Chapter 1Beef And A Thirty-Year Grudge

My brother was only nineteen when he was sent to prison.

He stole three pounds of beef from the local butcher shop because our mother had been starving in bed for three days.

The butcher insisted on pressing charges and threw my brother to the cops.

My mother dragged her sick body to the butcher's doorstep, dropping to her knees to beg him to drop the case.

The owner spat a thick wad of phlegm onto the dirt right next to her. "Stealing is stealing. Three pounds is still a crime."

My brother got a year behind bars. By the time he was released, our mother was already dead.

He lost his mind. He was completely, irreversibly broken.

Thirty years later, I am the CEO of my own company.

One afternoon, a gray-haired old man was brought into my office.

His son had embezzled fifty thousand dollars of company funds, and I had handed him straight to the police.

The old man's hands shook violently as he pulled a thick stack of medical records from his pocket.

"Boss, I have kidney failure. He is my only son."

"Please, show some mercy. He knows he messed up."

I flipped through the medical files. I saw that painfully familiar name at the top of the page. I slowly raised my eyes.

"A crime is a crime. Fifty thousand dollars is still a crime."

* * *

"Brian, don't you think that is a little too cold-blooded?"

The office door was violently shoved open. My fiancé and the company's Vice President, Tristan, marched into the room.

His suit jacket was draped over his arm, his brows knitted together in deep disapproval. His leather shoes made no sound against the plush carpet, but his entire aura was aggressively overbearing.

"It is only fifty grand. That is pocket change for this company. Do you really need to push a man to the brink of death?"

Kneeling on the floor, Gary was shaking uncontrollably. The moment he saw Tristan, his eyes lit up like he had seen a savior.

He scrambled across the floor, practically throwing himself at Tristan's legs, his wails growing even louder.

"Please, sir! You have to help me!"

"My boy is a good kid! He only did something so stupid because he was trying to pay for my medical bills!"

Sobbing, Gary pulled up his faded, yellowed shirt. He exposed a shriveled stomach covered in a dense cluster of needle marks.

"Look at this! I have end-stage kidney failure. The dialysis alone costs a fortune every month."

"Derek just could not bear to see his old man suffer! I am the one dragging him down!"

Tristan stared at those bruised needle marks. A flash of profound sympathy crossed his eyes. He bent down and gently pulled Gary to his feet.

"Please stand up, sir. The floor is cold."

He turned his head, shooting me a blistering, judgmental glare.

"Brian! Look at how sick this man is. Do you not have a single shred of empathy left?"

"Derek has busted his ass for this company for three years. Even if he made a mistake, he has put in the work."

"He took that money to save his dying father. That is completely justifiable!"

I watched their touching little master-and-servant performance. I tapped my index finger against the mahogany desk twice.

"Justifiable? If everyone justified stealing like that, how exactly are we supposed to run a business?"

"Section three of our corporate handbook is crystal clear. Any embezzlement over ten thousand dollars is immediately handed over to the authorities."

"Tristan, as the Vice President, did you somehow forget the absolute baseline of our company policies?"

Tristan's face darkened.

"Rules are rigid. People are alive."

"We are at a critical stage right before our IPO."

"If we send a devoted son to prison over fifty grand when he was just trying to save his dad, how do you think the media will spin it?"

"They will brand us as bloodsucking corporate vultures. They will say we drove an old man with kidney failure to his grave!"

"Have you even calculated the catastrophic PR nightmare this will cause?"

I stared right into Tristan's self-righteous face.

"A corporate image is built on following the law. Not on harboring criminals."

"He stole money from this company. That is a crime."

"Needing medical treatment does not give him a free pass to embezzle."

Gary stood off to the side, wiping his tears. His cloudy eyes secretly sized me up.

"Ms. Brian, I know you are a big shot. You don't need this kind of chump change."

"If you just drop the charges and let my son go, we will sell everything we own to pay you back!"

"I will bow down to you!"

He made a dramatic motion to drop to his knees again. Tristan grabbed his arm to stop him, whipping his head around to scream at me.

"Brian, will you only be satisfied when you force this man into a coffin?!"

"I know you are ruthless in the boardroom, but do you have to be this heartless to a dying old man?"

The blinds in my office were not fully closed. Out in the bullpen, several employees were craning their necks, whispering and watching the spectacle.

Tristan took a deep breath. He seemed to make a decision. He straightened his posture and adjusted his tie.

"You are off this case."

"As the Vice President, I have the authority to handle crisis management."

"I will have the legal department drop the charges immediately. We will also issue a five-thousand-dollar donation to Gary as a humanitarian gesture from the company."

I looked at him. A dry laugh bubbled up in my throat.

"You want to use my company's money to buy yourself some good karma?"

"What makes you think you can bypass me and issue that order?"

Tristan shoved his hands into his pockets. Absolute arrogance dripped from his eyes.

"Because I am your fiancé. And I am the second-in-command."

"Brian, women shouldn't be so aggressively stubborn. You need to know when to back down."

"Listen to me on this. It is the best move for you and the company."

He turned back to Gary, his tone softening into something gentle.

"Sir, you go home and get some rest. I personally guarantee Derek's situation will be sorted out by this afternoon."

Gary trembled with intense excitement. He took two steps back, bowing repeatedly.

"Thank you, Mr. Tristan! You are a living saint!"

"God bless you!"

Right before he walked out the door, he shot me one last look. There was no gratitude in his eyes. Only a smug, victorious provocation.

The office door clicked shut. I kept my eyes on Tristan.

"Tristan, are you absolutely sure you want to shield a criminal?"

Tristan walked up to my desk, looking down at me from his high horse.

"I am saving our company's reputation. And I am teaching you how to be a decent human being."