The saddest part was that I had developed that medicine for her.

The drug was finally complete, the company was about to go public, and Jessica had somehow become this person.

I frowned and sent a message.

“It is not for me. The lab cannot lose power. There is too much equipment running.”

Jessica called me at once.

“You are always using research as an excuse. Either you are burning through company funds or demanding special treatment.

“No way. I need to set some rules for you today. You are not getting that generator, and everyone can deal with the heat.”

The weather was already unbearable, and my patience was running thin.

“I will not use the AC, okay?” I snapped. “However, the generator has to be turned on. The lab cannot lose power. The medicine…”

Jessica hung up before I could finish.

I stared at the screen for a moment, then stopped wasting time and rushed to get the generator.

Ever since Jessica put her male assistant, Elliot Jones, in charge of finances, our lab budget had been blocked at every turn. Even the storage room had become a complete disaster.

I had argued for days just to stop Elliot from hauling away the backup generator.

I grabbed the machine and pushed it toward the lab.

The medicine required extremely strict storage conditions. If the temperature stayed too high for more than ten minutes, the drug would deactivate. Months of work would be destroyed.

Five minutes remained.

By the time I reached the lab entrance with the generator, Jessica and Elliot were already standing there like guards blocking the door.

A bad feeling twisted in my stomach.

I forced myself to stay calm and spoke as politely as I could. “Let me restore the power first. After that, I will stay outside the lab, okay?”

My plaid shirt was soaked through. Sweat dripped into my eyes and burned.

Jessica hesitated, and Elliot jumped in with fake concern.

“It is understandable that you want to cool off in this heat,” he said. “However, we already announced in the company group chat that nobody is allowed to use the air conditioning. If you do this now, where does that leave Jessica’s authority?”

Less than four minutes remained.

My chest tightened as Jessica’s expression hardened.

“You just have to make yourself special, huh? You want to undermine how we manage employees?” she snapped. “There are only a few hours left before work ends. Can you not tough it out for one day?”

Time was running out.

I tried to explain again that this was not about me wanting air conditioning. The lab needed electricity.

Jessica had already convinced herself that I was using the lab as an excuse to enjoy the AC. No matter what I said, she refused to let me in.

Two minutes remained.

Time slipped away while I argued with them. Soon, the final minute was gone.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes in despair. I dropped the generator at the door and walked into the lab.

Inside, the core researchers stared at me in silence. Every one of us understood what that situation meant.

Jessica thought I had finally given in, and she looked smug. “See? Would it not have been easier if you had listened from the start? You always have to fight me.

“If you behave this obediently, then after the product is delivered, I will let Elliot unlock the doors so you can enjoy the air conditioning for a while.”

Delivered.

Jessica still had no idea the medicine had already become useless. There would be no delivery.

I stood up and laughed coldly.

“Then stop wasting electricity,” I said. “Save the money and buy some cold medicine instead. You would not want your precious assistant catching a chill in a sixty-degree air-conditioned room.

“I quit.”

Jessica froze.

“You are resigning over something this small? Just because of the air conditioning?”

“Brandon, how come I never realized you were this petty before?” Jessica crossed her arms and glared at me. “I already told you that lately I have had Elliot clean up the company atmosphere and rebuild the corporate culture. I asked you to support me. However, instead of helping, you are throwing a tantrum and quitting.”

She pulled a key out of Elliot’s pocket and tossed it against my chest.

“Fine. Go enjoy the air conditioning if you want it that badly. Happy now? However, since you violated company policy, your entire quarterly bonus is gone.”

I did not move, and Jessica let out an icy laugh.

“Well? I am letting you use it now, so why are you not bringing the generator inside? Do not tell me you regret this after hearing your bonus got cut.”

I picked up the key and threw it straight into the trash can. “I already told you. I am resigning.”

The moment I turned to leave, several coworkers I had personally brought onto the team stood up as well.

“If Brandon quits, we quit.”

“Yeah. We are done with this. What kind of corporate culture is this supposed to be? All I have seen is people getting tortured.”

“I am out too.”

Panic flashed across Jessica’s face for a split second when she saw so many people resign at once. She then turned her anger on me.

“Brandon, do you even have a conscience?” she snapped.

“The company paid you, trained you, and gave you everything you have today. Instead of being grateful, you are encouraging everyone else to quit with you.”

I stared at the woman in front of me, arguing nonsense with complete confidence, and I suddenly felt sick.

For a moment, I could barely remember the version of her who once cried in front of me and begged for help.

I laughed bitterly.

“When you first started this company, you were not prepared. You did not even have enough funding. I emptied my savings to help you survive those early days so you would not go bankrupt.

“When you hit technical problems, you cried and begged me to help. I quit my job at a major company just to come work for you.

“So tell me, between the two of us, who exactly helped who? And who should really be grateful?”

Jessica fell silent.

A moment later, she grabbed my arm and pulled me into another room.

After she shut the door, her expression softened at once.

“Brandon, you misunderstood me.”

I raised an eyebrow.

She gave a helpless smile. “I know you have suffered these past few months. However, did you forget? I told you before that Elliot is only a stepping stone I am using to pave the way for you. Once he serves his purpose, I will get rid of him.

“I have always wanted to move you into management, but I was worried the other employees would not accept it. That is why I let Elliot reshape the company culture first. Once he finishes cleaning things up, I will use the same rules he created against him and fire him.

“Then when you step into management, everyone will compare you to Elliot and think you are amazing. Everything I have done was for your future.”

She said it so smoothly I almost believed her.

When Elliot first appeared by her side, she had told me the exact same thing.

She said she used his aggressive personality to do things she could not conveniently do herself. She said that in order to borrow his strength, she had no choice but to indulge his arrogance.

She told me it was necessary and asked me not to take it personally.

At first, I believed her.

That was why I ignored all of Elliot’s outrageous behavior and kept tolerating him again and again.

After what happened that day, after seeing her side with him so openly, even someone as slow as me could not keep lying to himself anymore.

Before I could speak, the door creaked open.

Jessica frowned at once.

“Who is there?”

She yanked the door open.

Elliot stood outside with tears running down his face.

“Jessica… were you telling the truth?

“You were only nice to me because you wanted to use me to help your boyfriend?”

Jessica looked completely torn. “Elliot, I am sorry.”

Tears streamed down Elliot’s face.

“If you do not like me, then there is no need to wait and find excuses to fire me later. I will leave on my own. Right now.”

He slammed the door and stormed off.

For once, Jessica did not chase after him. She turned back, sat down in front of me, and let out a heavy sigh.

“This just became complicated.

“Even if Elliot was only supposed to be a stepping stone for you, he cannot leave right now. Landing the Foster Group Pharmaceuticals contract was not only because of your new drug. Elliot has been following up on the deal too.

“If he suddenly quits now, will the client start getting suspicious?”

Jessica sighed dramatically for a while before she suddenly looked at me.

“Brandon, can you help me put on an act?”

I looked at her calmly while she continued pretending.

Ever since she became unusually close to Elliot, I had sensed something was wrong.

Every time Jessica acted like she was stuck in a difficult situation, it usually meant she had another condition waiting for me afterward.

She had never planned to throw Elliot into the fire.

The real person placed on the chessboard, the one forced to carry all the consequences, had always been me.

I still nodded without exposing her lies and watched her continue the performance.

Seeing me cooperate, Jessica brightened at once. “If we want to keep Elliot around, you will have to suffer a little for now.

“In a moment, we will pretend to have a huge falling out. I will fire you, and you will leave all your research data behind so the project will not be delayed. Then when you come back later, you can take over immediately.

“Once Elliot sees that I chose him over you, he will work even harder for me. After this order is finalized, I will fire him right away and bring you back as vice president in style.”

Only then did I understand why Jessica had gone through so many twists and turns.

She wanted me to lower my guard so I would hand over all my experimental data before leaving.

Elliot was useless when it came to research. He had no skills, and he loved blaming everything else around him.

He claimed we excluded him and refused to share data with him. He even said that if he had had access to our research, he would have been the first to develop the new medicine.

That was why he accomplished nothing in the lab and eventually transferred to become Jessica’s assistant.

The first time Jessica saw him, her eyes lit up. She gave him a salary far above the company average, handed out bonuses, and showered him with gifts.

Elliot was never satisfied.

He believed he was a misunderstood genius and that we were all suppressing him. That was why he constantly targeted our research department.

I never expected him to still obsess over my data. I never expected my own girlfriend to go that far just to help him get it.

All that scheming was pointless then.

The medicine had already deactivated. There was no way the company could deliver the final product on time. Once the penalties hit, the compensation alone would cost hundreds of millions. Even selling the entire company would not be enough to pay it back.

Once the company collapsed, what was the point of supporting Elliot anymore?

The sudden power outage had already damaged the lab equipment earlier. A huge amount of data had been corrupted.

Even if Elliot took over the lab then, he would not gain anything useful.

I let out an icy laugh and handed the key to Jessica. “Fine. We will do it your way. All the data is stored in the instruments and computers anyway.”

The company was doomed, and I was resigning no matter what. The important data was safely stored on my personal flash drive.

As for the damaged files they wanted so badly, they could have fun with those.

Jessica looked overjoyed. She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around me.

“Brandon, I knew you understood me best.”

I sneered inwardly.

I understood her very well.

Otherwise, I would not have seen through every ugly little scheme in her heart so clearly.