Chapter 4

Stepping out of Taylor's office, I found Chloe still lingering by the door, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed.

"So, Director Vance? Got chewed out, didn't you?"

Her schadenfreude was laid bare.

"I told you before: know your place. No matter how good your code is, you're nothing more than an overpaid laborer."

I ignored her and headed straight for my desk.

Refusing to let it go, she followed close behind, raising her voice so the entire floor could hear:

"I'm warning you, Logan, don't try anything funny! Keep your head down and handle the system maintenance. If you dare leak a single proprietary trade secret, or try to stir up trouble with your team, I have a hundred ways to make sure you never work in this industry again!"

The entire tech department went dead quiet. Everyone froze, watching the confrontation.

Humiliation, anger, despair... the air was thick with suffocating tension.

She thought her threats would terrify me.

She had no idea that this was the exact spark I had been waiting for—the fire that would burn the last shred of my loyalty to the ground.

I stopped walking and slowly turned to face her.

This time, I didn't hide the ice in my eyes.

"Director Lee."

My voice wasn't loud, but it cut through every corner of the room. "Do you honestly think you're qualified to talk about trade secrets?"

She blinked, clearly stunned that I had talked back.

Looking past her, my eyes swept across the familiar faces of my team, all holding back their fury.

Then, I pulled out my phone, dialed the number I had ready, and hit speakerphone.

"Ms. Cole, I've made up my mind."

My voice was dead calm. "Your offer from before—the one where I bring my entire engineering team over to Lumina Tech. Myself, along with over eighty percent of our core technical leads..."

I paused deliberately, catching the sharp hitch in Chloe's breath behind me.

"...we accept."

Rachel's thrilled voice echoed clearly through the speaker:

"Incredible! Logan, welcome aboard to you and your team! Signing bonuses, base salaries, equity—everything is approved at the top band immediately! I can't promise you an easy ride, but your future is entirely in your own hands!"

I hung up.

Across the entire floor, time seemed to freeze.

Chloe's expression shifted from smug arrogance to sheer shock, then drained into a sickly, pale white.

Her mouth hung open, but not a single sound came out.

A few seconds later, Kevin was the first to shoot up from his desk, his voice trembling with unrestrained excitement:

"Logan, I'm going with you!"

"Count me in too!"

"Me three!"

"I'm with you, Logan!"

...

At some point, Taylor had appeared at his office doorway, his face the color of wet ash.

The rising chorus of voices hit Chloe and Taylor like a series of stinging slaps across the face.

Looking at the cold sweat beading on Chloe's forehead, I pocketed my phone.

"Director Lee, who do you think is the one... getting pushed out of this industry now?"

Now it was their turn to choose: protect a board member's useless daughter, or save the company's technical lifeline.

"Wait... wait! Logan! Let's talk about this!"

Taylor lunged forward, forcing a smile that looked uglier than crying.

"A misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding! The bonuses! The company will release your performance bonuses immediately! In full! No... double! I'll authorize it right now!"

He waved his arms frantically, as if he hadn't just endorsed the whole thing in his office moments ago.

Before I could speak, Kevin let out a loud, derisive laugh.

"Mr. Taylor, now you remember to pay us? Too late!"

"Exactly! Keep your dirty money!"

"We're sticking with Logan!"

The team answered in unison.

Snapping out of her daze, Chloe shrieked:

"You... this is corporate mutiny! You signed non-competes! You signed NDAs! If you walk, I'll sue every last one of you into bankruptcy! If you dare leak a single line of proprietary code, you'll rot in prison!"

The masks were off.

Taylor's face darkened instantly. Dropping the pleasantries, his eyes turned vicious.

"Logan, don't be ungrateful! Taking the whole team? In your dreams! I can have legal file lawsuits against all of you right now! Let's see what company dares touch a bunch of treacherous backstabbers!"

Desperation made them savage.

They had finally shredded their last veil of decency, attempting to weaponize the legal system to force us into submission.

Yet deep down, everyone knew who the real lawbreakers were.

Right then, our receptionist ran in, looking completely panicked.

"Mr. Taylor! Director Lee! There are people outside! Reporters and several attorneys—they're asking for Logan and the engineering team!"

"What?!"

Taylor and Chloe stiffened, whipping their heads toward me.

Catching their panicked stares, my lips curled into a cold smirk.

"Forgot to mention: Ms. Cole anticipated that our handover might run into some... unnecessary friction. She arranged a dedicated legal team to ensure our departure is completely by the book."

"As for the press, maybe it's a coincidence. Or maybe they're just fascinated by stories of a tech firm exploiting its engineers and driving out its entire core team."

"Honestly, for the sake of the past, I didn't want to make this ugly. We could have parted on good terms."

"Since you're so determined to throw mud at us..."

I spaced out every word clearly:

"You can prepare to watch your reputations burn."