Chapter 3My Counterattack Against The Office Predator

I pushed open the manager's office door. Quinn was sitting in his executive chair with a dark expression.

"Clara, wasn't I clear enough on the phone last night? The company asked you to voluntarily resign. Why did you still come in to clock in today?"

I pulled out a chair and sat down calmly.

"Quinn, I follow company rules and regulations. I'm never late or leave early, and my performance reviews are all excellent. I haven't done anything wrong -- why should I resign?"

Quinn slammed his hand on the desk.

"You haven't done anything wrong? Your scandal with Trevor has the entire building gossiping about our company! Do you know that even the property management was asking me this morning which one of you harassed the other?"

"You believe whatever Trevor says? He says I harassed him, but I say he's extorting me! I have recordings of him forcing me to give him money yesterday. Why don't you believe that?"

Quinn was momentarily speechless from my retort, irritably loosening his tie.

"Why are you being so stubborn with him? He has a depression diagnosis from the hospital. If he really does something extreme at the company -- jumps off a building, cuts his wrists -- the company will be held jointly liable!"

"Having you resign voluntarily now is completely to protect you! If it really comes to the company issuing a termination notice, your file will be completely ruined. How will you survive in this industry after that?"

Looking at Quinn's sanctimonious face, I felt it was utterly ironic.

"Thank you for your 'good intentions,' Quinn, but you needn't worry about my future."

I pulled out my phone, brought up a photo of my advanced first aid certification, and shoved it right in his face.

"At last month's dinner, my emergency response for Trevor fully complied with international standard operating procedures. Not only is he ungrateful, he fabricated facts to slander me and damage my reputation. I haven't even sued him in court yet, and your company is rushing to sweep the victim out the door?"

"You want me to leave? Fine. If the company insists on terminating me, please issue a formal notice of contract termination according to labor law and pay N+1 compensation."

"Short me one cent, and we'll see each other in labor arbitration. When that happens, I'll not only sue the company for illegal termination, I'll use Trevor's statements in the company group as evidence and sue the company for harboring and enabling workplace sexual harassment. We'll see whose face looks worse then!"

Quinn trembled with rage, pointing at the office door, barely squeezing out one word: "Get out! Get out of my office!"

I clicked my heels and walked out of the office with my head held high.

As soon as I returned to my workstation, Piper -- an intern I usually got along well with -- came over with red-rimmed eyes, her voice very low.

"Clara, stop fighting with the company. Look at Twitter and the local forum -- Trevor posted about this online last night and bought a troll army. The whole internet is cyberbullying you now!"

My heart sank. I immediately opened my phone to search.

Sure enough, at the tail end of the local trending topics was a glaring hashtag: #ManipulativeWomanTriesToMurderMaleColleagueAfterRejection

Clicking in, I found a long post by Trevor, accompanied by a carefully edited video.

The video was only about ten seconds long, starting from yesterday's conference room scene.

In the footage, Trevor collapsed in pain, colleagues called for help anxiously, while I coldly stepped back, saying: "I wouldn't dare touch him. What if he wakes up and demands I pay with my life?"

All context had been cleanly edited out, leaving only my "cold-blooded and heartless" moment.

In the long post, he portrayed himself as a clean-living, hardworking, sunny young man, while I was a psychologically twisted woman who took advantage of him at the dinner, then held a grudge after being rejected and attempted to let him die in the conference room.

The comment section had completely fallen, with unbearable abuse flooding in like a tide.

[Holy crap! This woman is so vicious! If you can't have him, you'll destroy him? This is like a real-life Fatal Attraction!]

[She looks so normal on the outside, but her heart is this black! Women like this should be arrested and sentenced!]

[Men need to protect themselves in the workplace too! This woman is obviously a psycho!]

[Someone expose this woman's workplace and home address! She needs to be socially destroyed!]

[I know her! She works at our company. She's always been promiscuous at work, hitting on male colleagues everywhere!]

I scrolled down several pages, looking at those vicious curses. Even my parents had been dragged into it. My hands trembled uncontrollably with rage.

Piper tugged at my sleeve beside me, almost crying with anxiety.

"Clara, a lot of netizens are doxxing your personal information now. Even your phone number has been posted. You should just apologize and resign to lie low for a while. We ordinary people can't afford to mess with scum like this."

I took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the fury in my chest. Can't afford to mess with him? I'm going to mess with him anyway!

Just then, Trevor sauntered over with his hands in his pockets.

Looking at my pale face, he couldn't hide the smugness on his face.

"How about it, Clara? Now you know what happens when you cross me, right?"

He leaned down, using a voice only the two of us could hear, whispering viciously:

"Let me tell you -- internet mobs have no reason. If I add a little more fuel to the fire, tomorrow your photo will be made into a funeral portrait and sent to your parents' phones."

"You want to calm this down? Sure."

A lecherous gleam flashed in his eyes.

"As long as you kneel down in front of the entire company right now and apologize to me, admit that you seduced me. Then tonight, come to my place and keep me company. I'll be magnanimous, delete the post, and say it was all a misunderstanding."

"Otherwise, I'll make sure you can never hold your head up for the rest of your life!"