Chapter 1I ditched a top grad school overseas to follow my boyfriend Landon into corporate hell—grinding sales from zero.
My boss Claire shipped me off on trips for a month straight.
Came back to find she'd jacked my million-dollar deal.
And Landon.
I lost it. He didn't even blink—just stood by her.
"Why her?!" I practically screamed.
He looked at me like I was dirt. "Her uncle runs this branch. You? You're dead weight."
Her uncle's the manager?
Cool.
My dad owns the whole damn company.
---
Landon and I met in college.
He once threw me this insane birthday surprise—got the entire campus to record messages for me.
Then confessed in front of everyone. Made all these promises.
What girl could say no to that? I couldn't.
So I said yes.
Didn't want him feeling weird about the money gap, so I ditched the designer stuff.
Gave up my car. Started cramming onto those grimy $2 buses with him.
Even lied and said my family went broke—just so I could turn down grad school abroad.
Followed him into some branch office instead. Started at the bottom in sales.
But his whole vibe toward me? Went ice-cold real fast.
"Seraphina, what the hell is this?!"
Monday meeting. My boss Claire—finger in my face in front of everyone.
I'd already redone this stupid data report for her ten times.
I stared her down.
"Claire, we're in sales. I should be closing deals—not babysitting spreadsheets."
She crossed her arms and laughed. "Ha. Can't even handle a report. What deals are you gonna close?"
Everyone snickered.
Yeah, hilarious—dead last in the department talking about sales.
Claire'd been dumping busywork on me since day one.
I barely had time to go after clients.
So yeah. Dead last.
"This is all the data I can access. You need more? Submit a request upstairs. I can't make up numbers."
That shut her up for a second. But her eyes went sharp. She slammed the table.
"Oh, you wanna do sales? Fine."
She tossed a business card at me. Apex Tech.
Industry nightmare. Company'd sent a dozen reps before. All failed.
Claire was setting me up to fail.
"Close this deal. Or pack your shit by month-end. I don't keep deadweight."
I clenched the card so hard my knuckles went white.
Walking out, Landon was standing outside our department.
Tall. Handsome. Everyone staring.
He handed me a bag. "You didn't eat breakfast."
I opened it. Steamed buns and a boiled egg.
I'd blown up my family for him. Now we split rent in some dump.
Rent. Utilities. All 50/50.
Only thing he ever did? Occasional breakfast.
Claire walked past. Locked eyes with Landon, then giggled. "Thanks for the coffee."
I'd never seen her smile before.
There was a Starbucks cup on her desk.
He bought me $5 breakfast.
But dropped $40 on her coffee.
I leaned against the wall. Waiting.
"Babe, don't overthink it. Just want her to go easy on you."
I let out a flat, "Sure." Then said, "I'm leaving on a trip. Take care of Sponge."
Sponge was my cat. Had her four years. Dragged her into this dump with me.
At least she didn't judge.
I booked a flight that evening. Went home to pack.
Before leaving, I hid a camera in the living room. Just to check on Sponge.
Then I scratched her fuzzy ears and whispered goodbye.
Didn't want to leave her.
But I had no choice.
Chapter 2
The plane hit Detroit around 11 PM.
First thing I did? Checked the camera to see how Sponge was doing.
What I saw made my stomach drop.
Our apartment looked trashed. Takeout boxes everywhere. Empty bottles on the table. Clothes all over the floor.
And Landon was on our couch making out with some woman.
I just stood there frozen.
Never thought I'd be the girl watching this happen.
Everything went cold. My whole body felt like it was screaming.
The woman lifted her head.
Claire.
Rage shot through me so fast I nearly crushed my phone.
I hit dial with shaking hands.
Busy tone.
Something inside me snapped.
The arrivals hall emptied out. Just me standing there like an idiot.
I dug my nails into my palms until I bled, forced the tears back, and made myself go cold.
Then I said it out loud.
"Landon. Claire. I'm going to destroy you both."
I'd looked up Apex Tech's CEO—Mason Gray—and knew where he'd be.
I waited outside the restaurant, spotted him the second he walked out, then walked straight up and blocked his path.
"Mr. Gray. Hi. I'm with Morgan Group. Sorry to interrupt."
He looked annoyed.
His assistant pulled me aside fast.
"Miss, Mr. Gray's with a client. Come by the office tomorrow."
"That's fine. I'll wait."
I followed them to their next stop—some karaoke bar—and camped outside.
Detroit winters are brutal.
I pulled my coat tighter and buried my face in the collar.
But the cold outside was nothing compared to what I felt inside.
This deal was going to be my gift to Claire.
Mason's assistant came out later and saw me still there. He looked shocked.
"You should go home. They'll be hours."
I forced a smile even though my face was frozen.
I shook my head. "Just want to show we're serious."
He sighed and came back with a hot drink.
The warmth spread through my frozen fingers.
Past midnight. Streets empty.
Streetlights glowing yellow. Sky pitch-black. Probably about to snow.
I stomped my feet trying to feel them. My whole body was shivering.
I pulled out my phone and opened my chat with Dad. I typed something, deleted it, typed again, then deleted again. Finally I just shoved the phone back in my pocket.
His voice echoed in my head.
"Giving up grad school for some loser? To work sales? Don't ever come back here!"
The wind cut right through me.
I crouched down trying to stay warm.
Don't know how long I stayed like that. Felt like I was turning into ice.
Then a voice came from above me.
"You're still here?"
Mason and his group were leaving.
I tried to stand but my legs gave out and I stumbled sideways.
Mason sighed, said goodbye to his people, and told his assistant to get the car.
Inside the heated car, my body finally started working again.
Mason leaned back and rubbed his face. "Where you staying?"
"Wait—Mr. Gray, can I just get five minutes?"
I knew the reps before me never even got this far. They got turned away before they could pitch.
That's why I froze my ass off for hours. Just to get five minutes.
You want the deal? You show up and prove it.
Chapter 3
He glanced at his watch. "Five minutes."
Thank god. At least I got him to bite.
"Look, you think our prices are too steep for the market. I get it. That's exactly why I'm here. Morgan Group's willing to hand over a thousand units. Free. Let Apex test the waters."
"You authorized to promise that?" Mason's eyes sharpened.
"Absolutely. My boss Claire signed off on it. I can call her right now if you want."
3 AM.
Claire picked up sounding like she wanted to murder me.
"Seraphina?! Are you out of your goddamn mind calling me at this hour?!"
Mason's expression went cold hearing her screech through the speaker.
I held up the phone with my best wounded look. "Claire, you're the one who told me to close Apex or pack my bags. You really think I can sleep?"
Dead silence. Then she snapped, "What the hell do you want?"
"Apex is a million-dollar deal. We need to prove we're not messing around. So I told them we'd front a thousand units for market testing."
Key word: "front." Not "pay."
Claire let out an annoyed huff. "Why are you bothering me with this? Obviously we do pre-launch testing."
Hook, line, sinker.
"So you're confirming we're providing the thousand units?"
She yawned. "Yeah, whatever," and hung up.
I looked at Mason. "You heard her. I'll get every unit delivered."
Next day I sent the invoice.
Claire lost it.
"Seraphina! Why the fuck am I footing the bill for this?!"
I pulled the phone away from my ear.
"You said provide them. Mason heard the whole thing. I've got it recorded. Wanna hear it back?"
"You manipulative little bitch! Why should I eat the cost of a thousand units?!"
"You don't have to. But then Morgan and Apex will know you torpedoed the deal because you went back on your word. So let's see which one of us gets axed then."
She slammed down so hard I swear the line crackled.
Ha. Already cracking. And I'm just getting started.
That afternoon she called again. I answered lazily.
"Fine. I'll cover it. But you're completely on your own. Zero support from anyone here. One screw-up and you're gone. And you're paying back every cent if anything tanks."
Isolation? Cute. Like I was counting on her help anyway.
What I didn't expect was the next month turning into a non-stop nightmare.
The longer I stayed away, the more Claire showed up at my apartment.
And I made damn sure to record every single visit.
Finally, all thousand cars sold out.
Market feedback? Glowing.
Morgan and Apex signed long-term.
I closed a multi-million dollar deal and shot straight to top performer.
But I wasn't smiling.
Day of the contract signing, I flew straight back.
I stopped outside the office and heard voices inside.
"Wait, Claire closed Apex? Holy shit she's a legend!"
"Dude the commission alone is like two years' salary!"
"Million-dollar annual contract. She's definitely getting promoted."
Then Claire's smug voice came from right behind me.
"Oh wow, Seraphina. What are you doing just standing there? Get in here."
She yanked me inside and clapped for everyone's attention.
"Alright people, listen up. Two things.
One, sadly, Seraphina's been tanking her numbers, so she's out end of month.
Two, as you all know, I just locked down Apex Tech. So end of month I'm throwing a celebration dinner. We'll make it Seraphina's little goodbye party too."
Everyone started whooping. A couple brown-nosers jumped in.
"Wow Claire you're so generous throwing a party for dead last."
"Right? She literally contributed nothing. Why's she even getting a send-off?"
Claire beamed and slung an arm around me like we were besties.
"Oh come on, we're all coworkers here. Let's not be cold."
Then she leaned in and whispered right in my ear.
"Shame you gotta go."
So that's her play.
She wanted the commission. From my deal.
Didn't matter if it succeeded or bombed.
She was tossing me either way.
