Chapter 4
"Mr. Keller, do you really think I'd be dense enough to skim kickbacks from a farm that you personally own?" I asked.
Ethan looked up, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes. "You knew that was my place?"
"I found out while putting the team-building trip together. When Julio was coordinating with me, he brought you up quite a few times."
Ethan let out a low snort. "That brat can't keep a secret to save his life."
He slid the printouts slightly closer to me. "Then what is all of this?"
"Marilyn fabricated them. She tried to force me to source from her cousin's company, and when I turned her down, she held a grudge."
I pulled up my phone, playing the video clips and audio recordings for Ethan to see.
The moment Ethan heard the recording of Marilyn threatening Julio, he slammed his palm onto the desk. "This is unbelievable! To think the finance department has bred such a toxic parasite!"
I said quietly, "Mr. Keller, she's currently planning to forward this fabricated evidence to HQ. She's even talking about doing a livestream."
Ethan calmed himself down, thinking for a brief moment. "If she wants to make a scene, let's let her blow it completely out of proportion. Go home and rest for a couple of days. I'll tell everyone you've been suspended."
I knew exactly what Ethan was getting at.
He was baiting the trap. He wanted to cut out all the dead weight in the company in one clean sweep.
"Understood, Mr. Keller."
As I stepped out of his office, I deliberately put on a thoroughly devastated expression.
Seeing this, Marilyn immediately began jeering at the top of her lungs. "Look, everyone! Sheryl just got suspended! That's exactly what you get when you're greedy for cash!"
She whipped out her phone and actually went live on a streaming app. "Hey, guys! Today, I'm giving you a front-row seat to some real corporate anti-corruption. Our administrative manager just got caught red-handed taking kickbacks!"
Keeping my head down, I quickly packed up my things and left the company.
Behind me, Marilyn's piercing laughter blended with the sneers of my colleagues.
…
Once I got home, I didn't waste any time.
First, I reached out to Julio. "Julio, send over the full footage of Marilyn shaking you down for that kickback. Make sure it's in full HD."
Julio worked fast. It hit my inbox in less than ten minutes.
In the video, Marilyn's face was horribly contorted as she pointed a finger right at Julio's nose, spitting threats.
Next, I reached out to a few friends in the tech community to trace the origins of Marilyn's screenshots.
Sure enough, she had paid for a shady online workshop specializing in forging documents and photos.
The transaction records showed she had spent 500 dollars requesting a transfer receipt that "showed the names clearly but kept the details blurry".
What shocked me most was that to make the whole thing look legitimate, Marilyn had actually transferred 50 thousand dollars out of the company's financial accounts.
She assumed that as long as she got me fired, the missing funds could simply be written off under the admin department's expenses.
She was absolutely blinded by her own greed.
Over the next two days, the company chat was a non-stop circus.
Marilyn went live every single day, boasting about how she had stood her ground against corporate corruption to expose the truth.
She had successfully packaged herself as a goddess of workplace justice.
There were even clueless netizens tipping her.
Ben tagged me in the group chat. "Sheryl, I thought you wanted to clear this up face-to-face. Why are you hiding at home like a coward? Are you busy laundering the money?"
I didn't reply. I just sat back and watched them put on their little show.
Marilyn even posted a celebration on her Instagram. "The cancer has been removed, and the air is finally clean! Barbecue tonight!"
Many colleagues liked the post.
I sneered. "Eat up, Marilyn. It might just be the last peaceful meal you ever have."
On the morning of the third day, my phone rang. It was Ethan. "Sheryl, come back to the office. Today is the quarterly business review. All of our business partners will be present. I'm going to settle this score for you in front of everyone."
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