Later at night, Jessica took Timmy and me to meet Mr. Newton from Victoria Holdings to discuss a deal. Mr. Newton was generous with money, but he was famous for being hard to please.

"Ms. White, your company doesn't really meet my investment standards. Still, I do enjoy having some fun. If you can give me a little entertainment, I... Can think about it," Mr. Newton said.

"What kind of entertainment do you have in mind?" Jessica asked as she smiled at him and buttered him up.

"Tell the person next to you to get down on his knees and bark like a dog. I'll give you one million for each bark," Mr. Newton said as he gave Timmy and me a malicious look.

Jessica did not even hesitate as she looked straight at me. "Claude, what are you waiting for?"

"I can't do that," I said.

"If she tells you to do something, you do it. Or do you want to leave this company already?" Timmy cut in.

I ignored Timmy.

Meanwhile, Jessica grew anxious. "Claude, this investment from Mr. Newton is crucial for our company. If the deal falls through, the company might go under!"

"Ms. White, you still have Timmy," I said with a calm tone.

"He has just joined the company and knows nothing! You're the senior employee here! You don't want to see the company collapse, do you? Do you know how hard it is for a woman like me to build and maintain this company? You've always put me first, right?" Looking at the shimmer of tears welling in Jessica's eyes, my heart softened.

Then, I went down on my knees and barked a few times.

"Haha! Not bad! What a loyal dog you have there! But that's still not exciting enough," Mr. Newton let out a big laugh. "I know... I've seen plenty of women striptease, but I've never seen a man do it. Let him dance for us! I'll invest ten million dollars after that!"

"You hear that, Claude? Start dancing!" Jessica's voice became even more urgent.

"I don't know how to," I said.

"You can't do that, and you don't know how to do this, then what can you do? This is business! If you refuse, you're not doing your job!" Timmy said, but I did not even bother to look at him.

"A lot of people rely on this company to make a living. If the company goes bankrupt, what happens to them? You know how much effort I've put into the company, right? I'll never let it go bankrupt! Just do it for me, okay?" Jessica moved closer, her voice breaking and turning into a sob.

I could not bear to see her like that any longer and gave in again.

When the music started, I stripped down to my underwear and forced my body to move stiffly.

"Good! Very good!" Mr. Newton laughed conceitedly.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Timmy holding up his phone and filming me. Meanwhile, Jessica clapped along and cheered.

-

The next day, the company held its quarterly meeting.

"Next, it's my turn to give my work report. Please look at the screen," Timmy said as he glanced at me with a faint smirk on his face.

All of a sudden, the conference room suddenly went into a riot.

I looked up and saw my striptease video playing on the big screen.

"Sorry, wrong file. This is my actual presentation!" Timmy said as he feigned panic. However, no one was paying attention to Timmy anymore. They all kept their heads down and whispered among themselves.

"I didn't expect him to be so proper on the outside but to be shameless enough to do something like this in private!"

"I bet someone is keeping him as a sugar baby, or he's working as a gigolo. Who knew he had this in him?"

"I thought Claude had always been a simp for Ms. White? He has stayed in this company for years just for her!"

My anger surged, and I almost couldn't hold my fury inside.

Jessica suddenly shot to her feet, furious. "Why did you do that? Don't you know how much this affects everyone? Why did you do something so disgusting?!"

I froze.

Was she pointing at me?

I was her target?!

I was shaking in front of all my colleagues in the conference room as I stammered, "Ms. White... Last night... I was..."

"Enough! This company won't tolerate such horrendous behavior! Don't bring your filthy private life into the company! I'm warning you, if I ever catch you again, you're out!"

Jessica leaned in, jabbing a finger into my forehead. I was still in shock and barely felt the pain.

"I always try to be fair with rewards and punishments. I never play favorites just because someone has been with the company for years! Claude's actions are unethical and severely affect the company. I'm docking three months of his salary," Jessica said as she let out a cold snort.

I felt like I had been jolted as my face went pale, but her next words chilled me even more. It's a good thing that Timmy reported this, so I'm promoting him to finance manager from today. His monthly salary is raised by 1,000."

"Thank you, Ms. White. I'll work even harder for the company." Timmy grinned in satisfaction.

"See that? This is what a good employee should be like. I hope all of you will put the company first and never do anything that ruins our reputation! Ability matters, but character matters too," Jessica finished as she shot me a glare.

Everyone looked at one another, waiting to see how I would react.

I just walked out of the conference room in silence.

A few days later, it was the holiday. However, I didn't get to rest. Instead, I took Mr. Paine from Whitewind Group out to dinner.

He was thinking about investing five million in our company. Mr. Paine cared a lot about sharing drinks at the table. So, after I forced down eight bottles of vodka, I finally secured the investment.

I threw up until bile nearly came up with blood in my vomit.

I took the receipt of two thousand dollars to Timmy for reimbursement, but he only transferred me one hundred dollars.

"Did you send me the wrong amount?"

"Fifty per person. So, that's one hundred for two people."

"But I claimed two thousand dollars," I said as I gritted my teeth.

Timmy got up to his feet and pointed at me as he started yelling at me. "How much does takeaway cost? A hundred is more than enough! Don't think for a second that I don't know what you're trying to do! Now that Ms. White has docked your pay, you're pulling every trick in the book to squeeze money out of the company!"

"Do you realize that's a five-million-dollar investment? You think I can serve that client takeaway?" I let out a cold laugh.

"Only incapable people need to spend that much on clients. Timmy's right, you're just trying to take advantage of the company," Jessica said as she suddenly appeared behind me, staring at me with icy eyes.

She continued to tear me apart as she yelled, "How ungrateful can you get?! The company has supported you for so many years, and all you ever do is look for ways to take advantage of the company! You just don't want this place to do well, right?! You can't wait for it to go bankrupt!"

"Ms. White, if I didn't care about the company, I wouldn't have drunk myself to the point that I have internal bleeding for that five million dollars."

"You really think you're some hot stuff, don't you? Do you think this company can't operate without you? Grandsun Group just agreed to meet with us, and we're talking about a fifty-million-dollar investment. That five million you got is nothing."

Grandsun Group?

Wasn't that the company whose boss had asked me again and again to go work at her place?

"I've never thought about doing that," I said when Jessica mentioned my trying to squeeze the company of its funds.

"Ha! I know exactly what you're thinking! I'll spell it out for you today! I'll never give you a chance! Your feelings for me are worthless to me!" Jessica's eyes were full of open disdain.

"You really mean that?" My eyes slowly turned red as I asked, unwilling to accept it.

"Take a good look at yourself. You're broke and pathetic, and you make me sick. You will never be the man that I want!" Jessica declared.

At that moment, I gave up completely. The feelings I had held for Jessica for a decade finally vanished without a trace. I then said, "Fine. Then I quit."

"If you want to leave, leave right now! Do you think I'm scared of you? Once you walk out that door, never come back! Do not come begging me later, and I'll never give you a second chance!"

"Fine." My expression went flat, but I somehow felt calm.

"He's just threatening you, Ms. White. Once he leaves this company, he's nothing. He'll never find another job! After that, he'll have no choice but to crawl back and kneel in front of you like a dog! It's not like he has never barked like a dog before." Timmy said with a smug look on his face.

I knew that they were both sure I could not leave the company or Jessica.

That night, I called Cecilia Weaver, the owner of Grandsun Group, and agreed to join her company as a director.

Cecilia was thrilled, and she immediately set my annual salary at 144,000 dollars on the spot, putting me in charge of a fifty-million-dollar project, with Jessica's company as the investment target.

I was sitting in my office when the internal line suddenly rang.

"Is this Director Arkwright? This is Jessica White. Ms. Weaver asked me to contact you about the investment. Can I meet with you now?"

"Sure," I said.

So, she wanted to see me? I would make sure we had a proper meeting.

I let out a cold chuckle.

Jessica and Timmy soon arrived at my office, and she pushed the door open. The moment she looked up and saw me, her face filled with contempt. "Claude? What are you doing here? Are you here to stir up trouble? Or are you back to begging already? I told you I would never give you another chance. You should get out!"

"Ms. White, I told you he would never find a job, right? He's completely useless," Timmy said.

"You're the ones who asked to see me," I said as I let my lips curl into a faint smile.

"Who do you think you are? Don't think you're someone special just because you have the same last name as the director! He's someone important, while you're just trash I kicked out!" Jessica said.

"I heard the person we're supposed to meet today is someone Ms. Weaver begged over and over to join her. Who do you think you are, sitting in his chair?" Timmy's expression was full of disdain.

"Is that so?" I cared little about what was happening.

"The director will be here any minute, so get out of here right now! I'm warning you, if you ruin my deal with Grandsun, you'll regret it!" Jessica hissed.

I stayed seated, completely calm. Seeing that, Jessica became even angrier and shouted, "Is anyone there? Get this man out of here!"