Chapter 3

The next morning, as soon as I arrived at the office, Gwen was already standing right in front of my office door, blocking my way.

She said, "Ms. Mendez, Mr. Gregory asked me to take over the project."

She looked relaxed, holding a cup of coffee and taking a slow sip, her smile never fading.

Gwen added, "You're not going to make things difficult for me, are you?"

I glanced at her, kept quiet, and walked straight into the office.

Gwen followed me in, dropped herself into my chair, and kicked up her legs.

"Oh my, this chair is seriously comfy. No wonder you never want to leave, Ms. Mendez," Gwen said.

I ignored her, grabbed the file I had prepped from my drawer, and tossed it onto the desk.

"All the project info's right here. Just look through it yourself," I said.

Gwen flipped through a couple of pages, her brows knitting together.

"What is this even supposed to be? Where's the code? And the core algorithm?" she asked.

I shrugged. "It's all in my head."

Her face darkened.

"Alyssa, don't get cocky. Mr. Gregory said you have to hand over everything," Gwen snapped.

I laughed. "Alright, then tell him to come say it to my face."

Gwen jumped up, glaring at me. "Who do you think you are? Mr. Gregory doesn't even want to see your face anymore."

I wasn't about to waste another breath on her. I grabbed my resignation letter from the desk and walked out.

"Where are you going?" she shouted after me.

"I'm quitting," I shot back.

I didn't look back as I walked straight to the CEO's office.

When I pushed the door open, Dale was reading through some files and didn't even look up.

He asked, "What?"

I dropped my resignation letter on his desk.

I said, "I'm quitting."

He finally looked up, his gaze icy cold.

"Are you done yet, Alyssa? How much longer are you going to keep stirring up trouble?" he snapped.

I kept my voice steady. "I'm not here for drama. I'm serious."

Dale stared at me for a few seconds, then gave a mocking laugh.

He said, "Go ahead, leave. The company won't even skip a beat without you."

Just then, the office door burst open, and Gwen rushed in, looking all flustered.

"Mr. Gregory. Alyssa refuses to hand over the core data for the Cosmos project," she said.

Dale's brows furrowed as he looked over at me.

"Alyssa, what exactly do you want?" he said.

Before I could get a word out, Gwen cut me off.

"Mr. Gregory, maybe we should just drop it? Ms. Mendez probably acted on impulse. I'll try to figure something else out," she said.

But her pretend "backing off" only made Dale even angrier.

"No need." He slammed his hand on the desk. "Alyssa, you really think the company can't run without you? I'm telling you, your resignation is approved."

With that, he grabbed a pen, scribbled his signature, and flung the file back at me.

He shouted, "Grab your things and get out. Now."

I took the file and smirked.

I said, "Thanks, Mr. Gregory."

As I turned to leave, I heard Gwen pretending to be all sweet.

"Mr. Gregory, don't be upset. Ms. Mendez is probably just jealous of how nice you are to me," she said.

Dale replied coldly, "Forget about her. We don't need her."

I paid them no mind and walked out without a second glance.

At my workspace, I started gathering my things.

My coworkers were stealing glances at me, but everyone kept quiet.

An old coworker I had worked with for years came over and sighed.

"Alyssa, what's the point? Mr. Gregory's just pissed off right now. If you just play along for a bit, it'll be over before you know it," she said.

I smiled. "You really think I'm just being stubborn?"

She paused, looking confused. "What else could it be?"

I didn't bother explaining. I tossed the last of my stuff into the box, patted her shoulder, and said, "Take care."

As I walked out the front doors, the sunlight hit me hard.

I took a deep breath, grabbed my phone, and called Lester from Newrise Tech's HR.

"Hello, Mr. Cole, this is Alyssa. Yeah, my resignation's all sorted. I can start whenever you want," I said.

After hanging up, I looked back at the office building.

Dale would soon figure out that the Cosmos Project truly couldn't get by without me.

Three days after I quit, my phone finally went quiet.

Dale stopped messaging me, and there was nothing about the Cosmos project in the company group chat.

I figured he must've realized by now that without me, that project was dead in the water.

Usually, whenever we fought, I'd end up swallowing my pride and finding some way to make up with him within a couple of hours.

But this time, I didn't reply to a single message.

He finally got it. This time, things had really changed.

It was eight o'clock at night, and I was sitting on the couch, flipping through the project files from Newrise Tech, when the doorbell suddenly rang.

I frowned and got up to answer the door.

Outside, Dale was standing there in a sharp suit, though his expression was tinged with fatigue.

He looked at me, his tone cool and distant. "Why didn't you pick up your phone?"

I leaned against the doorframe, not budging to let him in.

"What do you want?" I said flatly.

He frowned, clearly not used to my attitude.

"There's an issue with the Cosmos project. I need you to come back and handle it," Dale said.

I smirked. "Mr. Gregory, I'm not with the company anymore. Whatever happens there is your problem, not mine."

His face darkened.

"Alyssa, enough with the drama. The project's at a standstill, and everyone's waiting on you," Dale snapped.

I shrugged. "That's your problem, not mine. Deal with it yourselves."