I've spent one month burning the midnight oil just to prepare the base draft of the multibillion-dollar business deal that I've just secured. That's when Lucy Yamlet, my director, produces a few blurry photos that were secretly taken before accusing me of having an illicit relationship with a higher-up of the client company.

"I'm not targeting you on purpose, Selena. Right now, the entire industry is swarming with rumors of you using your body to secure this business deal. Your actions have brought our company shame!

"In order to preserve the company's reputation, you must withdraw from this deal. It'll be best for everyone if you transfer the liaison authority and the core documentation to Liliana so that she can communicate with the CEO of Galaxy Corporation instead."

My boss just keeps drinking tea and pretends to not hear Lucy's scathing words. My team members all play on their phones quietly as well.

Upon noticing my lack of response, Lucy continues, "Now, now, don't go around harboring resentment against me, Selena. I'm worried that you might embarrass yourself at the meeting with the client later on while having to endure the stress of hearing those rumors. Everyone in our industry will definitely gossip about you, you know."

Only then do I look up at Lucy.

"Thank you for your concern, Ms. Yamlet, but I'm not afraid of embarrassing myself."

After all, the so-called higher-up of Galaxy Corporation who had an "illicit" relationship with me is the actual CEO, Theodore Luther. He and I have registered our marriage as of yesterday.

I slammed my ID badge onto the table, the loud bang immediately silencing the entire office.

Liliana Potts let out a scream and took two steps back. Her eyes reddened before tears started to drip down her face pitifully.

"Lena, don't be so mad," she said in a sickeningly affected voice. "Everyone is just thinking of the company. You've caused quite a huge scandal this time. If the CEO of Galaxy Corporation were to learn that you have questionable character, all our hard work would have been in vain. You can't drag the entire company down with you just because of your own selfish desires."

Lucy Yamlet, our director, took this opportunity to push a document toward me. It was a project handover and liability waiver agreement.

Her expression was frosty as she rapped a pen against the table loudly and snapped shrilly, "Hurry up and sign it! Liliana will take over the project, and you are suspended effective today so that you can reflect on your actions.

"If you have even a modicum of shame left in you, then pack up your things and leave quietly. Don't make me call the security guards to use force on you!"

I took up the photos on the table and glanced over them.

A man and a woman were walking into a hotel together, but the background had been deliberately blurred, and only half the car was in the photos. The license plate number was conveniently blurred out, too.

I scoffed, "Lucy, your photo editing skills are just too lousy. The car in the photos is clearly an older-model Mercedes. You don't even know what car the CEO of that multibillion-dollar company drives, yet you dare to use these crappy photos to slander me?"

Tossing the photos straight at Lucy's thickly made-up face, I continued, "We can't even see the man's face in your photos. Yet, just from seeing his side profile alone, you're accusing me of securing the project using my body? It seems to me like you and Liliana planned this together to snatch this multi-billion dollar deal that I spent a month pulling all-nighters to secure!"

I had hit the nail on the head, causing Lucy to flush purple.

"Nonsense! Where there's smoke, there's a fire! Rumors are going around that you shamelessly seduced Galaxy Corporation's executive, so how dare you sound so righteous!"

Mr. Watson, our boss, finally set down his coffee cup and impatiently interrupted our argument.

"That's enough! What are you, young children arguing over a toy? Where's your dignity as an adult?"

Standing up, he peered down at me and said pompously, "Selena, whether this is true or not, there's no changing the fact that all sorts of rumors are already spreading. Right now, you represent the company's image, so hand over the draft and your password to Liliana, then go home and rest for the foreseeable future."

I stared intently at Mr. Watson. I had spent two months running around and one month pulling all-nighters before I finally drafted that proposal for that multibillion-dollar acquisition deal.

The company had been doing badly this year, so this deal was the deciding factor in whether the company could make a comeback. Now that we were on the cusp of signing the agreement, he was blatantly allowing Lucy and Liliana to snatch it right from my hands.

"Mr. Watson, that draft is the culmination of months of blood, sweat, and tears, so there's no way I'm handing over the password and liaison authority."

I remained firm in my stance, absolutely refusing to back down.

Lucy slammed a hand on the table and jumped to her feet.

"Selena, you insist on doing this the hard way, huh? If you don't hand over the draft and end up delaying the project, I'll immediately announce to the entire industry about how you're such a shameless slut! I'll utterly destroy your reputation so that you won't be able to find a job in the industry ever again!"

At that, the other team members raised their heads to glance over, their eyes shining with disdain for me and eager amusement at the drama unfolding.

Just a few months ago, they were still affectionately calling me "Lena" as I led them to collect their bonuses. Now, the company executives had banded together to pick on me, yet not a single one of them was willing to step forward to defend me.

In fact, some had even taken out their phones and were secretly recording the whole event.

After a brief bout of pity for myself, a wave of frustration and anger swelled within me.

I immediately unplugged the USB stick that was connected to my computer, then, as everyone watched in bewilderment, I raised it high in the air and smashed it against the ground.

With a crisp shattering sound, the casing broke into several pieces.

That still wasn't enough to alleviate my anger, so I stomped on the inner parts with my high heels. Several stomps later, the USB stick was nothing but a pile of scrap.

Dusting my hands off, I pointed at the remains of the USB stick and said, "The draft's gone. You wanted to take over the project, right? Well, better get to sweeping that with a broom then."

A dead silence swept through the office as everyone stared at the pile of scrap that was once the USB stick.

Liliana was the first to react, letting out a shriek.

"Selena Carter, have you gone mad?" Pointing at the scrap pile, she stomped her feet in anxious anger. "You deliberately destroyed an important asset to the company! Can you afford to take responsibility if we fail to submit a draft at the project handover meeting next week?"

Lucy was practically shaking with rage as she jabbed a finger at me and hollered, "How dare you! Call security immediately and have this bitch thrown out!"

As the situation spiraled out of control, Mr. Watson finally decided he couldn't just stand by and watch anymore. He quickly got to his feet and walked over to hold Lucy back.

"Enough! All of you, just stop talking!"

Then he turned to me, flashing a friendly smile that oozed insincerity as he tried to smooth things over.

"Selena, you've really let your temper get the better of you. Everyone only has the company's best interests at heart. What do you think you're doing by destroying such an important draft?"

He pinned me with a sharp gaze as he probed further, wanting to test my limits.

"Still, I know that you've always been a careful and meticulous person, so this isn't the only copy of that draft, is it?"

I simply stared back at him coldly, not saying a single word.

For a brief moment, his expression turned ugly, but he was quick to plaster that fake smile on his face again. Turning to Lucy and Liliana, he put on an act of berating them, "Seriously, you two! The truth of the matter isn't even clear yet, but here you are, kicking up a fuss already!"

After that, he switched his attention back to me and lectured as though it was for my own good, "Selena, we're family here at the company, so don't blame them. They're just doing this for the company's sake. After all, the rumors circulating outside right now are truly quite distasteful. They're simply worried that you'll become the target of gossip and get hurt."

Patting his chest, he generously promised, "Don't worry. For this multibillion-dollar deal, what's yours will be yours. Nobody will be able to snatch it from you! Once we've successfully signed this deal, I'll personally increase your commission by a few more points!"

Upon hearing that, Liliana grew anxious.

"Mr. Watson, how could you—"

"Shut up!" Mr. Watson glared at her. "Hurry up and apologize to Selena!"

Liliana bit her lower lip hard, her eyes reddening. She walked toward me reluctantly, then muttered in a voice that was hardly audible, "Sorry, Lena."

I watched their terrible acting and chuckled coldly to myself.

Mr. Watson, the sly old fox that he was, had realized that using the stick wouldn't work on me, so he had changed tactics by offering me the carrot.

Despite having seen through their intentions, I kept silent and merely nodded blankly.

As expected, during our lunch break, I was outside the pantry room when I overheard Mr. Watson attempting to cheer Liliana up in a low voice.

"There's no need to be so anxious and rush things. Selena has always been a careful person, so she definitely has some backup copies. If we push her too much right now, she might do something drastic, and then none of us will benefit. For now, we have to calm her down first. Once we learn where she's hidden the backup copies, that deal is yours!"

After hearing Mr. Watson's conversation with Liliana, I quietly returned to my desk. Turning on the computer, I transferred all the data I had kept away in a hidden folder, then I thoroughly emptied the folder and reformatted the computer.

In truth, I could've told Theodore Luther, my husband, about how ugly these people truly were. However, I didn't have any concrete evidence, so even if I did tell him about them, these shameless people would just vehemently deny it.

Besides, Theodore happened to be on a business trip overseas for the next few days. I didn't want to burden him with such an insignificant matter, especially since it was a trip for a huge, multinational project.

At that moment, my phone rang. It was a call from an old client who wanted to meet face-to-face to discuss a new collaboration.

With that, I took my purse and left the company.

The talk went smoothly, but just as I was about to leave the coffee shop, my phone screen suddenly lit up with a notification from my surveillance camera app.

Tapping into the app, I immediately saw real-time footage of my workstation. It was being transmitted to me by a tiny hidden camera I had placed in the potted plant on my desk.

Lucy and Liliana were rummaging frantically through my drawers and file cabinets. As I watched, Lucy turned to work on cracking my computer's password, and once she had, she attempted to use some software to recover the lost data from my hard drives.

"Just where the hell did that bitch hide the draft?" Liliana cursed while continuing her search through the cabinets.

I couldn't help but let out a light laugh as I watched how anxious they were, forced to slink away in defeat when they failed to find anything.

Calmly pressing the button to save the footage, I then sent it to my personal encrypted cloud storage.

However, with their plan to steal the draft failing, Mr. Watson and Lucy dropped all pretense.

They changed the time of the project status meeting that I was supposed to lead without my permission and deliberately kept it from me. Besides that, my personal assistant was forcibly transferred to another team, with Lucy claiming they were understaffed there.

What was even more ridiculous was the finance department flagging all my claims, not even reimbursing me for the taxi fare.

They seemed determined to sideline me, using workplace ostracism to pressure me into backing down and handing over the project.

"So what if a certain someone is incredibly capable? Right now, she's nothing more than a general without an army. She doesn't even have an assistant to help her run errands like printing documents! How is she going to run the project now?"

Liliana strutted around the office smugly, purposely stomping her high heels loudly when she walked by my desk, even rolling her eyes at me.

I simply sat at my desk, not even bothering to spare her a glance. Did they seriously think I made my way to senior investment banking manager by luck?

I swiftly contacted Galaxy Corporation's overseas legal counsel and conducted a video conference despite the time difference.

30 minutes later, I had finalized all the additional clauses and singlehandedly completed the proofreading for dozens of pages of the contract, which was in the international language of Atlurian.

Everything had gone smoothly without a hitch, and there was nothing at all to nitpick.

Lucy had been stealthily observing everything from nearby, and when she realized what had happened, she ground her teeth so hard that her jaw creaked.

Seizing the opportunity, while I headed to the pantry for some water, she shot Liliana a pointed look.

Liliana immediately brought over a steaming cup of coffee. When she walked past my desk, she pretended to slip and spilled half the cup of coffee right over the secondary documents I had just printed.

"Oh no! Lena, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that," Liliana cried out in a saccharine-sweet voice, her tone goading.

I returned to my desk and eyed the stain. Instead of growing angry or throwing a hysterical fit, I simply calmly sat down and checked my phone for the camera footage.

I made sure to save several videos, one of which showed Lucy digging through my drawers yesterday. Another showed the entire process of Liliana purposely spilling the coffee on my documents earlier. Besides that, I even had a voice recording of a meeting where they had discussed how they were going to ostracize me.