Chapter 3

I almost laughed.

I'd been managing the company's books with my head down, doing my job for years. Who exactly had I wronged?

My expression turned completely cold. After all these years in the workplace, I still carried enough authority to shut a room down.

"Chloe, if you're going to accuse someone of embezzlement, you need evidence. If you keep shouting in the office and defaming me, I'll have my lawyer send you a demand letter and sue you for defamation."

Honestly, anyone with half a brain could see the politics behind this situation. As for why she was so obsessed with coming after me, who knew what game she was really playing.

A few clear-headed coworkers finally couldn't hold back and spoke up for me.

"Chloe, maybe let it go. Arthur's usually pretty responsible. Maybe the company's budget really did change."

The second someone defended me, Chloe looked at them like they were beyond saving.

"I'm fighting for your rights, and this is how you act? Do you all have Stockholm syndrome or something? Why are you defending a lapdog for management?"

The coworker who had spoken frowned, then fell silent.

I had no interest in wasting any more energy on this bad workplace drama.

I stood up and looked down at her.

"What exactly do you want?"

She took my question as a sign that I was backing down.

A smug smile curled across her lips.

"Simple. Pay back every dollar you skimmed from those fake invoices and kickbacks."

Then she pulled out her phone, opened Venmo, and shoved her QR code right in front of me.

"Start with my share."

I gave her phone a stiff smile and pushed it aside.

"I'll say this one last time. I did not take a single dollar from this company."

"Believe it or don't."

With that, I grabbed my suit jacket off the back of my chair and walked out.

Until Richard got back, there was no way I was spending another second in that office.

While I was downstairs buying an iced Americano at Starbucks, I casually scrolled through LinkedIn and my other social apps.

And there it was almost immediately—a TikTok Chloe had posted like some kind of victory speech.

In the video, she had a full face of makeup and a headline designed to grab attention:

[Wall Street workplace warning: I exposed my boss for taking kickbacks right in the office, and he ran out with his tail between his legs. Another day of cleaning up toxic workplaces like the warrior I am.]

I let out a cold laugh.

Idiots like that, making up lies for attention, really had no idea how far over their heads they were.

Early the next morning,

I had barely clocked in when CEO Richard called me into his private office.

The moment I pushed open the frosted glass door, I saw that Chloe was already standing inside.

Richard looked at me and immediately tore into me.

"Arthur! The company trusted you with this client-facing event, and this is how you repay us?"

"You turned one budget issue into office-wide chaos. At this rate, maybe you shouldn't be finance director at all!"

My heart sank on the spot. Richard was dressing me down in public terms, but what he really wanted was obvious—he wanted me to take the fall alone.

He couldn't admit to the staff that he had quietly slashed the budget and made himself look cheap as CEO, but he also didn't want to give up the bargain of using my family's restaurant.

The man was playing both sides so hard the whole island of Manhattan could probably hear it.

Chloe stood off to the side, satisfaction glittering in her eyes. She probably thought she had really helped bring down an executive.

I took a slow breath and didn't expose Richard on the spot.

"This was my mistake," I said evenly. "I should have explained the reduction in the event budget more clearly in advance, so this misunderstanding wouldn't have happened."

I deliberately took the "blame" first, then paused and added:

"But every line item in the budget can stand up to an audit. No one touched the bonus pool, and there were no kickbacks."

Richard's expression eased a little.

He had just opened his mouth, clearly ready to follow my lead, when Chloe jumped in again.

"Arthur, that doesn't prove anything. If the restaurant belongs to your relative, then the contract and payment records are still whatever you say they are."

At that, Richard's eyes shifted toward me with a trace of suspicion.

When money was tight, executives always got more paranoid.

Chloe kept going, full of herself.

"I already checked labor costs and food-loss ratios for comparable fine-dining restaurants in New York. Even at your so-called cost basis, you could still be skimming at least thirty percent."

"Richard, I'm only saying this because I care about the company's financial health—"

I finally cut her off.

"So, Chloe, what you're saying is that anywhere in New York, you can easily book a high-end appreciation dinner for one hundred and twenty people, on a tiny budget, and still give the client an incredible experience. Is that right?"

Without hesitation, she nodded.

Perfect.

If the new intern was this eager to steal the spotlight, then as her supervisor, the least I could do was give her the opportunity.

"Fine. Since I'm clearly not up to the task, I'm handing the entire client dinner over to our intern, Chloe. She can take full responsibility for it."