Chapter 3A Screenshot Changed My Life—And Ruined His

As I passed Caleb's desk, I deliberately slowed down and glanced at his screen. As expected, he was searching for design specifications, with several related pages open.

I smiled to myself but said nothing as I headed back to the facilities department.

Now and then, I'd deliberately complain to my coworkers in Facilities.

"I was almost finished with that industrial park proposal, but then they transferred me."

I kept my voice just loud enough for Caleb, who sat by the hallway, to hear.

I knew exactly what he was thinking.

He wasn't capable of doing the work himself, and every proposal he'd taken credit for before had been stolen from me.

Now he'd personally assured Mr. Burton that he could handle this million-dollar project. If he screwed it up, all the credit he'd taken before would come crashing down.

There was no way he'd resist accessing my computer again to steal whatever was left.

Just as I expected, a little after three that morning, Caleb posted a WhatsApp Status with a screenshot of the proposal open on his computer.

"Three straight nights with barely any sleep, but I finally got it done. I hope everything goes smoothly."

Paul was already sucking up to him in the comments.

"You're seriously putting in the work, man. If this project goes through, you're definitely getting another bonus!"

I smirked at the screen and turned off my phone.

Caleb could take all the time he wanted. He wasn't getting that bonus either way. He might want to start getting used to prison food instead.

…

The next morning, I had barely walked through the office doors when I saw Caleb standing with a printed copy of the proposal, looking like he owned the place.

"I'm presenting it to the client tomorrow," he said to Mr. Burton. "I'll make sure we land the deal."

Mr. Burton patted him on the shoulder and praised him for doing such a great job.

As Caleb walked past me, he deliberately bumped into my shoulder, looking unbearably smug.

I didn't even flinch. I just looked at the proposal in his hands, my smile growing wider.

…

The next day, around eleven in the morning, I was in the facilities department's storage room counting cleaning supplies when my phone suddenly started vibrating nonstop.

I pulled it out and saw that the company group chat had spiraled into a frenzy.

Someone from the administration team had taken screenshots from the client group chat and forwarded them to everyone. The red exclamation marks on the messages practically screamed off the screen.

The client's boss was seething with rage.

"What the hell is wrong with your company? What kind of shitty proposal did you send us?

"The core specifications are completely wrong! Do you have any idea what this is going to cost us? We're going to have to delay the project by two weeks. Who's going to pay the penalties we'll owe our downstream clients?

"And who came up with the pricing? It's 40% higher than the normal market rate. Did you seriously think you could rip us off?

"Let me make this clear to your boss. Your company will be responsible for every cent of the losses caused by these errors. Otherwise, I'll see you in court!"

The group chat went completely silent for three seconds.

Then Mr. Burton's messages came flying in, all in bold capital letters.

"@Caleb What the hell happened?! Weren't you the one who swore this proposal was 100% solid?"

"I used Jethro's previous version as a reference," Caleb immediately replied, panicking to the point that he was making typos. "I only made some improvements based on his work. I didn't change any of the core specifications!"

Then he dropped a screenshot into the group chat.

It showed the file information for the industrial park proposal that had been on my computer. The file name, creation date, and last modified date were all clearly visible.

"Mr. Burton, look," he said. "Jethro created the original version of this proposal last month. I only used his framework. If there was a problem with the specifications, then he must have made the mistake in the original file!"