They Cut My Bonus, So I Joined Their Biggest Rival

Synopsis

I took ten days off to bring my daughter out of state for her heart checkup, and the company wiped out all 600 thousand dollars of the bonus I had earned. I handed in my resignation on the spot, and when the CEO saw my messages with Blue Horizon Corporation, he was stunned. "Michael, come to my office." I had just gotten back from my daughter's checkup, and I had barely walked into BrightVision Technologies with my luggage still in my hand when my department director, Richard Grant, called me. His tone was unreadable. I set my bag down beside my desk, glanced at the plant that was almost dead, and headed for his office. I pushed the door open and found Richard in his chair, spinning a pen between his fingers. "Mr. Grant, you wanted to see me?" Richard looked up and nodded at the chair across from him. He said, "Sit." I pulled the chair out and sat down. "How did the checkup go? I saw your Instagram. Running back and forth between the hospital and the airport, that must have been rough." His tone was flat, like small talk. I said, "It went okay. Her results are stable for now." "Yeah, kids come first." Richard nodded, then changed the subject. "The quarterly bonus is finalized. HR sent your pay stub to your email. You have seen it, right?" My stomach dropped. "I just walked in. I haven't had a chance to look." He said, "Look now." He tipped his chin at my phone. I pulled out my phone and opened the company email, and the newest unread message was the pay stub from HR. I held my breath and opened the attachment. Base salary, position allowance, performance pay, everything down the page looked normal. Then my eyes reached the last line, and I went still. [Project bonus: 0.00.] My eyes went cold.