Chapter 1During the executive meeting, my fiancé's new secretary threw entire cup of coffee right in my face—in front of everyone.
"You're just some lazy-ass slacker sitting in your office playing games all day, and you have the nerve to question MY proposal?"
"Serena Winters, you're fired! Get lost!"
I stood up slowly, wiped the coffee off my face, and looked straight at my fiancé, Dominic Kane.
He frowned and looked away, saying nothing.
I smiled and pulled out my phone.
"Dad, did you hear that?"
"They just told me to get lost."
Monday morning, I was deep into my game when someone knocked on my office door.
"Ms. Winters, Elaine just sent word—all managers need to be in the main conference room in ten minutes."
Jenny from admin stood in the doorway, practically breathless.
I didn't even look up, my fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Not going. I'm busy."
In the six months I'd been at this company, I'd never attended a single meeting.
Not because I wasn't supposed to—I just didn't feel like it.
"But..." Jenny's voice wavered. "Elaine specifically said no one can skip today. She said it's Mr. Kane's direct order."
My fingers froze. My character instantly got obliterated by the boss.
As the screen went gray, I cursed under my breath and slammed my laptop shut.
When I walked into the conference room, it was already packed.
Several people shot me weird looks and immediately started whispering.
"Wait, Winters is actually here?"
"Doesn't she never come to meetings?"
"Who knows? Probably Elaine forced her to show up."
"Elaine's been on her case—can't wait to see this play out."
I ignored the gossip, found a seat in the back corner, and pulled out my phone to continue my game.
A full thirty minutes later, Dominic Kane and Elaine Shaw finally strolled in.
Elaine was carrying a stack of files, looking incredibly pleased with herself.
"Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here today."
Dominic scanned the room. His eyes landed on me for maybe half a second before moving on.
"Elaine has an important proposal to present."
Elaine cleared her throat and launched into her "revolutionary" marketing plan.
I half-listened while gaming on my phone. The more I heard, the more absurd it sounded.
Not only was the budget insanely high, but it completely missed our company's market positioning.
"So I believe we should immediately invest eighty million dollars to dominate the luxury market within three months!"
Elaine concluded with dramatic enthusiasm.
Scattered, half-hearted applause filled the room.
I couldn't take it anymore. Without even looking up, I said, "Eighty million for a bunch of useless exposure? You might as well throw the cash off the roof—at least THAT'D make headlines and actually get us some damn attention."
The room went dead silent.
Dominic's brow furrowed.
"What did you just say?" Elaine's voice shot up an octave.
I finally looked up, speaking slowly and deliberately.
"I said your proposal is full of holes."
"First, your target demographic is completely off."
"Second, your channel selection makes zero sense."
"And finally, your ROI calculations are just flat-out wrong."
"You basically chucked twenty million into the toilet."
"And hey, the toilet would've at least given you a flush."
Elaine's face turned bright red.
She grabbed her coffee from the table and stormed over to me.
"You're just some lazy-ass slacker sitting in your office playing games all day, and you have the nerve to question MY proposal?"
She was practically screaming.
SPLASH!
The entire cup of coffee hit me square in the face.
Liquid dripped down my cheeks, instantly staining my white dress brown.
The conference room fell completely silent. Everyone held their breath.
"Serena Winters, as the CEO's secretary, I'm officially firing you. Get the hell out!"
Chapter 2
Elaine stood over me, looking down with contempt.
I slowly got to my feet, pulled out a handkerchief, and wiped the coffee off my face bit by bit.
Then I looked straight at Dominic.
He frowned, then looked away, choosing to stay silent.
I actually laughed.
Speaking into my phone on speaker, I said, "Dad, you hear that?"
"They just told me to get lost."
There was a two-second pause on the other end, then a deep, commanding voice came through.
"I heard. I'll take care of it."
The only reason I even worked here was because of an arranged marriage my grandfather set up years ago.
Dominic Kane was my fiancé.
I never wanted an arranged marriage, but my dad wouldn't let it go. He guilt-tripped me with the whole "you're being ungrateful" card.
So I gave in.
To "help us bond," my Dad made me take a job at Kane Enterprises.
For the past six months working for Dominic, I played games every day and acted like a total slacker.
But behind the scenes? I'd been pulling every string I had—using my connections to skyrocket the company's performance and even take it public.
Kane Enterprises became a star company overnight, and Dominic made it onto New York's wealthiest list.
Even after doing all that for him, we barely spoke.
During our handful of dates, I learned that he only knew me as his arranged fiancée—he had NO idea who I really was.
I dropped back into my corner seat, pulled out my phone, and went right back to my game.
My character respawned. My fingers flew across the screen as if the tension in the room had nothing to do with me.
Elaine's face went from red to pale with fury. She clearly didn't expect me to just ignore her little power trip.
She slammed her hand on the table, her voice shrill. "Serena Winters! What do you think this place is?"
"Everyone's here working, and you're just sitting there playing GAMES?"
I let out a cold laugh. "I already hit my annual targets. What's the problem with me playing a game?"
"Get OUT right now or I'm calling security!"
Without looking up, I said, "Go ahead."
The other executives exchanged awkward glances.
Some pretended to flip through documents, while others sneaked looks at Dominic, waiting to see what he'd do.
Dominic finally stood up.
He was wearing a sharp black suit today, his expression cold and stern.
He looked at me, his eyes showing a hint of impatience and indifference.
"Serena, your numbers have been solid."
His voice was calm but carried undeniable authority.
"But this is a company, not your living room."
"Leave the conference room. Now. You're disrupting the meeting."
My fingers froze. My character died again.
I looked up, meeting his gaze, a smirk playing on my lips. "Mr. Kane, you SURE you wanna kick me out?"
Dominic frowned, his tone growing even colder.
"I'm not going to repeat myself. If you have ANY professional integrity, you should know when you've crossed the line."
"And what if I don't want to leave?"
"Then don't blame me for what happens next."
Seeing Dominic take her side, Elaine's confidence skyrocketed.
She rushed over to me and slapped the phone right out of my hand.
SMACK!
The phone hit the floor, the screen instantly shattering into a spiderweb of cracks.
"Serena, don't push your damn luck!"
She grabbed me by the collar and yanked me upward.
"Mr. Kane already told you to leave. What the hell are you still doing here? GET OUT!"
From day one as his secretary, Elaine had it out for me.
Once, when I was walking past the CEO's office, I heard her going off: "Mr. Kane, this company isn't a charity. Paying that much money to keep some slacker who plays games all day is completely unfair to the rest of the staff."
Her voice wasn't loud, but just loud enough for anyone outside to hear.
Dominic didn't respond.
But through the window, I saw him pause mid-page while flipping through documents.
After that, Elaine got worse.
She started bringing up my "achievements" in department meetings.
"Some people collect fat paychecks and don't even show up to meetings. Really makes you wonder if they're here to work or just on vacation."
Rumors started spreading fast.
Some said I was a spoiled rich girl who got in through connections. Others said I slept in my office all day. A few even started betting on when I'd finally get fired.
I knew about all of it. I just didn't give a shit.
Chapter 3
But the more I didn't give a damn, the more she pushed her luck.
Now that she had her chance, she was going completely overboard.
I wasn't about to let her. I grabbed her wrist and twisted hard.
"AH!"
Elaine cried out, instinctively letting go of my collar.
As I pulled free, my arm hit the edge of the conference table. My watch smacked against the solid wood with a sharp CRACK.
She stumbled back two steps, looked down, and her face went ghost white.
The expensive Patek Philippe on her wrist now had a huge, ugly scratch across the face—practically glowing under the lights.
"You bitch..."
She held up her wrist, shaking, eyes blazing with fury.
"Serena, do you have ANY idea how much this watch costs?"
"Mr. Kane gave me this for my birthday! It's worth 800,000 DOLLARS!"
I calmly straightened my wrinkled collar.
"You lost your balance. How's that my fault?"
"SERENA!" Dominic finally snapped, his voice sharp. "You've gone too far!"
"You're not just disrupting this meeting—now you've deliberately damaged someone's property."
"As CEO, I'm officially notifying you—you're FIRED."
"Now pack your shit and get out of this company. NOW!"
Elaine jumped in, screeching, "Mr. Kane, we can't just let her walk away! She has to pay for the watch!"
The conference room went dead silent.
Everyone stared at me with either pity or smug satisfaction, like they were waiting for the show to really get started.
"Fine. I'll pay."
"800,000 dollars, right?"
I bent down and picked up my shattered phone.
The screen was cracked to hell, but it still worked.
I started dialing a number. Before I could say anything, Elaine sneered, "What eighty thousand? It's Eight million!!"
I stopped. Looked at her.
"You sure about that?"
"Of course!" Elaine said smugly. "A gift from Mr. Kane is priceless!"
"Making you pay eight million is getting off easy!"
"Everyone here can back me up on this, right?!"
Elaine was digging her heels in.
She knew what my salary was. There was no way I could afford this.
She just wanted to humiliate me. Crush me.
The other executives saw their opening and jumped in.
"She's right. A gift from the CEO—how can you put a price on that?" The CFO pushed up his glasses. "Ms. Winters, you should just accept it."
"This company isn't a charity. You damage something, you pay for it. Simple as that." The marketing director smirked. "Though with your salary, you'll probably be paying this off until retirement, huh?"
Everyone burst out laughing, their eyes full of mockery and schadenfreude.
They'd been dying to see me crash and burn. Now that I was down, they were more than happy to kick me while I was there.
Dominic stood off to the side, frowning slightly but saying nothing to stop them.
Facing all the mockery, I didn't get angry. I just looked up at Elaine. "Eight million. That's final, right? You're not gonna change it again?"
Elaine blinked, then scoffed.
"Serena, seriously? You're still putting on an act?"
"What's your monthly salary again?"
"Eight million? You gonna sell your organs to pay me back?"
I ignored her and lifted my phone.
"I need eight million in cash delivered to the Kane Enterprises conference room. As fast as possible."
Elaine rolled her eyes. "Oh please. You think making a phone call is gonna fool anyone?"
I didn't answer. Just waited.
Less than ten minutes later, the conference room door swung open. A middle-aged man in a sharp suit walked in.
Behind him were three uniformed bank employees, each carrying a metal briefcase.
He walked straight up to me and bowed respectfully. "Ms. Winters, here's the eight million you requested."
I nodded.
"Thanks. Just set them down here."
One by one, the three cases were opened, revealing stacks of crisp hundred-dollar bills practically glowing under the lights.
The conference room went dead silent. Everyone's eyes locked onto the money.
The air felt thick. Even breathing seemed loud.
Elaine's face went pale. She couldn't get a single word out.
She stared at the cash, then looked up at the man in the suit.
Suddenly, the CFO's face turned white as a sheet.
"M-Mr... Mr. Morgan?!"
