Chapter 1My Multi-Million Contract Went to a New Hire

"Hand the account over to her? Why? Just because she's your little protégé?"

I pushed the heavy glass door of the director's office wide open.

Richard slammed his palm against the mahogany desk. "Riley, watch your tone. I decide who gets what around here. Play nice and we all win. Otherwise, I have a dozen ways to make your life a living hell."

"I've been working this deal for six months. We are literally days away from signing." I stared him down.

"Company resources belong to the company. It doesn't matter whose name is on the paperwork." He leaned back in his leather chair, relaxing his posture. "Look at the bigger picture. It's for the good of the firm."

I watched his smug, entitled expression for a long moment. Then, I nodded.

A sharp laugh escaped my lips. "You know what? You're absolutely right. I really should start thinking about what is best for this company."

Walking out of his office, the smile vanished from my face.

As I sat back at my cubicle, a loud, exaggerated gasp echoed across the floor.

"Oh my gosh, I feel so guilty about this!"

Lexi strutted to the center of the bullpen. She was wearing a designer skirt that was two sizes too small, hugging a stack of file folders to her chest. She deliberately raised her voice so the entire floor could hear.

"Riley! I heard you transferred that massive account over to me?"

"That's a ten million dollar deal."

"Thank you so much for doing all the grunt work. I promise I'll cherish it."

"I definitely won't let your blood, sweat, and tears go to waste."

Her eyes sparkled with blatant provocation. The corner of her mouth twitched upward.

The clacking of keyboards stopped. A few coworkers threw sympathetic glances my way before quickly burying their faces back in their monitors.

I kept organizing the paperwork on my desk, not even bothering to look up.

"Don't thank me. Richard said our new hires need some encouragement. Whether you can actually close the deal is entirely up to you."

Lexi's fake smile froze.

Richard walked out of his glass office, clapping his hands.

"Alright everyone, wrap up what you're doing. Quick huddle."

His eyes swept across the room before landing squarely on me.

"I have an announcement. To finish the year strong and optimize our resources, we are focusing on developing our junior talent."

"Riley has voluntarily handed the Apex Corporation project over to Lexi."

"I want all of you to learn from Riley. This is the kind of team-player mentality our veteran staff should have!"

"Let's get a round of applause!"

A scattering of hesitant, pathetic claps filled the room.

I raised my hands and clapped twice.

After the meeting, Lexi dropped an iced caramel macchiato on my desk. The condensation immediately started pooling on my notes.

"Drink up, Riley. Richard told me to come get the Apex files from you."

"I need everything. Victoria's personal preferences, her pet peeves, and all your notes from the previous negotiation rounds."

She held out her perfectly manicured hand.

I watched the puddle of water soak into the edge of my paper.

"The official documents are all in the shared cloud drive. Download them yourself."

"Come on, Riley. The cloud drive just has the boring legal stuff." Lexi leaned in, dropping her voice to a vicious whisper.

"My godfather said that if this deal falls through, he's holding you personally responsible. You wouldn't want him thinking you're hiding the good stuff from me, right?"

I let out a cold chuckle.

I created a new digital folder, zipped up a specific set of files I had prepared, and hit send.

"It's in your inbox. Read it carefully. It would be a shame if you couldn't even figure out what kind of coffee Victoria likes."

Lexi smirked, hugged her laptop, and pranced away.

Right before clocking out, Richard cornered me in the breakroom. He kicked the door shut, his face turning grim.

"Riley, I know you're pissed."

"When this deal closes, you'll still get a small cut of the bonus pool. But if you dare pull any petty stunts behind my back or try to sabotage Lexi..."

"I will personally make sure you never work in this industry again."

He jabbed his finger an inch from my face.

I offered him a slight, submissive bow.

"You're overthinking this, Richard. I wouldn't dare. I have rent to pay. I'll cooperate with Lexi one hundred percent."

Richard snorted and waved me off. "Good. Get out of here. Glad you know your place."

Stepping out of the corporate tower, the biting winter wind whipped across my face.

I pulled out my phone and opened the chat with a contact saved simply as "The Queen."

"Mom, we need to talk."

A reply popped up almost instantly.

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

I typed out a quick response, locked my screen, and smiled against the cold.