The 80/20 Principle Richard Koch

After half a month of nonstop overtime, I secured a contract worth over ten million, pulling the company back from the brink of collapse. My boss, Richard Gray, was overjoyed. At the celebration party, he called me the pillar of the company and announced that he would reward me with a bonus. However, when the end of the month came, and I opened my payslip, I froze. Negative 250 dollars. A negative commission? I actually owed the company 250 dollars? I immediately called the finance department, asking if there was a mistake on my payslip. They replied, "No mistake. This is the cost calculation formula that Mr. Gray personally instructed us to use. He said you'd understand once you saw it." I went straight to Richard for an explanation. He laughed. "The contract that you signed, after factoring in the concessions, upfront resources, and hidden expenses, left the company with a net loss of 150 thousand. Since the loss was due to your personal decisions, you're responsible for five percent. That totals to 7500. "Considering how hard you worked, we deducted it from your base salary first. But your salary wasn't enough, so you still owe the company 250. Don't worry. The company treats its employees well. We'll write that off." Soon after, he awarded 100 thousand dollars to the newly arrived intern. I watched the newcomer, probably connected to Richard, cheerfully treat the entire company to dinner with her bonus, and something inside me just snapped. From that day onward, I did the bare minimum. I clocked in. I clocked out. Nothing more. Later, when a critical project went catastrophically wrong and the company faced a colossal compensation demand, Richard came begging me to fix it. I just smiled and said, "Sorry, Mr. Gray. I've already resigned. If there are any problems, you can ask the intern who got the 100 thousand dollar bonus to handle it."

Six years ago, Catherine Bell signed a contract she barely understood. Fifty-fifty, he called it. Fair. Equal. Clean. What it really meant was simple. Everything would be divided. The bills. The responsibilities. The children. Even her suffering. For six years, she carried the weight of a marriage built on numbers while her husband measured love like a business transaction. She gave up promotions, endured lonely pregnancies, raised their twins almost alone, and kept their home together—believing that if she gave enough, one day he'd finally see her. He never did. Until the day she stopped giving. Now, Catherine places a neatly compiled ledger in front of Mason Blake—six years of invisible labor, sacrifices, and broken promises, calculated down to the last cent. Debts he never knew existed. Debts money can never truly repay. Then she does something he never imagined. She starts living by his rules. Fifty-fifty. As the life he'd taken for granted slowly falls apart around him, Mason discovers that money can replace labor... But it can never replace love. And by the time he finally understands what she was worth, Catherine has already learned the one lesson that changes everything. She never needed him. Now the man who built his marriage on equality is drowning in the very numbers he once worshipped. Because some things were never meant to be split in half. Especially a heart.

Richard has never been one to spare his enemy and Sarah isn't going to be any different. Yes, she can be unknowingly seductive and unimaginably charming but Richard only feels that she will be prettier in her grave and more useful in hell. To Richard, love is for idle minds. If there's anything he knows how to do best, it's killing. He's e devil hiding under a flawless and mesmerizing body. Sarah only wants one thing from Richard--his life. The only thing they have in common is their desire for each other's life. But will they be able to carry out their missions after that unsolicited encounter? Will Richard be able to resist this seductress and give her the death she's courting?

My father was a senior HR executive. He used KPIs to define my life. "Rank top ten in your grade, and I'll give you a B, with a bonus of 250 dollars. "Place in a state-level competition, and you'll get an A, with a bonus of 500. "If your SAT score hits Ivy-level, I'll give you an S+ and a 5,000-dollar year-end bonus." I studied as if my life depended on it, and in the end, I got the acceptance letter. My father slapped a contract down in front of me instead. "Congratulations on onboarding into the next phase. Starting today, your allowance will be structured as base salary plus performance plus attendance bonus. "Base pay is 250 dollars a month, enough to keep you from starving. "To prepare you for a high-pressure work environment, I’ll conduct random inspections. Fail, and your pay gets docked." When I ran a 104°F fever, he cut my attendance bonus, saying my physical resilience didn't meet standards. When I forgot to submit a weekly report because I was buried in schoolwork, he froze all my money. To stay alive, I went behind his back and sold blood at the hospital. At the end of the semester, I held my transcript and scholarship certificate, thinking I had finally earned the highest rating. But my father looked at me without a trace of warmth. "Your S+ bonus has been reallocated. The company decided to invest it in your brother, Harry. He has more potential." I looked at the 100-dollar "consolation prize" he handed me and laughed. So in his company, I didn't even qualify as an "outstanding employee."

After her divorce and a series of toxic relationships, Margot Simmins ... not her real name ... was done. Free-spirited, and a hippie at heart, she never wanted to be attached to anyone or anything anymore, not even for a job. She works as a freelancer, and resorted to one-night-stands for a free, no strings attached, good lay, for one night only. No drama and life were good. And then she met Richard, who seemed reluctant to join in her fun, not having a clue that he was actually a very well-known reclusive billionaire that will change her life forever.

Carol has harbored a forbidden obsession with Mr. Rich for as long as she can remember—a desire so intense it consumes her thoughts and fuels fantasies she could never confess. He's older, unavailable, and completely off-limits. But none of that diminishes the magnetic pull she feels every time they're in the same room. The problem? Kate—her best friend since childhood—is Mr. Rich's daughter. Carol is trapped in an impossible situation. Every visit to Kate's house is torture and temptation wrapped into one. Every casual conversation with Mr. Rich sends her imagination spiraling. She knows what she wants, but the cost of pursuing it could destroy the most important friendship she has. The questions multiply in her mind: What would happen if she finally made her move? Would Mr. Rich be horrified, intrigued, or something she hasn't even considered? And Kate—would she ever forgive such a betrayal? Could their friendship survive Carol crossing this ultimate boundary? Carol stands at a precipice between desire and loyalty, between the fantasy she's nurtured for years and the real-world consequences that would follow. She knows she should walk away, bury these feelings, and preserve what matters most. But obsession doesn't obey logic or morality. As the tension builds, Carol must answer the question that haunts her every waking moment: does she care enough to stop herself—or is the risk of losing everything worth one chance at getting what she's always wanted?