Chapter 1

The day the promotion list went public, a photo popped up in the company's all-staff Slack channel.

In the photo, my profile nearly overlapped with a scantily dressed girl, the background a dimly lit Manhattan nightclub.

Immediately after, Brad added a caption:

[No wonder Harper landed Richard's M&A deal. Last night's 'overtime' must have been rough, huh?]

Less than ten seconds after he sent it, the message still hung there in the channel. No retraction.

The chat that had just been flooding with "congrats Harper" messages went dead silent.

In my past life, my head buzzed. I thought no one would take such a cheap joke seriously.

But within two days, the company's internal anonymous forum exploded with accusations, complete with photos and "proof."

They said I slept with clients to win the merger deal. That I secured my full-time offer by sleeping my way up. That my personal life was a mess, that I was trash.

My mother collapsed from a heart attack when she heard. She never woke up.

Later, my promotion was revoked. HR suspended me for "damaging company reputation."

I was slut-shamed, radioactive across the entire finance industry — no firm on the Street would touch me.

Within a month, I spiraled from depression to sleepless nights, and finally jumped from the rooftop of my Brooklyn apartment.

Before I lost consciousness, my phone was still buzzing.

"Did they fire her yet? People like that don't belong on Wall Street."

When I opened my eyes again, I was staring at the blinking Slack messages on my screen.

---

Apex Capital's New York headquarters, 45th floor. Hundreds of computers chimed with Slack notifications simultaneously.

My eyes snapped open. The cold AC blasted against my neck. The screen's fluorescent glare stung my eyes.

I wasn't dead. I hadn't jumped from that crumbling Brooklyn apartment building.

I was back. July 12, 2023. The day my internship was about to end. The day my life had been completely destroyed in my previous life.

On the screen, that photo sat brazenly in the Slack channel.

The setting was an upscale Manhattan nightclub. An Asian girl whose profile looked remarkably like mine, dressed provocatively, sitting on our biggest client Richard's lap.

The sender was Brad, a junior analyst on the team, the kind of frat-bro type who never stopped talking about his "brothers."

Below the photo, he'd typed: [No wonder our intern Harper single-handedly closed Richard's M&A deal. Guess 'business development' on Wall Street really does require a multidimensional skill set. @Harper, last night's 'overtime' must've been exhausting?]

The channel stayed silent for a full ten seconds. Then the replies started flooding in.

[Oh my god... is this real?]

[I knew it. A state school grad like her couldn't possibly land Richard on her own.]

[Wow, interns these days will do literally anything for a return offer.]

In my past life, at this exact moment, I'd been shaking all over, my mind blank.

I typed frantically in the channel, desperately trying to explain. I swore I'd been in my apartment all night building models. I even ran up to Brad's desk, crying, begging him to delete the photo.

And what happened?

Jessica stepped in with fake sympathy, effectively confirming my "emotional instability."

HR suspended me for "damaging company reputation." Richard felt insulted and demanded the firm replace me.

I lost everything. Painted as some kind of home-wrecker.

My mother couldn't handle the humiliation — the calls from relatives, the whispers behind her back — and it stopped her heart.

Now, watching the mocking messages pile up on screen, I slowly exhaled.

I dug my nails into my palm. Pain. Real pain.

I pressed Command+Shift+5 and started a screen recording.

The system time and date were clearly visible in the corner.

Brad's avatar, employee ID, department info, full name. The IDs of every colleague who'd piled on — liking, reposting, cracking jokes. The photo's EXIF data, timestamps showing when it was modified and exported.

All of it. Recorded.

"Harper, are you okay?"

Jessica rolled her chair over from across the aisle. She wore a tailored Chanel suit, her eyes gleaming with poorly disguised excitement.

"Brad's just got a trashy sense of humor. Don't take it personally. But — if Richard actually made inappropriate demands on you, you can tell me. My dad could step in and handle it."

I stopped typing and turned to look at her.

Jessica's smile froze under my gaze.

"Why... why are you looking at me like that?"

I ignored her, yanked out my flash drive, stood up, and walked straight toward Brad's desk.

The entire office fell silent. Every eye tracked me like searchlights. Someone's mouse hovered mid-air. Someone held a coffee cup halfway to their lips, frozen.

They were expecting hysterics. Expecting a breakdown from some nobody girl in front of Wall Street's elite.

Brad leaned back in his chair, holding an iced Americano, looking at me with smug defiance. "Hey Harper, it's just a joke. Don't be so uptight. We're all adults here—"

"Where'd you get the photo?"

My voice was eerily calm.

Brad blinked. "What?"

"The photo you posted in the all-staff channel, accusing me of prostituting myself to a client." I glanced at my watch.

"It's 2:15. I'm giving you three minutes. Show me the original file. Timestamp. Bank records proving Richard paid me. Club surveillance footage. Go."

The office was dead silent.

Brad's face went pale.

"Can't do it?" I leaned in slightly, locking eyes with him.

"Then I'm filing a police report. And my lawyer would love to talk to you about New York State's defamation laws. The damages alone could cover your mortgage for the next ten years."

Brad's hand started shaking. Iced coffee spilled across his keyboard.

"I... I was just joking..."

"A joke?" I straightened up and looked around the office. "Anyone else think this is funny?"

No one spoke.

I turned and walked back to my desk. Sat down.

My fingers were steady as I opened Slack and typed a message in the all-staff channel:

[@Brad, your three minutes start now. Unsubstantiated accusations are malicious defamation under New York State law. I've got everything on record — including the IDs of everyone who spread this. Delete your messages and issue a public apology, or wait for the legal notices.]

Send.

The channel exploded.

Within seconds, the photo vanished. Brad's message was deleted. Everyone who'd liked or reposted scrambled to erase their replies.

I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

My hands were still trembling slightly.

But this time, it wasn't fear.

It was every ounce of rage I'd swallowed for a year, finally let loose.