Chapter 3

Richard forced a strained, paper-thin smile:

"Apologies for the spectacle, everyone. We’ll handle our internal affairs internally. Marcus, why don't we reschedule this dinner for another night..."

With that, he started to get up to show the clients out.

Kevin took a wide step, blocking his path entirely. "Trying to sweep this under the rug, Richard?"

Richard offered an awkward, desperate chuckle. "Our enterprise software is undergoing an update right now, so internal billing logs aren't accessible. Tell you what, Kevin... I'll assign you a dedicated flagship account of your own..."

Kevin cut him off with a loud scoff:

"One account to shut me up? The dirty money she's pocketed over the years is worth way more than that!"

"Besides, this isn't just about money—it's about respect!"

"You two running this little corrupt scheme together... what does that make the rest of us? Did you honestly think the rest of the department was stupid?"

His words rang through the diner, prompting Marcus to start a slow clap.

"The kid’s got backbone."

"When a workplace is toxic and unfair, speaking out is the only way forward. You have our support, Kevin."

Marcus wore a sly, calculated grin as he casually pulled out his phone, pretending to check a notification while furiously typing.

He was messaging his executive team back at headquarters.

I saw through his game in an instant—he was exploiting our public meltdown as leverage to slash their contract pricing.

Sure enough, I caught a fleeting glimpse of the message on his screen: *Vendor's team is cannibalizing itself. Prime opening to squeeze their rates.*

Not content to stop there, Marcus threw in a few more inflammatory remarks, encouraging the rest of his team to grab front-row seats to the circus.

With the major clients seemingly backing him up, Kevin squared his shoulders, puffing out his chest with righteous fury.

He raised his voice. "You preach equity and transparency in every all-hands meeting, but you funnel all the sweet deals to your favorite behind closed doors. Did you really think we wouldn't notice?"

"Tonight, I'm getting the justice the rest of our team deserves!"

Richard shot me a frantic, pleading look, begging me to jump in and defuse the disaster.

Inside, I let out a bitter sigh.

As much as Richard disgusted me, this was still an internal company problem.

Air out our dirty laundry in front of major clients was bad enough, but letting them weaponize our feud to strip our contract to the bone crossed the line.

Between Marcus’s deliberate stirring of the pot and Kevin’s relentless badgering, the negotiation atmosphere was completely destroyed.

I didn't want personal grievances to torpedo a multi-million-dollar deal, nor did I want us to be the laughingstock of the industry.

So I spoke up, cutting Kevin off: "We can settle internal matters back at the office. Let’s focus on the contract first."

I gestured for him to lower his voice, but Kevin completely misread my intention.

He let out a venomous laugh. "Look who's talking! What right does the guilty party have to lecture me?"

"The team and I are the ones getting screwed over! Is asking for basic fairness a crime now?"

"If we go back to the office, you and Richard will just conspire to bury it! We settle this right here, right now!"

Kevin refused to let up, and Richard’s complexion grew darker by the second.

Then, as if a switch flipped in his head, Richard's face suddenly calmed down.

He looked at me with cold calculation. "Chloe, I’ll admit, giving you exclusive control over client entertainment wasn't entirely fair to Kevin."

I froze, about to snap back that every single cent had come out of my own savings, but Richard talked over me:

"Our past accounts are hard to audit right now, but you’ve certainly handled significant hospitality budgets over the years."

"How about this: you surrender your Senior Account Lead title to Kevin, and you forfeit your entire annual bonus to him as compensation. That will settle the matter."