All Chapters of You Said Until Death: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

12 Chapters

Chapter 1 Not Dead Yet

My boss, Gavin Bright, didn't even look up as he pushed the report back to the edge of his desk. "Why do you need time off? You're not dead yet, are you?"Then, he leaned back in his chair as he rolled the pen between his fingers, his tone dripping with superiority."Seraphina, this project is at a critical stage. Ms. Wayman is coming tomorrow to hear the presentation for the fourth version of our proposal. You're the project lead. Yet, you're telling me you need time off now?"I took a deep breath, a dull ache spreading through my chest."I've pulled 23 all-nighters in a row. Mr. Bright, my heart is already working at its limit. I'll die if I keep pushing myself like this."My supervisor, Phoebe Alistair, let out a mocking laugh. "Oh, Seraphina, that's a little dramatic, don't you think?"She filed her nails before casually blowing at them."Everyone in this line of work has pulled all-nighters. You can do the work of three people by yourself. So, why are you suddenly feeling s

Chapter 2 On the Record

"What the hell are you trying to prove by showing up like this?" Gavin demanded.I ignored him and walked around him. Then, I set the oxygen tank down hard on the conference table."Weren't you the one who told me not to drop the ball? Doesn't showing up sick prove how dedicated I am to the company?" I shot back.Just then, Audrey Wayman, the director of the client company, walked in with her team.Audrey paused when she saw me, her brow furrowing slightly at my sickly state. "Ms. Finch, what happened to you?"Gavin reacted quickly, immediately putting on a smile. "I'm so sorry you had to see this, Ms. Wayman. Seraphina has a pretty bad cold, but she takes her work seriously and insists on giving the presentation herself."He kicked me hard under the table and shot me a warning look as soon as he said that, violently signaling me to start talking.I said nothing. Instead, I opened the PowerPoint and picked up the presentation remote.The presentation began, and everything went

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

Chapter 4 Turning the Tables

I knew that toxic duo Gavin and Phoebe far too well."Want to bet? Give me your phone. I want to pull whatever I can from the internal system while my company account is still online."Gavin's retaliation came as I raced to back up the underlying data from the system.The hospital ward door was shoved open at 3 p.m. Gavin had returned bearing a thick stack of printed documents. Phoebe followed close behind, looking smug."Seraphina, I'm giving you one last chance." Gavin slapped the stack down on my hospital bed and looked down at me. "Get discharged right now, finish up the remaining work, and then resign on your own. Otherwise, I'll see you in court."I glanced at the stack. There was a screenshot of a system access log right on top.Phoebe sighed dramatically beside him."Seraphina, how could you do something like this? Even if you're unhappy with the company, you can't just package up the core source code from our project and send it to a competitor. That is a serious breach

Chapter 5 A Better Offer

The door to my ward swung open once more, and Audrey strode in wearing a meticulously tailored beige trench coat. Her commanding presence immediately drew everyone's attention. Gavin's laughter died a quick death in his throat. He stared at her in shock. "M-Ms. Wayman, what brings you here?"Audrey ignored Gavin's ingratiating smile and walked straight to my bedside.She pulled a gold-embossed business card from her holder and held it out to me."Ms. Finch, although you didn't finish your presentation yesterday, I already saw how solid your expertise was and how indispensable your abilities are. If you're interested, I will always have a project director position waiting for you at my company."She paused, her eyes sweeping over Gavin, whose face had gone ashen. Her voice was firm as she added, "And I'll double your current salary."The air in the hospital room seemed to freeze.Audrey's offer was a brutal slap in the face to Gavin, especially after all his arrogant boasting ju

Chapter 6 The Trap

Just then, I received a private message from Phoebe."Oh, Seraphina, I'm really sorry about this. You got fired, and I guess I'll just have to take over your projects."Focus on getting better. The evidence that you leaked the information is conclusive, so you can't really blame Mr. Bright for being ruthless. Then again, you've always been so high and mighty. You never even gave Mr. Bright the respect he deserved."Once you're out, remember to take me out for dinner. After all, I put in a good word for you to soften your punishment."Her words were practically dripping with fake sincerity. My stomach churned, and my chest began to heave with anger.The heart monitor immediately started beeping rapidly."Don't get worked up. That's exactly what they want." A cool hand pressed down on my shoulder.I was so angry that I hadn't even noticed Tessa putting away the business card. Then, she slapped her attorney's license down on the bedside table as a steely glint flashed in her eyes.

Chapter 7 The Evidence They Never Saw Coming

"Is that so? Then, I'll be waiting."I hung up right after that.Tessa immediately uploaded the audio file to the law firm's encrypted cloud storage for backup."God, she's almost too stupid to hate. This recording alone is enough to put Gavin and her in serious trouble.""It's not enough." I pulled out my tablet and logged into a private cloud drive no one knew about.Gavin had mistakenly assumed that locking me out of the company network would leave me without a shred of evidence.He had clearly vastly underestimated what happened when an overworked employee finally learned to protect herself.I opened the drive. Soon, three years' worth of encrypted backups stared back at me."These are screenshots of my clock-out records that I took every day, along with time-stamped logs of every update I made to the project source code. And these are all the messages from Gavin forcing me to revise proposals at 2 or 3 a.m."I turned the screen toward Tessa."He claimed that I never work

Chapter 8 The Hunt Begins

I slammed a thick file folder onto the marble counter. Considering how there was a 200-page index of evidence, the sound it made against the counter was quite the satisfying thud.It included three years of actual attendance records, a recording of Gavin refusing to approve my medical leave, and screenshots showing I had been forced to work overtime in the early hours of the morning.Most importantly, there was a USB drive containing a recording of Phoebe herself admitting that she had fabricated the whole data-leak incident.The clerk at the window had initially seemed somewhat indifferent.However, the apathy on his face vanished the moment Tessa identified herself as a senior partner of a law firm and laid out the facts."Wrongful termination, forcing an employee to work while sick and causing her to suffer heart failure, and even fabricating evidence to extort money and defame her."Tessa planted both hands on the counter, commanding the room with her presence."We're demand

Chapter 9 Thrown Under the Bus

"Sir, this has nothing to do with me!" Gavin cried.Then, he pointed at Phoebe and threw her under the bus, exclaiming loudly, "Phoebe was the one in charge of Seraphina's attendance and day-to-day management. I'm the general manager of the company. I'm busy running the entire operation. "How could I possibly know whether some entry-level employee was working overtime?"Phoebe froze, staring at him in disbelief. "Mr. Bright, you—"Gavin didn't give her a chance to speak. Instead, he raised his voice further and continued, "As for the data leak… Phoebe made a mistake. Or maybe she did it because she had a personal grudge against Seraphina and framed her. Yes, she was the one behind it all! "The company's senior management had absolutely no knowledge of it."The employees, who had been hiding outside the door and listening in, erupted into an uproar.Phoebe lost it.She had thought that clinging to Gavin would guarantee her a smooth rise through the ranks. She never expected t

Chapter 10 The Final Blow

Tessa pressed the play button.Gavin's voice, dripping with condescension and calculation, echoed clearly through the silent hearing room the very next second."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. 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."Gavin's smug expression froze as soon as the recording started playing.He jerked his head up and stared at the waveform moving across the projector screen. A thin sheen of cold sweat instantly covered his forehead."Mr. Bright, according to this recording, not only was my client fully capable of doing her job, bu

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