Chapter 3The Price of Choosing Wrong

It took great effort for Samantha to extinguish the flames. Her delicate hands were covered in blisters.

She glared at me through tear-filled eyes: "Zachary, have you forgotten what these things meant to us? How could you burn them?!"

I calmly asked: "Didn't you send these over for me to get rid of? They're useless now anyway. Might as well burn them."

Samantha stared at me in disbelief, seemingly shocked by how calm I was.

After a long moment, she explained reluctantly:

"Zachary, enough already. I admit that when you pointed out Lucas's mistake at work, you were looking out for the company's interests. I only asked you to apologize because Lucas is the son of a major shareholder."

"I know I hurt you. I'm sorry, okay? Come back as VP, on the same level as Lucas. Just try not to interfere with his work in the future. Is that good enough?"

I silently looked at her, finding it all rather laughable.

Samantha continued: "But there's one condition. I hope you'll apologize to Lucas before returning to the company. You did lay hands on him after all."

"As long as you can get him to forgive you, you can come back."

Hearing this, I suddenly couldn't help but laugh.

"Samantha, you're really overestimating yourself. Did I ever say I wanted to go back? Asking me to apologize to Lucas? Frankly, he doesn't deserve it."

Samantha's face fell as I said this. She stood up angrily and slammed the door on her way out.

The next morning at Skyline, I ran into Samantha and Lucas chatting happily as they approached the building.

"Lucas, do well on this project and I'll arrange a promotion for you."

"You're so good to me, Ms. Reid."

As they were talking, Samantha spotted me and her expression immediately turned cold: "Zachary, what are you doing here?!"

"Isn't it obvious, Ms. Reid? Zachary must be too embarrassed to beg you at the office, so he came to intercept you here to get his job back." Lucas smirked at me.

Samantha's expression softened slightly as she realized this, though she still put on a cold front:

"I gave you a chance yesterday and you didn't take it. Now you're here pestering me again? Zachary, you really don't know when to quit!"

"Since you're here, apologize to Lucas now."

She lifted her chin haughtily, once again the imperious CEO.

Lucas looked at me smugly, putting on an act of magnanimity: "Oh come on, it's fine. As long as Zachary doesn't make things difficult for me at work in the future, we can get along as equals."

"No, he must apologize. Using physical violence crosses a line," Samantha said coldly, sweeping her gaze over me. "This is non-negotiable."

I stared at their little act in disbelief.

"Who said I came to apologize? I have no reason to go back to your company. Now if you'll excuse me."

"Zachary, that's enough! I've agreed to make you and Lucas equal VPs. What more do you want?" Samantha looked at me with disappointment.

Lucas put on a knowing expression: "Oh, I get it. Zachary must be upset that I took over all his old projects. But Ms. Reid, he quit, so someone had to do the work."

"How about this - Zachary gets first pick of future projects, and I'll take whatever's left. That should be fair, right?"

At this, Samantha's eyes filled with even more disgust, as if I was being greedy and unreasonable.

But I was truly exasperated.

How could Lucas be so confident with his limited abilities? Wasn't Samantha worried he'd mess things up?

Whatever, it was no longer my concern.

I shook my head without a word and turned to leave. Samantha was about to angrily berate me when her phone suddenly rang!

Even without speakerphone, I could clearly hear the panicked voice on the other end:

"Ms. Reid! We have a huge problem! There were serious errors in yesterday's proposal that caused massive losses for the client. Now they're threatening to sue the company! The project lead was... Lucas!"

In an instant, Samantha's face drained of color. She whipped around to stare at Lucas, her eyes sharp as knives.

Lucas stumbled back a step, terrified.

This marks the end of the free preview