My boss, Patrick Hoffman, has made a bad investment that fails. When the board wants someone to be held accountable for the loss, he makes me the fall guy.

Now that I've been fired from the company, I can no longer make my mortgage payments. My wife, Georgia Lowe, ends up falling seriously ill as well. In dire need of money, I ask Patrick for my severance pay.

Sitting in his luxury car, he simply tosses me a few hundred dollars, saying, "You expect me to give you severance pay? I lost over a billion dollars because of you, Heath! How dare you ask me for money?

"Here. Take these hundred-dollar bills and buy your wife a decent coffin!"

My fists clench as I watch him drive off.

Later that night, I drop a bombshell in a group chat filled with investors and business owners.

"Seeking employment—bringing years of professional experience in cooking the books to the table. My former boss has nothing but praise for my abilities!"

That very night, the group chat blew up.

Patrick Hoffman, my now-former boss and the chairman of United Enterprise, messaged me in private.

"Heath Carter! Have you lost your mind? What the heck kind of nonsense are you spouting? Delete that message right this instant!"

"It's too late for me to delete it, but why are you so panicked, Mr. Carter? I'm just using you as a case study. Why are you getting so worked up?"

After responding to Patrick, I posted my résumé in the group chat.

"I'm in urgent need of employment and able to start anytime. If you've got any financial problems, I'm available for consultation. I've got insider info on well-known companies, and my rates are fair. You can trust that there's no deception here!"

People in the group started chiming in.

"Heath, did your account get hacked?"

"You'll get thrown in jail if you leak corporate secrets!"

That response made me scoff, and I responded with, "Who said I'm leaking anything? I'm just sharing a case study of mine. That's well within my rights as a job seeker. I can't even put food on the table at home, and my wife's sick. Why else do you think I'm here offering my services?"

Someone who knew about what had happened specifically mentioned Patrick in the group chat. "What's going on, Mr. Hoffman? Mr. Carter used to be your right-hand man. After all this, you're not going to do anything?"

It was a while before Patrick finally replied, "The so-called case study is nothing but fabricated lies! Heath Carter committed a grievous mistake that caused massive losses to the company and was dismissed as a result. Keep your eyes open, everyone. Don't get fooled by him!"

Upon seeing his claims, I felt the burst of anger rushing to my head. Patrick could go to hell for all I cared. He was the one who spent 50 million dollars on an investment that led to a loss of over a billion dollars. Yet here he was, trying to smear my reputation.

I wasn't going to take that lying down.

Without saying a word, I uploaded a financial report detailing the costs incurred in the development of a game for another company.

Immediately, a business owner by the name of Donovan Fowler sent me a private message.

"Are those numbers real, Heath? It only took a few million dollars? You're not pulling one over me, right?"

"I can guarantee the numbers are real," I replied.

"What the hell? Patrick Hoffman tricked me into investing over ten million dollars in that project, claiming that money was tight. And he only gave me two million dollars in dividends once the project was completed! He played me for a fool!

"I knew something was fishy. So many people made accounts for the game, but we never got to see the detailed financial breakdown. Patrick kept claiming that the numbers were confidential. Well, seems to me that he took a fat cut for himself and only left a few crumbs for the rest of us! That damned bastard!"

Donovan was livid. Even though we were texting, I could imagine his reddened cheeks puffing with anger.

But I didn't respond. I simply left him hanging to keep him waiting. Soon enough, he grew impatient.

"Heath, can you help me take him down? That bastard has gone off on a snow mountain climbing trip. He gave me some bullshit about conquering new heights, leaving me here to work my butt off holding things together."

Cocking my brows, I glanced into the hospital room where my wife, Georgia Lowe, was lying. Then, I replied, "Why should I help you? How is it worth my while?"

As soon as I said that, Donovan made a transfer of 100 thousand dollars to my bank account. "Let's meet in person to discuss this when we can, Heath. Use the money to cover any emergencies you have first."

While I didn't respond, I accepted the money.

After I'd paid off Georgia's hospital bills, I finally had the time to process everything. With my laptop in hand, I drove into the basement parking lot of the company building.

The elevators here gave me direct access to the company's main entrance. Before I left the company after getting fired, I'd decided to leave a little something as an insurance policy for myself. There was something that only I could make happen.

Half an hour later, I went back to the car with my laptop and immediately texted Patrick, "Let the games begin, Patrick. Starting from this moment, I'll be dropping a bomb every eight hours. Prepare yourself."

Patrick didn't take me seriously. He called me up and said scornfully, "Don't even try to threaten me, Heath. You have no evidence at all. The only thing you can do is go around running your mouth.

"Go on, then. I dare you to expose everything! You'd go to prison for cooking the books, too!"

I chuckled. "Who said I'd be going to prison? You forced me to do it. Besides, who said I was going to use the falsified accounts to threaten you? Need I remind you of all the dirt there is to find on you, Patrick?

"It'll only take three days—I'll be releasing what I've got every eight hours. You can count on me to keep my word."

After ending the call, I went on X and exposed Patrick for having taken advantage of a female employee in the past, demanding sexual favors from her.

This was just the start, of course. After all, a sex scandal wouldn't amount to much when I was trying to take down the chairman of a company.

In any case, Patrick's scandal was nothing compared to the kind of scandals celebrities were involved in. The post only made a tiny splash, but I was just using it to test the waters anyway.

When the second eight-hour mark hit, I exposed how Patrick had deliberately given the order to set up a local company, solely for the sake of suppressing the competition.

He'd driven the founder of the company to ruin. For years now, the victim had been trying to take him to court—and I just so happened to provide the evidence to back the victim's claims now.

Following the release of both exposés, the situation went a lot more viral than I'd expected.

That same day, people started asking me about what was going on. Although I didn't respond to anyone, the online community was in an uproar already. Everyone was able to follow the trail of clues and dig up the conflict between Patrick and me.

"So, he got laid off without compensation, and now he's exposing the dirt he has on his boss? Sounds like the guy's no saint either!"

"Whoa! Does he have ties with the criminal underworld or something? I can't believe he's going for the jugular like that."

"Hey, man, do you think it's still worth investing in your old company's shares? I'm thinking about buying some while the prices are low."

The comments were mixed, but I didn't care.

As it was, this situation was enough to cause Patrick quite a bit of trouble. He could no longer sit still, choosing to message me about it. "You just want some compensation from me, don't you, Heath? Fine. I'll give it to you. How much do you want? Just stop screwing with me, okay?"

I snorted. Did he think I was only after his money?

That was not nearly enough to satisfy me.

I didn't bother answering him. I was busy watching over Georgia at the hospital. Her condition was improving, and once she regained consciousness, I finally exhaled in relief.

At the same time, all of the data on my laptop had finally been processed. I gave it some thought before choosing to upload the data.

When Patrick didn't get a response from me, he called to threaten me. "Heath, if you don't want trouble, you'd better keep your mouth shut! You need money for your wife's treatment, right? I'll give it to you.

"It's just your severance pay anyway. I'll give you two months' salary for every year you've worked for me!"

That made me snort. "That's chump change. You accused me of things I didn't do and made me the scapegoat for a loss of over a billion dollars, Patrick. You think you can just use a few hundred thousand dollars to get me off your back?"

"How much do you want?"

"Ten million dollars."

"Dream on!" Patrick fumed. "I'd rather spend ten million dollars on hiring Internet trolls to drown you out than give you the money!"

"In that case, I guess we won't be coming to an agreement."

After ending the call, I released the third exposé that instantly went viral as well.

"United Foundation Donation Fraud!"

This bombshell sent the online community into a frenzy.

"Are you serious? The foundation has been lying about their donations? Then, where did all the money I donated go? Didn't they say the funds were being used to set up libraries for elementary schools?"

"You've got to be kidding me! They spent 50 thousand dollars on travel expenses and only 30 thousand dollars on donating school supplies? So, they basically used our money to go on a fully funded vacation! Look at the school! It's located in a tourist destination!"

"Here's a little-known fact for everyone's reading pleasure—that particular elementary school was closed down two years ago. So, where did the money go?"

"Well, the almighty chairman, Patrick Hoffman, is too busy to answer our questions on that. He's still on his snow mountain climbing trip!"

"The guy exposing these things used to be an accountant for United Enterprise. He's basically shooting himself in the foot just to get back at his old boss. It feels like he doesn't care what happens to him anymore!"

They were wrong about that. I cared a great deal about what was going to happen to me. That was the only reason why I came up with this plan.

Patrick was clearly in panic mode now. In just 24 hours, I'd dropped three major exposés. The first drove a wedge between him and his wife. The second ruined his reputation. And now, the third resulted in both him and the company being the target of public scrutiny.

Questions began flooding in from all sides. Both his personal account and the company's account on social media were being besieged with confrontational questions and mockery.

The PR department at United Enterprise was cracking under the pressure.

Some of my ex-coworkers who maintained good relationships with me secretly kept me updated on the situation in the office. Patrick was back from his trip. He'd called for everyone to work overtime and come up with a solution for this crisis as quickly as possible.

I sneered. Why would I have chosen to release these three specific exposés if they could be resolved so easily?

When Patrick came to find me, I had just walked out of the doctor's office. The doctor said Georgia's condition was stable and improving steadily. She could soon be discharged from the hospital.

I was relieved to hear that.

And as soon as I left the doctor's office, I spotted Patrick. With a smile that didn't reach his eyes, he gave me a debit card.

"There's 500 thousand dollars on there, so just stop it now. Why must you insist on making things ugly?" he said. "What can you gain from pushing me into a corner?"

I shoved the card back into his hand.

"You made me take the fall for you and ruined my reputation. You left me drowning in mortgage payments, barely making ends meet. You wouldn't even give me the money I needed to save my wife! So don't blame me for not showing any courtesy," I growled.

"Everything I've done has solely been to give myself a way to survive. You can't buy off the years I've spent working for you with just 500 thousand dollars, Patrick. Ten million dollars, and not a single cent less!"

Patrick scowled. He didn't expect me to stand my ground.

"So, this is how it's going to be, huh, Heath? So be it. We'll see about this!"

He marched right off, but I didn't care at all.

However, he soon retaliated against me.

Early the next morning, the police showed up at the hospital to take me with them.

"Heath Carter, someone has reported you for defamation and spreading falsehoods. You need to come down to the station with us."

To keep Georgia from worrying about me, I'd already asked my mother-in-law, Naomi Moore, to come take care of her.

So, when the police arrived, I followed them out calmly. The moment I stepped out of the hospital, I was swarmed by a group of reporters.

"Heath, you accused United Foundation of fraud, and now you've been arrested yourself. Care to share your thoughts on that?"

"You previously exposed the workplace harassment endured by a female employee. Did you even get her consent first?"

"You claim to be doing the righteous thing, but aren't you just another criminal exposing other people's private information?"

Faced with their accusations, I simply replied with a calm smile, "Once the eight-hour mark passes, there'll be another exposé. I hope Mr. Hoffman spent enough on paid shills to cover his ass and get out of this next scandal unscathed."

Immediately, the crowd of reporters surged forward and started pressing me further.

"What's the exposé? Can you give us a hint?"

"What does it involve this time?"

Pausing in my tracks, I looked straight into one of the cameras and said in all seriousness, "It'll be something that will ruin Patrick Hoffman's reputation completely—enough to strip him of everything he has."

After flashing them one last smile, I got into the police car.

At the station, the police didn't ask me all that many questions. They just had me confirm that I was the one who made the posts.

I also provided them with the evidence to back up my claims.

Soon, two lawyers showed up, claiming to be United Enterprise's legal counsel.

"Mr. Carter, we represent United Enterprise in filing a lawsuit against you for libel, defamation, and extortion."

I snorted. "You can only sue me if I released fabricated information, but everything I said is a proven fact. How does it count as libel and defamation?

"The so-called extortion is also a baseless accusation. I simply asked Patrick for what he owes me. Apart from the severance pay I'm due, he also owes me dividends on the company shares I've owned for the past seven years. I'm just asking for the money I'm owed. What's illegal about that?"

"Since you two are lawyers, I'm sure you're familiar with the relevant laws. Take a look at this equity agreement, then tell me if there's anything wrong with what I'm doing."

Their expressions stiffened once they saw the equity agreement I showed them.

Chuckling, I remarked, "Kindly pass a message to Patrick for me. He has three minutes before I release my next exposé."

The two men swiftly got in touch with Patrick, and his furious roar rang through the phone. "Tell him he can keep dreaming! That so-called agreement is just a bunch of bullshit! He made it up! I doubt he can do much else. Go all in against him!"

Hearing that, I couldn't help but sigh. There was nothing more for us to discuss, then.

Three minutes later, a 24-page document went viral across the Internet, and so did United Enterprise.

Once Patrick saw the latest exposé, he collapsed into his chair.