Chapter 1

"After binge-reading every single "workplace exposé" and "red flag guide" online, I'd successfully turned myself into a full-blown paranoid mess.

Coworkers chatting by the water cooler? They were plotting to screw me over, so I'd whip out my recorder and hit record.

Boss talking big dreams in meetings? He was clearly setting up for layoffs, so I'd stay up all night printing three copies of labor laws and every overtime record I had.

But three years into this job, everyone around me was annoyingly friendly. My boss was kind and approachable, and my coworkers were genuinely sweet and pleasant.

I was starting to wonder if I was the crazy one.

Then Jessica Warren showed up as our new CFO, and she had her eyes on me.

She handed me my paycheck with a smile, except my 50 thousand dollars project bonus had mysteriously shrunk to a five-hundred-dollar "hard work fee."

She wanted to watch me lose it and put on a show, probably throw a fit right there in the finance department. Instead, I calmly took the paycheck and fired off an email to the audit director right in front of her. The smug look on her face cracked wide open.

"Are you insane?" she snapped.

"Who the hell sends a 300-page PowerPoint as a whistleblower report? You even dug up where I got the down payment for my son's school district apartment three years ago when I embezzled company funds!"

*****

Jessica's face went from smug to shocked to furious, and finally twisted into something like fear. The whole thing took thirty seconds.

She pointed at me, and her finger shook from how hard she was pressing forward. "Susan, you set me up?"

I folded the pay slip with "200" written on it and tucked it in my pocket. "Ms. Warren, watch your mouth.

"I followed company protocol and submitted reasonable questions about financial discrepancies to the appropriate department."

I held up my phone so she could see the reply from Eric Carter, the audit director. "As for your embezzlement issue, that's between you and Eric."

"You—" She couldn't catch her breath and clutched her chest, swaying on her feet. The colleagues who'd been watching scattered immediately, afraid of getting dragged into her mess.

First rule of office survival—stay far away from a manager losing control, or you'll get blood on you, too.

Jessica's assistant rushed to steady her, patting her back and shoving a water bottle at her. I turned and walked away. I didn't have time for their dramatic display of loyalty.

A calm male voice came from the office doorway. "What's everyone doing standing around? Don't you have work to do?"

The crowd parted like the Red Sea.

Oliver Preston, the company's big boss, stood there. He was pushing fifty but took care of himself, and his eyes swept across the room before landing on me with a measuring look.

Jessica saw her savior and shoved her assistant aside, rushing toward Oliver. Her eyes instantly welled up with tears. "Oliver, you have to help me. Susan got her hands on some garbage from god knows where, and now she's trying to frame me!"

Oliver's eyebrows drew together for a moment.

He didn't look at Jessica, and when he spoke to me, his tone was measured and calm.

He said, "Susan, I know you have questions about the company's finances, and that's actually a good thing.

"But Ms. Warren just started here, and she's still finding her footing. If word gets out that there's internal discord, it won't look good for the company."

I met his gaze head-on, my voice steady and professional.

"Oliver, if I'm not mistaken, Article 37 of the company charter clearly states that any employee has the right to question financial discrepancies, and the audit department is required to respond within twenty-four hours.

"So are you asking me to break company policy, or are you asking the audit department to?"

Oliver's expression darkened, and his voice carried a clear warning. "I expect this matter to end here."

The tension in the air was thick and suffocating.

Jessica probably thought she'd won, and a smug little smile curved at the corner of her mouth.

After a long moment, Oliver looked away. "Fine. Do it by the book."

He threw out those words and turned toward his office, and the door slammed shut behind him.

Jessica's smile froze on her face.

I waved my phone at her and turned to leave.

Behind me, I could hear Jessica's furious shriek and the crash of something hitting the floor.

Back at my desk, I made myself a cup of coffee.

Steam rose from the mug as my fingers flew across the keyboard.

I opened an encrypted folder.

Inside were three years' worth of files I'd built on every person in this company who'd ever crossed me.

I clicked on Jessica's folder.

That three-hundred-page presentation was just the appetizer.

The real show was still to come.

*****

The next day, the company's internal forum exploded.

The audit department had worked through the night, and their report confirmed that Jessica had embezzled company funds three years ago at her previous job.

She'd used her position to move money around for personal use.

The amount wasn't huge, and she'd paid it all back, but it didn't matter. What she'd done was serious.

Anyone with that kind of stain on their record should never have passed our background check in the first place. There was only one explanation—someone had vouched for her and bypassed the normal hiring process.

Who was that person? That was obvious.

All afternoon, the break room buzzed with whispers.

"I heard Oliver tore into Ms. Warren for a full hour. When she came out, her eyes were all puffy."

"Good. She came in here acting like she owned the place and went straight after Susan. Does she even know who Susan is?"

"Exactly! Susan spent months on that 2 million dollar project and busted her ass for it. What gives Jessica the right to just cancel it like that?"

I walked past with my water cup, and they fell silent immediately. They gave me that knowing smile, the kind that said we're all on the same page here.

I smiled back and didn't say a word.