At the company's gathering, everyone has the right to order for themselves.

When it's my turn, however, the new intern, Hayden Belmont, snatches the menu from me.

"The order's complete, so there's no need to order anything else."

I merely ignore Hayden as I tell the server, "I'd like some continental herb-baked snails, please."

But Hayden slams the menu at my face while glaring at me angrily.

"I said you're not allowed to order! Who do you think you are, huh?"

The hard edge of the menu leaves a scratch on my face. Blazing pain is all I feel at the moment, which fuels my temper even more.

So, I pick up the menu and throw it back at Hayden's face. He's quick to shriek and yell at me in fury.

"Do you have any idea who I am? My mom is Natasha Belmont, the biggest client of this company! Even the CEO has to show some respect to me, and yet you have the nerve to lay a finger on me?

"I'll have your 800-thousand-dollar bonus canceled right away! Soon, the entire industry will blacklist you!"

I'm stunned, to say the least.

My biological aunt, Natasha Belmont, has been single for 40 years.

Since when does she have a grown-up son?

When Hayden Belmont noticed that I was stunned silent, he grew even more brazen.

"What's the matter? Scared? A gigolo like you only hits your targets by living off your looks. You're polluting the air just by showing up to the dinner, so how could you think you deserve to order dishes?"

Living off my looks?

I spent days getting up before dawn and staying up late grinding on project proposals, eight hours a day out on construction sites until I was so sun-scorched that I was barely recognizable. Yet, he had the audacity to say that I was living off my looks.

Pushing my chair back, I stood and looked him in the eyes.

"Watch your mouth, Hayden. I earned my numbers on pure merit, and everyone knows what I'm capable of. You don't have the right to talk trash about my work.

"And this is a company dinner, not your personal treat. If I don't deserve to order, you deserve it less.

"No wonder the room stank the second we walked in; it's from the smell coming straight out of your mouth!"

Colleagues in the room ducked their heads and snickered. They had long been fed up with Hayden's blatant arrogance and disrespect.

During his first month as a company intern, he had treated every colleague like his personal maid.

When the new hire, Isabel Gilmore, refused to fetch him a cup of coffee, he poured a full mug right over her head, leaving her scalp severely blistered.

Instead of apologizing, he even threatened her. "If you dare force me to apologize to you, I'll have you fired!"

In the end, the company wholly reimbursed her medical bills.

I had wanted to step in and demand justice, but my colleagues had held me back.

Back then, I couldn't understand why everyone was so terrified to speak up, and as it turned out, they were completely intimidated by his self-proclaimed title as "Natasha Belmont's son".

Hayden's face was flushed red as he pointed at my nose and barked, "Flynn Calder! Don't you dare play word games with me!

"This company would go bankrupt within a week without my mom's financial support. I'm telling you—I call the shots at this dinner today, and if I say you don't get to order, you don't!

"Who do you think you are to mess with me? If you dare order a single dish tonight, I'll have you kicked out of the company tomorrow!"

At that, the waiter looked at me and seemed visibly troubled. "Sir, should I still take your order?"

"Yes!" I answered without hesitation.

I refused to believe this nonsense. A single project I had secured generated tens of millions of dollars in profits for the company, and now I didn't even have the right to order a single dish?

"What's all the yelling about?"

The CEO, Warner Maxwell, pushed the door open and stepped in. His expression was grim.

"A company dinner is not a place for you people to fight. What's going on here?"

Before anyone could speak, Hayden took over the narrative and twisted the events while maintaining a deeply wronged expression.

Without giving me a chance to explain myself, Warner turned his cold gaze on me.

"Flynn, you've been here for a year now. Don't you know that cost efficiency is one of the company's core values?

"Hayden was just doing what's right for the company, and you're not going to die from skipping one dish, are you?

"Furthermore, laying hands on a colleague is wrong. You will apologize to Hayden right now, pay him ten thousand dollars as compensation for emotional damages, and we can consider this matter settled."

I was so mad that I nearly laughed.

Staring straight into Warner's eyes, I asked, "Mr. Maxwell, are you sure you want me to apologize and compensate?"

Warner's expression remained dark and unreadable, while Isabel quickly tugged at the hem of my shirt.

"Don't push it, Flynn," she whispered to calm me down. "Hayden is Natasha's son, so you can't afford to mess with him. Mr. Maxwell is counting on him to secure the partnership with Avenel Group."

I couldn't help but scoff. "He tells you his mom is Natasha Belmont, and you guys just blindly believe him. Did he bring his birth certificate to his onboarding interview?"

She took out her phone and tapped on Hayden's social media account. "It's true. Ms. Belmont personally sent him to the office on his onboarding day."

I looked at the figures in the photo and nearly dropped my jaw in shock.

My stunningly beautiful aunt, Natasha Belmont, stood in front of a luxury car looking sharp and confident, and Hayden indeed stood right beside her.

He had even captioned the post. "Deeply grateful to Mom for taking time out of her busy schedule to drop me off for my internship. I promise I'll never let you down."

I immediately dialed Aunt Natasha's number, but all I heard was a mechanical voice telling me that her phone was powered off.

When Hayden saw that I stubbornly refused to apologize, he stared at me viciously. "Don't regret this, Flynn. I'll make you pay for it."

…

The next day, I learned what Hayden meant by that threat.

At the recognition gala, the Top Sales Performer award and an 800-thousand-dollar bonus payout, which should have belonged to me, were awarded to him instead.

On the presentation slides, they hadn't even had the chance to swap my name with his for the acceptance speech.

This was blatant daylight robbery. Raging fury erupted in my chest.

I immediately demanded an explanation. "On what metric was the Top Sales Performer decided?

"My total project sales this month exceeded one billion dollars and generated millions of dollars in net profit for the company, outperforming the runner-up by a staggering five-million-dollar profit margin.

"Hayden, on the other hand, hasn't closed a single deal. So, my question for the executive board is—on what grounds are you handing my award to him?"

A dead silence fell over the room, while the finance director and sales director exchanged looks, but neither dared say a single word.

Hayden shot me an arrogant look. "Obviously, your projects were secured through shady means. The company can't tolerate such disgraceful, despicable behavior.

"As of right now, we're just revoking your Top Sales Performer eligibility. But if you continue damaging our corporate reputation with your filthy, underhanded methods, termination is what awaits you next."

Shaking with pure rage, I swept my eyes across the executives sitting on the main stage.

They were the same leaders who used to praise my performance and call me a rising star with endless potential. Now, all of them avoided my gaze and lowered their heads like spineless cowards.

I looked at the highest-ranking executive in the room, Warner.

"Mr. Maxwell, is that what you think, too?"

Warner was clearly displeased with being publicly called out. He impatiently frowned and replied, "The company has its variables to consider, Flynn. Do not disrupt a formal recognition gala over such a trivial matter. You need to look at the bigger picture."

"The bigger picture?"

My eyes turned red-rimmed, and my voice started trembling.

"Is your 'bigger picture' about me working all year, grinding past 12:00 am every single night to secure projects I work myself to the bone for, only for them to be handed over to someone else as his own achievement?

"You're completely erasing my hard work based on a baseless rumor he made up and sitting there, doing nothing.

"Let me ask you—where's the fairness in this? Where's justice? Don't you feel even a shred of guilt treating an employee who's contributed so much to the company like this?"

Warner had no response to my questions, while Hayden showed zero shame. He looked at me, raised his chin, and scoffed in disdain.

"Justice? Don't be so naive, Flynn. In the real world, justice belongs to whoever holds the power.

"If you want justice, find yourself a wealthy mom to stand up for you. But it's a pity you don't have one."

Hayden made no effort to hide the contempt on his face as he coldly continued, "As for me, my identity as the son of Natasha Belmont, CEO of Avenel Group, is enough to crush you so hard that you can never stand on your feet again!"

I stared at him and wondered where all his confidence came from. For a second, I started to question if Aunt Natasha might have secretly had an illegitimate son behind the family's back.

Suddenly, I said, "I heard Ms. Belmont has a nephew she treats like her own son. Mr. Belmont, I wonder if you've ever met him."

Hayden's expression froze for a split second before he shot me a look of disdain.

"That's my cousin, so of course, I've met him. But he lives abroad year-round and rarely comes back. I barely get to see him. A low-class peasant like you shouldn't even dream about it."

I scoffed. "Oh, really? If you're that important, Mr. Belmont, why are you out here robbing someone else of their title and bonus? You wouldn't happen to be a fake, would you?"

"How dare you!"

Hayden's face was flushed as he glared at me hatefully. "Don't push your luck, Flynn! Your Top Sales Performer title was revoked because you lack the character for it, while I earned it on pure merit!"

"Pure merit?" I echoed and took a step forward, looking him dead in the eyes.

"Are you talking about your talent for slacking off and playing video games in the office, your two-hour lunch breaks, or perhaps your discipline in clocking out at 5:00 pm sharp on the dot?

"Or are you referring to your skill of staring at the computer screen for an entire day, only to produce presentation slides with just two words, 'The Proposal' on them?"

I wasn't speaking fast, but every single word I said was enough to humiliate him.

Hayden opened his mouth, utterly speechless, before shooting Warner a pleading look for help.

A flash of disappointment crossed Warner's face before he looked at me and coldly said, "Watch your mouth, Flynn. This is a company, not a flea market. It is not a place for you to shout and throw tantrums!

"Don't think that landing a few projects for the company means you can act however you want. Survival of the fittest is the reality of the workplace; you have to accept being replaced by superior talent instead of throwing a fit."

All eyes turned to me. Everyone was waiting to see me fall apart with the company over the 800-thousand-dollar bonus.

But 800 thousand dollars? I wouldn't even blink at five million dollars. All I wanted was justice.

Instead of blowing up in rage or fighting back, I smiled mockingly.

"Fine. I accept it. The Top Sales Performer title should belong to whoever is more outstanding here."

I had just returned to my desk when the HR department issued two announcements.

"Employee Flynn Calder has severely violated company protocol by utilizing corporate funds for lavish personal dining. He is hereby removed from the Sales Manager position and placed on indefinite suspension for self-reflection.

"Intern Hayden Belmont has safeguarded corporate interests and displayed exceptional performance throughout his internship, creating massive profits for the company.

"Effective immediately, he is transitioned to a full-time employee and will assume the Sales Manager role, taking full custody of all pending accounts previously managed by Flynn Calder."

Immediately following the announcements, Warner tagged me in the company group chat, calling me out.

"Flynn, your wasteful extravagance and blatant disregard for company protocols have resulted in the forfeiture of your monthly bonus. You are required to submit a handwritten, ten-thousand-word self-criticism essay to this group chat. Let this serve as a warning to all other employees!"

This was outright bullying!

They stripped away my title as the Top Sales Performer, deducted my bonus, and branded me as an example of shame, dragging me onto a sacrificial altar for humiliation just to establish Hayden's authority.

The group chat went silent. Even the office plunged into dead quietness.

People began casting subtle, fleeting glances in my direction—some filled with pity, sorrow, and indignation, while others gloated over my downfall.

The announcements sat frozen on the screen, as if everyone was waiting for me to type out a humiliated, groveling apology in the group chat.

Warner pinged me again in the chat. "Are you blind?"

Still, I didn't reply.

On the other end of the screen, Warner seemed to be losing his mind and relentlessly tagged me out.

That was when Isabel texted me. "Don't be stubborn, Flynn. Just swallow your pride and give in. Your job is what matters."

I gave her a faint smile, which brought tears to my eyes.

My stiff fingers started tapping on my phone screen as I shakingly typed out my reply.

"Message received, Mr. Maxwell. I'll definitely remember this lesson and never indulge in such lavish wastefulness by ordering a 20-dollar dish. At the next company dinner, I'll only drink water and won't touch a single bite of food."