Chapter 5

"Well, well, Eve. What are you doing sitting outside like a stray so early in the morning?"

Chloe clicked toward me in her heels, flashing a venomous, fake smile.

I brushed off my pants and stood up: "My keycard was deactivated."

Vance scoffed from the side: "Deactivated? Probably broken, then. We wouldn't know anything about that."

Chloe immediately chimed in: "Exactly! Besides, Mr. Vance consulted a spiritual advisor recently, who warned that our company's revenue dip is caused by dark, negative energy brought in by pregnant employees.”

“Eve, if you have any decency left, for the good of the team, you'd either get rid of that baby or... well, you know what to do."

Hearing them maliciously target my long-awaited child, even daring to suggest an abortion to my face, rage flared in my chest. I suppressed it with everything I had, staring straight at Vance:

"Mr. Vance, I want to confirm this one last time. You are refusing to let me enter the office today, correct?"

Vance sneered: "The company has its rules."

"Fine." I stepped aside.

Vance smirked coldly and swept right inside.

Chloe lingered behind, letting out an exaggerated sigh: "Eve, why make such a scene? Burning everything down over a little severance pay... it looks so trashy."

I looked at her coldly: "Since you're feeling so generous, why don't you pay that severance out of your own pocket on the company's behalf?"

Chloe's face dropped. She glared daggers at me and scurried through the door.

Less than ten minutes later, building security came up, looking extremely embarrassed: "Ms. Reed, Mr. Vance from your firm filed a complaint claiming you're obstructing the hallway..."

"Are you certain it was him who reported me? Reporting an active employee for standing outside her workplace?"

When the guard nodded awkwardly, I tapped the screen to stop the voice recording on my phone.

I took one final look at the locked glass doors, turned around, and walked away.

The second I walked out of the office tower, a message from HR popped onto my phone.

[Eve, your voluntary resignation paperwork is currently being processed. Please cooperate.]

I replied immediately: [I never submitted any voluntary resignation request.]

HR: [You missed your shift today. This is officially logged as an unexcused absence.]

I didn't bother replying.

I spent the entire day running between government offices. When I finally got home that evening, my phone blew up with notifications.

Joey sent me a message: "Eve, Vance was bragging all over the all-hands meeting today! He said you finally caved, surrendered your job voluntarily, and saved the company a huge budget. He even announced that there won't be any layoffs after all."

Several other coworkers messaged me privately as well: "Eve, thank you so much. If you hadn't taken the heat for us, we would've been the ones kicked to the curb today."

I frowned, leaving their thanks unanswered. I gently touched my stomach and let out a quiet sigh.

The next morning, I showed up at the office again.

Chloe spotted me and sneered: "Oh? Back to finalize your exit paperwork?"

My face was blank: "I'm here to see Thomas Vance."

I pushed open the door to his executive office. Vance was holding a mug of tea.

Seeing me walk in, he put on his usual condescending air: "Evelyn, you know the door is always open for you to return in the future. But right now, keeping an expectant mother on the payroll is just a waste of resources—"

I didn't wait for him to finish his nonsense. I marched straight up to his desk and slammed a thick file down in front of him.

"Mr. Vance, take a good look at this first."

Frowning, Vance picked up the file. With just one glance, all the color drained from his face, and his hand shook so violently that hot tea spilled over his fingers.