"There's no seat for you at this table. Get up. Right now. Go clear out your things and give your chair to Tom."

"After all, he's the one who landed us the partnership with the Gilbert Group, the biggest player in the game. He's more than qualified to sit as vice president."

Tom brokered the deal between the Hardings and the Gilbert Group? I turned, fixing him with a cold stare. He looked back at me, swollen with pride.

"Who else would it be, if not me?"

"I know it's got to sting, having to give up your seat."

"So here's what we'll do. We'll put it to a vote."

Amanda Harding regarded Tom with something close to admiration.

"Jude Gilbert, you see that? That's how a man with actual brains talks!"

"Not like you, spouting big talk that only makes people laugh."

I said nothing, waiting to see how the Harding people would line up.

Amanda swept her gaze across the room, her voice carrying an edge that brooked no argument.

"You all heard what was just said, didn't you?"

"Then I'll cut the chatter and get straight to the point."

"Do you support Tom as the company's vice president? Or do you still back Jude Gilbert for the position? Raise your hands to show where you stand."

"Now, everyone who supports Tom as vice president, raise your hand!"

Anyone could see how much Amanda valued her little assistant. Who would be reckless enough not to raise a hand?

Every hand in the room went up. Every hand but mine.

Tom smirked, thoroughly pleased with the picture in front of him.

Amanda's lips curved, and she nodded, just as satisfied.

It hit me all at once. This was her humiliating me in front of everyone.

"Everyone who supports Jude Gilbert staying on as vice president, raise your hand!"

The room exchanged uneasy glances. Not a single hand went up.

Tom snorted and raised his. Even Amanda looked thrown.

Only I knew why he'd lifted his hand.

"Oh, come on! How can you all treat our outgoing vice president like this!"

"Couldn't even one of you raise a hand, just to spare Jude Gilbert the embarrassment?"

The confusion lifted, and the mockery only thickened.

"Good thing I know how to be gracious. Jude looked so pathetic, I raised my hand for him."

"Jude Gilbert! Don't take it too hard. I'll keep that seat warm and steady for you."

He watched me with a smile that never reached his eyes. I didn't lose my temper. I just smiled and rapped my knuckles once against the table.

"Amanda Harding, it's not that I'm underestimating you."

"The Hardings is supposed to be a legitimate company. You fire a vice president and let a school of minnows make the call? No need to consult the shareholders?"

I was leaving, yes. But not because this pack of dead weight could simply toss me out.

And I'm not just talking trash. Without me, the Hardings wouldn't be far from bankruptcy.

"Jude Gilbert, are you looking down on us?"

Someone slammed a palm on the table and shot to their feet, openly turning on me the moment they sensed I was cornered.

"Exactly. We're senior management at the Hardings. Don't tell me we don't even have the right to vote."

I pulled out my phone, sent a message, and rose to my feet.

"That's right!"

"One thing. Dismissing me requires the support of the board of directors."

Seeing me about to leave, Tom called after me with a laugh.

"Hold on!"

"Didn't you say the Gilbert people would be sending a contract over to cancel the deal?"

"What's the matter? Can't keep the act going?"

"Hahaha, see that! This is the kind of talent our dear vice president brought to slaving away for the Hardings."

"Laugh all you want."

"Everyone's this arrogant when they think they've got the upper hand."

"The partnership between the Gilbert Group and the Hardings comes down to tomorrow's board meeting."

If they wanted to dig their own graves, I wouldn't stand in their way.

Only after I'd vanished through the doorway did their laughter finally die down.

My leaving stirred up nothing. They went right on ordering food and eating, dragging me out now and then for their amusement.

Back home, I washed off the day's exhaustion.

A wine bottle in one hand and a glass in the other, I sank into the single armchair on the balcony, poured myself a glass, and sipped it slowly.

That was when my phone buzzed.

I glanced at the caller ID, saw it was Tom, and didn't pick up.

He seemed to enjoy it, calling again and again.

I'm not the hot-tempered type. If he wanted to call, he could call to his heart's content.

When he finally got bored of being ignored, he sent me a video and a voice message.

There, on Amanda Harding's bed, he had his arms around that woman, kissing her wildly, doing things I won't describe.

He thought provoking me would let him watch me lose my temper. So I downloaded their little trophy on the spot and forwarded it, one by one, to every single person in the company.

I'd assumed my heart would ache, at least a little. To my surprise, it didn't.

The next day I went back to the office, and everyone shot me strange looks.

"Did you all get it last night?"

"Mr. Gilbert actually sent me a video of Ms. Harding and Assistant Delgado in bed. Hahaha!"

"You got it too?! Damn, I got one as well!"

"I got it too…"

"How does everyone have it? What is Mr. Gilbert even playing at?"

"His own fiancée rolling around with another man, and he isn't angry? He's even got the nerve to send that kind of video to every employee."

"Quiet, Ms. Harding's here."

The words had barely faded when Amanda Harding came clicking toward me on her heels.

The instant she got close, her hand flew up to slap me.

I caught her wrist. "First thing in the morning and you're already this worked up."

"Is it because you can't perform? Is that why you never satisfied Amanda?"

Tom's face went scarlet in an instant. My counterattack had clearly enraged him.

"Jude Gilbert, you're disgusting."

"Why would you send every employee in the company photos of me in bed?"

I laughed and shook her hand off, then smoothed my collar.

"Want to guess how I ended up with a video of the two of you in the sheets?"

The lobby fell dead silent. Everyone was dying to know.

"It's all thanks to Assistant Delgado, of course."

"He's the one who sent me the footage of your romp, and he didn't bother explaining himself. So I thought, a perk this good, surely I shouldn't hoard it all for myself, right?"

"So I made sure every employee in the company got their own copy."

Amanda stared at Tom in disbelief, while he just wore a mournful face and denied it.

Right then, the shareholders in the conference room sent word.

They'd been waiting a long time. If we didn't go in soon, they were going home.

Tom certainly wouldn't let them leave. After all, he hadn't officially taken my seat yet.

The moment I walked into the conference room, I became the center of attention.

Amanda strode to her place with Tom in tow, chin high, and pointed at the seat that was mine.

"Tom, from now on this seat is yours. Go on, sit."

"You got it!"

Tom hurried over, beaming, and dropped into the chair without a second's hesitation.

"A vice president's chair really is something. So comfortable."

The chairs were all identical, yet everyone in the room caught the deeper meaning behind his words.

One person couldn't help standing up to ask, "Ms. Harding, you're putting an assistant in the vice president's chair. Then where is Mr. Gilbert supposed to sit?"

Amanda smiled. "Exactly. That's the whole reason I called all of you here."

Tom straightened his clothes at once, and Amanda promptly made her announcement to all the shareholders.

"Everyone, I have something to announce today."

"I'm dismissing Jude Gilbert and letting Tom Delgado formally take over as vice president."

Aaron Finch, the old shareholder who had spoken up, was the only one in the room who looked surprised.

So last night, between the sheets, the two of them had also found time to buy their loyalties.

Aaron didn't like the verdict, and his clash with Amanda boiled over.

Tom snatched up a teacup and hurled it straight at the old man's head. "You useless relic. If you can't bear to lose Jude Gilbert, then get out with him!"

"Sell your shares and go! Harding Corp will be better off without one stubborn old fossil!"

I stepped inside and helped Aaron to his feet. For the first time in a long while, my calm cracked, and the anger I'd swallowed for so long finally surfaced.

"So all of you back Ms. Harding's decision to fire me. Is that it?"

"Yes!" The answer came back in unison, crisp and forceful, as if terrified I might somehow miss it.

"Fine. Then let me give you all a gift in return."

I raised a hand and clapped twice. "Come in."

The door swung open, and several men in sharp suits walked in, their faces cold and severe.

In their hands was a contract. The partnership agreement between Harding Corp and the Gilbert Group.

"Amanda Harding, I can lift you to heaven, and I can drag you straight to hell."

"I hereby announce that the Gilbert Group will never again do business with a small-time outfit like Harding Corp."