After a team building event, my colleague, Matthew Wells, gives me a ride to the company so I can work overtime. That very night, his girlfriend throws a fit and claims I'm a homewrecker who tried to seduce Matthew. She even produces edited photos of us being intimate.

The company's management speaks to Matthew and me—he claims I regularly harass him and pushes the blame on me. The management labels me as a troublemaker and fires me. My apprentice tries to speak up for me but gets bullied and sidelined. Ultimately, she quits out of depression.

I charge over to the company to seek justice for my apprentice but accidentally get pushed down a staircase during an argument. I land with my head on the ground and die on the spot.

When I open my eyes again, I'm reborn and taken back to when Matthew's girlfriend starts throwing a fit.

"I'm Matthew Wells' girlfriend, Lydia Stone. I'd like to lodge an official report against Dana Lombard, who's ten years older than my boyfriend, for choosing to become his side chick despite knowing he's in a relationship with me!

"Matthew has already admitted to me earlier that Dana intentionally got closer to him by abusing her power as her superior! Not only that, but she also coerced and threatened him into starting a relationship with her!

"Just now, Dana even took advantage of her intoxicated state to sit in the front passenger seat of Matthew's car on purpose! Everyone here should know the significance of that seat, right? It's reserved for men's actual girlfriends only! No other women are allowed to sit in that seat!

"Dana's clearly taunting me! I can't tolerate her actions any longer! That's why I choose to let loose of everything now! I hope that Pearson Group can prioritize dealing with this matter due to its severity! Don't let an employee with bad ethics ruin the company's reputation!"

Notification chimes kept ringing from my phone. It appeared that Lydia was using Matthew's account to spam messages on the company's main chat group.

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. It felt as though the feeling of being pushed down the stairs and having my head smashed against the floor was nothing but a nightmare.

My subordinates began tagging me in different chat groups. "Ms. Lombard, what's going on?"

Kelly Goodwin, my protege, shot me a private text as well. "Ms. Lombard, that Lydia lady must be crazy, right? Don't worry, I'll deal with her right now!"

In my past life, Kelly raised questions about Lydia's intention to drag my name through the mud without solid proof in order to defend me. However, Lydia used a photo editing app to edit a few explicit photos featuring me and Matthew. She proceeded to post them in the group chat after that.

As a result, Kelly was mocked by others for being an idiot asking to be bashed. They even said she and I were the same type of trash who were blessed with bewitchingly beautiful faces. Those people even speculated that she had seduced countless married men during her off-work hours and that she had attained her current position just by sleeping with the right guy.

Since then, Kelly has been alienated by the entire company. What was worse was that she was constantly sexually harassed by perverts.

Those memories made me grit my teeth angrily.

I quickly texted back, "Don't say anything. Are you going to bite a rabid mutt that bit you? You have to use the right method in order to deal with the mutt once and for all."

I just ignored the text messages popping up in the main chat group. Those people just wanted to be there where the juiciest gossip was—they didn't care about me at all.

In my past life, my opinion of this incident was that Matthew's girlfriend was the one being unreasonable. Since he was just an employee who was still under probation, he'd definitely be dismissed from Pearson Group if I were to take this incident seriously.

Hence, I just treated it like a bit of drama that was meant to be ignored.

However, my passiveness resulted in a free opportunity provided to those who were jealous of my success in the company. They worked overnight in orchestrating a scheme to pin the incident on me. Matthew's accusations helped seal my fate as well, seeing as I couldn't defend myself at all.

This time, I would not remain silent any longer.

As the sales director of the company, I had enough authority to call the shots.

I quickly opened the main group chat of the company.

"It's obvious that the photos are edited using Photoshop. @Julia Cocker the IT director, please appraise the photos to verify their authenticity so that I can clear my name as soon as possible.

"@Matthew Wells, you have the right to remain silent. But everything that you say from here on out will be used as evidence in the defamation case I'll be charging you with. @Marcus Tate the Legal and Compliance Director, please serve as my witness in this incident.

"@Oliver Skelton the PR director, please strictly monitor the employees' comments and opinions regarding this incident. This is to prevent Matthew from damaging Pearson Group's image by spreading malicious comments in private."

After posting the long essay on the main chat group, I tapped on the chat group reserved for the sales department.

"@Everyone, I want you to gather in the meeting room at 8:30 am tomorrow. No one is allowed to take the day off."

…

The meeting room was extremely crowded when 8:30 am rolled by the next morning.

I scanned around the crowded room, yet I couldn't locate the main character of this incident. "Where's Matthew?"

Ivan York, the team leader of Sales Team 1, responded, "Ms. Lombard, Matthew texted me last night. He said he had gotten into a fight with his girlfriend, so he might show up at the company later than usual today."

The moment his words fell, murmurs broke out in the meeting room immediately.

I asked Ivan, "Did he request to take the day off?"

Ivan replied casually, "No, but he told me that he'd be late in advance."

I slammed my pen onto the meeting table in response. "If he didn't request to take the day off, that means he's skipping work without a reason!"

Ivan's eyes glinted at my words. Still, he refuted me. "But Ms. Lombard, the work schedule for our department has always been flexible! Technically speaking, Matthew should be permitted to be late, seeing as he has already informed me in advance."

My department was the sales department. When the employees of this department got super busy, there was no such thing as getting off work at all.

Because of that, I formally requested the right for the sales department's employees to have flexible work schedules while enduring immense pressure from the top brass. Now that the system was in place, I had to spend my off-work hours drinking with potential clients in order to secure business deals with them.

However, my act of kindness became a legitimate loophole for the sales department's employees to justify their tendency to show up late and leave work earlier than usual.

Initially, I chose to pretend not to notice anything because I thought everyone in the sales department had it tough. But to think that an intern, who had yet to transition into a full-fledged employee in this company, dared to abuse this system and show up late for work just because he got into a fight with his girlfriend!

People would only continue to take advantage of my kindness if I kept tolerating their shenanigans without drawing the bottom line.

I sat on the office chair while tapping the desk lightly with my right finger. "From today onward, the flexible work schedule will be permanently canceled. It can be reinstated only under special circumstances. Even so, the flexible work schedule will only last for as long as the circumstances do."

I thought my kindness would be paid forward. If I were to be kind to my subordinates, surely they'd repay me with kindness too, right?

But the way they had worked together to stab me in the back in my past life served as a painful lesson to me.

In that case, I might as well let the company's rigid rules keep them in check. All employees were meant to follow the company's rules without any complaints anyway, seeing as they were paid to do their jobs.

The relaxing atmosphere in the meeting room dissipated immediately. The employees, who had previously reclined in their seats, straightened up instantly. All of them looked like they were ready to argue with me.

The person who looked the most agitated about the system being removed was the vice sales director, Ramona Hart.

I had personally trained and watched Ramona's career flourish. She was an ambitious and capable employee despite coming from a poor background. That was why I kept giving her opportunities and promoting her all the way to the position of vice sales director.

I thought Ramona viewed me as her benevolent mentor in her career. But it turned out that she was the mastermind who had me pinned down and refused to give me a chance to strike when I was slandered by Matthew and Lydia in my past life.

At that moment, Ramona's face had turned red out of anger. She slammed a hand onto the table before rising to her feet angrily.

"Ms. Lombard, this is the sales department! Our sales performance should be the only thing that's looked at! The employees' motivation to hit the sales target will only diminish if we're required to follow the company's rigid working hours!"

As expected, the discussion grew louder the moment Ramona was done speaking.

Many people went along with her point of argument as well. "Precisely! We're not like the other departments, who only have to work during working hours!"

"How can we hit our sales targets if we're required to follow the company's working hours?"

"Well then, have you achieved your sales targets?" I asked icily as I opened the document that showed the total sales performance of the department from the previous quarter. After excluding the business deals that I had personally closed, it appeared that Sales Team 2 was the team that had the highest achievement rate of 200%. Unsurprisingly, Kelly was the team leader of that team.

As for the other five sales teams, the achievement rate of their sales targets barely hit 50%.

The atmosphere in the meeting room fell silent instantly. No matter how good one's silver tongue was, the things they said meant nothing before the data presented.

"Still, you seduced an intern and insisted on becoming his mistress despite knowing that he already has a girlfriend. A depraved woman like you with no sense of decorum has no right to remain as our leader!"

Ramona took off her glasses and tossed them onto the meeting table. She looked like she was going to challenge me to a duel anytime soon.

I had no idea why Ramona hated my guts so much to the point that she wanted me dead.

"Sorry for being late."

The meeting room's door was flung open all of a sudden. Matthew, who sported a messy bedhead, entered the meeting room the next second.

Everything proceeded like it did in my past life. The moment Matthew came in, he plastered an upset expression on his face instantly and began crying about his woes in front of everyone.

"Last night, my girlfriend caught Ms. Lombard sitting in the front passenger seat, which is meant to be her designated seat."

He tugged his tie off his collar before pointing at his collarbone, where the faintest trace of red could be seen. "My girlfriend left this injury on my collarbone! Gosh, women are so scary whenever they get jealous!

"Ms. Lombard, you have to take responsibility for this! You can make it up to me by making me a full-fledged employee in advance!"

Matthew wanted me to make it up to him by making him a full-fledged employee in advance?

I just sneered in response. "First of all, all interns are to go through a series of official procedures in order to become full-fledged employees of this company. Even if an exception is to be made, it'll only be made for interns who are exceptionally talented and capable in their jobs.

"Matthew, what's your so-called exceptional talent, in this case?"

Matthew raked his fingers through his hair before grinning at me. "Why, it's my exceptionally handsome looks, of course!"

At that moment, everyone burst into laughter in the meeting room.

However, my expression became stormy immediately. All I felt was sorrow.

One should focus their efforts on doing their best at work at the age of 25. But here Matthew was, making such jokes with his flippant attitude.

Countless university graduates couldn't even secure a proper job upon graduation. Matthew was one of the lucky ones who was blessed with an actual job, and yet he didn't cherish what was given to him.

"You think this is funny?" My response was icy. "Matthew Wells, you're here to work, not to act cute before others.

"Also, I'm your boss, not a catalyst you can use to spice up your relationship with your girlfriend. The fact that I sat in the front passenger seat yesterday is purely accidental on my part. You and I merely share a professional relationship, not to mention we've never talked to each other in private.

"Please deal with whatever issue you have with your girlfriend properly. Do not affect our company's reputation in any way."

Matthew's expression darkened instantly. Perhaps he was too used to my amicable attitude, for he didn't expect to see me criticizing him in front of the entire department in such a stern manner.

"Ms. Lombard, I was just cracking a joke. There's no need to be so serious, is there? Are you trying to humiliate me?"

Ramona decided to help Matthew out. "Yeah! Ms. Lombard, we're all colleagues, aren't we? Why must you put on airs around us just to show that you're our boss?"

After that, she lowered her tone. Still, everyone could hear what she said clearly.

"Besides, Matthew wouldn't have said such things to you if not for you seducing him in the first place."

Now that Ramona opened the can of worms, the other male colleagues began making fun of me.

"Precisely! She's already 35 years old, and yet she's still single! Does she not like men at all?"

"Maybe men are the ones who don't like her! Look at how old she is—she'd be one of those pregnant women at risk of birthing complications if she were to have a child of her own!"

"To think that she's still not married despite being a gorgeous woman… Maybe she has a sugar daddy of her own! Her private life sure is spicy, huh? On one hand, she plays the role of a sugar baby to an older rich man, and on the other hand, she decides to become a sugar mommy to other sugar babies instead! All I can say is 'wow'!"

I looked at the ones who talked behind my back just now. All of those faces were familiar to me. Even the one who had the shortest work experience in Pearson Group had been working for me for three years.

Over the past few years, I had set sales targets for everyone in the sales department and had them ranked according to their sales performance on an internal basis.

But when it came to presenting the data to the rest of the company, I'd distribute my sales performance to the people who had performed poorly during the quarter. That way, everyone would be entitled to big fat bonuses at the end of the year so that they could celebrate their New Year holidays happily.

It turned out that my subordinates all viewed the sales performance that I had put great effort into achieving as nothing but results I had yielded from selling my body to other clients.

They weren't grateful to me at all. Instead, they all looked down on me disdainfully.

In fact, when I was slandered in my previous life, not only did those male colleagues not defend me, but they also sabotaged me.

The thing was, those colleagues had bought me little gifts such as potted plants back when they first started working in the company. It was to show their gratitude toward me for helping and supporting them at all times. I was very sure that I could see the hint of gratitude in their eyes back then.

After that, those colleagues stopped giving me gifts. Still, they'd still cheer happily whenever they received their end-of-the-year bonuses and would thank me sincerely.

What on earth changed them?

Was it my limitless tolerance toward their flaws? Or was it because they had grown accustomed to my acts of kindness? Could another factor be the reason why?

Regardless, the reason didn't matter at all. Since my kindness was abused and trampled all over the ground, I might as well take everything back.

"The internal rankings of your sales performance will be submitted to the relevant departments starting from this quarter. If you want to earn a lot of money and get your hands on the end-of-the-year bonus, you should work hard to hit your sales targets from now on."

After that, I left the meeting room.

I could already hear sounds of people slamming the desk and angry curses booming from behind me before the door was fully shut.

"That hag is serious this time!"

"Who does she think she is? She's just a hag who's about to lose her job! I can't believe she still wants to get on our nerves one last time before her dismissal!"

I was stopped by the CEO's secretary on my way back to my office.

Soon, I headed to the CEO's office. There, I saw Matthew, who sat up straight in his seat. The HR director—a stern-faced man—as well as the smug-looking Ramona were there as well.

I just rubbed the spot between my brows tiredly.

Now that I got a second chance in life, the first thing I did was defend myself. Besides, Julia had already verified that the photos were edited in Photoshop. Even so, was I still subjected to the fate of getting fired from Pearson Group?

"Dana." A deep and rich voice boomed at that moment, effectively snapping me out of my thoughts.

It belonged to Xander Pearson, the CEO of Pearson Group. He was also my ex-boyfriend.

Pearson Group was the fruit of our labor. I was in charge of the sales department, whereas he was tasked to run the entire company. We started our company from the ground up.

But as time passed, Xander told me that he was sick of this relationship. He just viewed me as a friend. Hence, we broke up on amicable terms and maintained our relationship as mere colleagues.

Sure, I didn't love Xander anymore, but my contribution weighed heavily on Pearson Group's history and development. I had no reason to give up on it.

Anything in this world could easily betray me except for two things—money and effort.

"I know all about the incident featuring you and Matthew. This incident has left a huge negative impact on the company's reputation. What I'm saying is that you should be suspended from your position for a definite period."

Xander frowned deeply, as though he was really troubled by this incident.

"What sort of impact did it cause, then? The moment it happened, I'd already explained my side of the story and saved the evidence as well. Also, I've informed the PR department to monitor the outgoing comments. Right now, only the employees of this company know about this incident.

"Also, it's obvious that I'm the victim here! Suspension will undoubtedly kill my career!"

I clenched my fists tightly while fighting back with logic and facts.

In my previous life, the incident was leaked to the public soon enough. The influencers on the social media platforms began using the hashtag #MenHaveToProtectThemselvesToo in order to make the incident go viral. My colleagues even worked with the influencers in providing falsified statements about me, which increased the incident's fame.

I was forced to resign from my job in order to protect Pearson Group's image.

But in this lifetime, the media didn't even write a word about this incident. Pearson Group had no reason to fire me at all.

"I have a letter of complaint here!" Ramona raised a letter instantly. "More than half of the employees working at the sales department have worked together to lodge a report against Dana Lombard, the current sales director. She's accused of misusing her power as the director just so she could sexually harass the male employees! Her actions have greatly affected the workplace of this company!"

Ramona's gaze grew heated as she continued, "Even if the explicit photos are edited, the fact that many people have banded together just to lodge a report against you still stands, Dana! Don't tell me you're going to accuse them of starting rumors about you for no reason!"

I glanced at the letter of complaint. The ones who signed the letter were the male colleagues who had mocked me earlier. Those people enjoyed the perks I brought them, but they repaid me by stabbing me in the back.

"What do you think about this, Mr. Pearson?"

This was an extremely botched attempt to sabotage my reputation. Anyone with two brain cells could easily figure that out.

Unfortunately, one could never wake up someone who was pretending to be asleep the whole time.

"I'm conflicted about this." Xander gazed at me. "It'll be difficult for me to calm the employees down if they form the majority of the crowd. I have no choice but to respect their decision."

The HR director spoke up at that moment. "The company has taken the fact that it's difficult for 35-year-olds to find another job into consideration. Thus, we've come up with the best solution for you. Once the incident dies down, you can resume working at the company in a job position that we've selected for you."

After that, he passed me a document. I could see the words "Suspension Notice" written all over the front.

It'd be difficult for 35-year-olds to find new jobs? The HR director was definitely reminding me of my age on purpose. I wouldn't be able to find a new job if I didn't accept the company's arrangements for me.

Letting me resume working in a job position that the company selected for me was just a fancy excuse for them to demote me and exclude me from the core management.

Great. Just great.

What an incredibly smart method to take me out after squeezing out all of my worth!

But what Xander and the others didn't know was that I had already died once. There was no way I'd let them do whatever they wanted to me without fighting back.

After I returned to my office, I made myself a cup of coffee. I had no idea when exactly I got addicted to coffee—if I didn't have a cup of joe every day, I'd be extremely uncomfortable.

At that moment, Ramona entered my office with her arms folded in front of her chest. She stated haughtily, "This office will be mine in the future. I'm giving you an hour to pack up your stuff and get the hell out of here!"