off?" I asked."Not exactly." She capped her pen, her tone remaining perfectly polite. "Technically speaking, you haven't been a formal employee of the company."For a split second, I thought my ears were failing me."I've worked at Stellar Technologies for three whole years. My clock-in records could fill an entire filing cabinet! How can you claim that I'm not an employee?"Lisa refused to meet my gaze.Next to her, Stellar Technologies' Technology Director, Eric Lawson, let out a small chuckle."Don't make yourself out to be more important than you actually are, Zachary," he said.He leaned back in his chair and spun his car keys around one finger. "You were brought in as a project-based contractor from the very beginnin

Chapter 2

Before Rachel could say anything, Eric started to yell at me. "Drop the act, Zachary!" he barked.I turned toward him and said, "Keep your voice down, Mr. Lawson. You'll scare off your brand-new Maserati."His expression darkened. Lisa, on the other hand, simply lowered her head and pretended to be invisible.Rachel pulled out a chair and took a seat. "Explain," she demanded.I sat back down and responded, "I developed the first version of Stormshield while participating in an open-source competition during my second year of community college. After I joined Stellar Technologies, I built the enterprise version on top of the original framework."Eric scoffed. "The company paid you, and you developed it on a company computer. Naturally, the end-product should belong to the company," he said."I'm not a company employee, though." I shrugged. "You said that yourself."Eric was at a loss for words. Rachel shot him a look. She didn't look particularly angry, but she managed to

Chapter 3

Rachel and I were the only ones left in the conference room. Instead of sitting at the head of the table, she had decided to take the seat across from me.At just 29 years old, Rachel had turned Stellar Technologies from a company with barely a dozen employees into one with more than 300. She typically had the final say in everything around the office.I rarely interacted with her one-on-one. She was a busy woman, and I was too occupied with helping her company make money. "I'll look into Eric's conduct, Zachary," she told me.Sliding a glass of water toward me, she continued, "For now, get the system back online."I didn't touch the glass of water."You can't fire me and then ask me to come back to fix your problems, Ms. Scott."Rachel pressed her lips into a thin line. "I'll admit it. The company handled your situation incredibly poorly.""I wouldn't use the word poor. I'd call it unethical.""Fine. We'll call it unethical."I was surprised by how quickly she gave in.A

Chapter 4

I stared at the document. The words "Blue Whale Risk Management System" were printed on the cover. The name was bold, but I wasn't sure if the product itself could live up to it.Rachel didn't go through the document. Instead, she looked at Martin and said, "Stanford Capitals is an investor, Mr. Cadwell. You're not here to take over the company's operations."Martin chuckled. "There's been some kind of misunderstanding, Ms. Scott. We're only trying to help."Before Rachel could respond, Amanda quickly chimed in."Mr. Lawson is only trying to act in the company's best interests. Zachary is using the system to threaten Stellar Technologies. His behavior is completely unacceptable," she said.Upon hearing this, I turned to look at her. "It looks like you've put on a thick layer of foundation today, Ms. Linfield," I said coolly.Amanda instantly stiffened. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked."Oh, nothing," I replied as I pointed to the necklace around her neck. "Is that n

Chapter 5

At 9:00 am the next day, a company-wide meeting was held.The main conference room wasn't large enough to accommodate everyone, so the meeting was live-streamed to every department instead.I sat in the front row. The legal team was seated to my left, while the finance department was seated to my right. Behind me, a group of employees was looking at me in disbelief.Rachel stood onstage. She was dressed entirely in black that day. She didn't look like she was here to attend a meeting. She looked like she was here to attend a funeral."With regard to the improper termination of Mr. Zachary Carter yesterday, I would like to offer a formal apology on behalf of Stellar Technologies," she began.The room fell completely silent. Rachel turned toward me."I'm sorry, Zachary."I nodded before responding, "I heard you loud and clear."She pressed her lips together to suppress a smile. Then, she continued, "The company will retroactively recognize your employment for the past three y

Chapter 6

Amanda ultimately failed to negotiate a deal. Rachel wasn't a philanthropist—especially not after someone had almost bled her company dry. Now, she looked at everyone as if they might be a corporate spy.In the end, Amanda handed us a flash drive while sobbing.The flash drive contained records of Eric's kickback payments, screenshots of his conversations, and emails he exchanged with Stanford Capitals.The evidence collected was as comprehensive as an annual performance report.After looking through it, I almost felt sorry for Eric. What a devoted girlfriend. Amanda was practically a walking criminal case file.…That afternoon, the police arrived at the company building. Eric was ultimately arrested at an upscale club. Liam sent me a video that was taken during the arrest. In the video, Eric was wearing a bathrobe, and his hair was still wet."I'm being framed!" Eric shouted.Next to him, a man asked, "Who the hell are you? You're interrupting my back scrub."I wat

Chapter 7

I took a bite of my cookie. "What do you want me to say?" I asked."When I first applied to Stellar Technologies, I genuinely wanted to work there. When I didn't get the job, someone from Stanford Capitals approached me. They said they only wanted me to conduct a competitive analysis.""Did you really believe that?" I asked again."I…"Michael lowered his head before continuing, "I needed the money."I nodded. "But you can't use that as an excuse to get away with everything."Michael's mouth went dry. "I know," he responded. "I'm willing to take responsibility for my actions, but I don't want to be blamed for other people's actions as well.""Then let's make sure the blame is divided up equally," Rachel said at last.Upon hearing this, Michael instantly nodded his head.The evidence he handed over was incredibly conclusive.He provided us with a recording of Martin instructing him to copy our technology. He also provided us with Stanford Capitals' internal emails and a me

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