I stopped in my tracks and looked at Marilyn. "Marilyn, whether that evidence is real or fake, you know the truth better than anyone."

Marilyn's expression flickered for a second before she thrust her chin out defiantly. "The screenshots are right there in the group chat for everyone to see. You seriously think you can talk your way out of this?"

I didn't utter a single word. I just stood there, watching her in dead silence.

Unnerved by my gaze, she took a defensive step back. "What are you staring at? Stare all you want. You're still getting sacked!"

My mind flashed back to when we were planning the team-building trip.

Marilyn had approached me in private.

She slid a business card across my desk, claiming it belonged to an agricultural supply company run by her cousin.

"Sheryl, let's source the catering ingredients from my cousin this time. The pricing is highly negotiable."

She flashed three fingers, waving them in front of my face. "We'll get this much back in kickbacks, and we can split it 50-50."

I turned her down on the spot.

I told her that our company policy was strict, and all suppliers had to go through a rigorous vetting process.

Marilyn's face turned sour instantly. "Sheryl, don't be ungrateful. We're all just trying to make a living here. Cut the high-and-mighty act."

I ignored her and chose the farm Ethan had recommended.

Throughout the entire trip, Marilyn wouldn't let it rest.

During lunch, she slammed a platter of chicken onto the table. "This chicken is as dry as cardboard. Sheryl, did you take a bribe to feed us this garbage?"

Ethan, who was in the middle of picking up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks, froze at those words.

I didn't panic. I simply called Julio over.

He walked out in his chef's whites, holding the health inspection certificates and invoices.

"Ma'am, these are free-range chickens raised on the hills. If you find the meat too tough, perhaps the issue lies with your teeth."

Julio was a straight shooter. His bluntness turned Marilyn's face red.

Ethan took a bite, nodded, and remarked that the flavor was perfect.

That was the first time Marilyn had been humiliated so thoroughly in public.

Later, in the restroom, she cornered me. "Sheryl, you think cozying up to some farm manager guarantees your spot as administrative manager? Let me tell you something. The finance department has 100 different ways to ruin you.

"Just you wait. If I don't get you kicked out of this company, I'll change my name."

At the time, I brushed it off as the barking of a mad dog.

I never expected her to actually have the nerve to forge evidence.

Marilyn dropped another screenshot into the chat. It was a bank statement showing a 50-thousand-dollar deposit.

"Look at this, everyone. Case closed. The funds hit her account the exact day after the team-building trip ended."

Marilyn had really gone all out to frame me. She had even enlisted Ben to play along.

Ben yelled in the chat, "I just passed the admin department and saw Sheryl destroying the contracts! Go look, everyone! She's panicking!"

In reality, I was just sitting at my desk, reviewing the original contract.

This document bore Ethan's personal signature, and stamped on the cover was the farm's official seal.

It was Ethan's private corporate seal.

Marilyn had been in finance for three years, yet she didn't even know her own boss' private holdings.

Then again, Ethan was a private man. The farm was a side business registered under his son's name.

It was typically reserved for entertaining VIP clients or hosting company team-building trips.

An opportunist like Marilyn naturally had no access to the inner circle's secrets.

She was still barking in the group chat. "Sheryl, if you're going to keep hiding like a coward, I'm sending this evidence straight to HQ. You won't just be fired. You'll be looking at jail time!"

I picked up my phone and dialed Julio's number. "Julio, help me back up the last team-building's surveillance video and your original records."

Julio's voice boomed through the receiver. "What happened? Is that mad woman causing trouble again?"

I replied, "She said I took a kickback, and she's parading it across the entire company."

Julio let out a sneer. "Asking for a kickback from my dad's farm? Has she completely lost her mind? Alright, I'll send you the footage right now. I've also got an audio recording of her trying to shake me down for a kickback that day."

I froze. "She asked you for a kickback?"

"Yeah. Right before the team-building ended, she cornered me in the back courtyard. She said if I didn't give her 20 thousand dollars, she'd drag her feet on settling the final balance."

…

Marilyn wasn't stopping. Next, she uploaded an audio clip into the group chat.

My voice came through loud and clear. "Keep this money. Don't let anyone else know. Thanks for the hard work, everyone."

Then came a man's voice. "Thank you, Ms. Gibson. I'm looking forward to working together again."

The chat exploded into complete chaos once more.

"Holy crap! She's caught on tape!"

"Sheryl is really disgusting. Acting all innocent and sweet, but she's incredibly greedy behind closed doors."

Ben was overjoyed. "People like this have to be fired! And we need to get that money back. That belongs to everyone!"

Listening to the clip, I just found it absurd.

That conversation happened on the final night of the trip, when I was handing out overtime bonuses to the farm's three helpers.

Ethan had been in high spirits that evening, so the party went well into the night.

He had pulled me aside and specifically told me to slip the staff some extra cash as a personal token of appreciation.

I did tell them not to let anyone else know, but only because I didn't want the rest of the staff to see it and feel slighted.

I never could have guessed that Marilyn would secretly record that moment, let alone twist it so maliciously out of context.

Gripping my phone, I typed my very first response in the group chat. "Marilyn, you claim the farm owner gave you this evidence. What's his last name again?"

Marilyn shot back within seconds. "Stark! Mr. Stark told me himself. Are you still trying to argue?"

I nearly laughed out loud.

Marilyn sent another message. "Mr. Stark is an old acquaintance of mine. He can't stand greedy people like you. He's already printed out all the bank transfer records. He'll be delivering them to the office shortly."

I replied, "Perfect. Why don't we all head down to the farm and clear this up face-to-face?"

Marilyn shot back with a dismissive emoji. "Who do you think you are? Mr. Stark doesn't have time to waste on you. Sheryl, if you return the cash and confess right now, maybe Mr. Keller will cut you some slack since you're a veteran employee."

The rest of the staff began jumping on the bandwagon.

"Just admit it, Sheryl. The evidence is ironclad."

"Exactly. Pay it back and pack your bags. Stop dragging the company's reputation through the mud."

I watched the once-familiar names on the screen, each one turning more detestable.

I had lost count of how many times I'd helped them out with their tedious chores.

Whenever Ben's reimbursement receipts were missing details, I was the one who fixed the paperwork for him.

When Lexi Clarke had family emergencies and couldn't get leave approved, I was the one who covered her shifts.

Now, just to suck up to Marilyn, they couldn't wait to step on my neck.

I tucked my phone away and glanced out the window.

The door to Ethan's office swung open.

His secretary walked out, her expression incredibly grim. "Sheryl, Mr. Keller wants to see you in his office."

As I walked through the open-plan office, Marilyn deliberately stuck her foot out to trip me.

I sidestepped her smoothly, throwing a cold glare her way.

She lifted her chin in defiance. "In you go. Better start rehearsing your farewell speech."

Ben chimed in from the sidelines, "Don't forget to take some tissues, Ms. Gibson. You'll need them to wipe away the tears in a minute."

I pushed open the door to Ethan's office.

Ethan was seated in his high-backed executive chair, his expression dark.

Laid out across his desk were a few printed screenshots—the exact ones Marilyn had leaked.

"Sheryl, explain this."

Ethan's voice was completely flat.

I stood straight, meeting his gaze with absolute calm.

"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."