Part 3The Cost of Arrogance

But Adrian just held the letter, refusing to sign. He rubbed his eyes, sighed wearily, and looked at me. "Can you please stop this, Leah?"

His gaze fell on the red, swelling handprint on my cheek, and for a fleeting second, I saw a flicker of… guilt?

"I know you've been under a lot of stress lately, that you're overthinking things. Let's just forget what happened today, okay?"

"Sign it," I repeated.

My unyielding stance seemed to anger him. He made a frustrated sound. "Stop being dramatic. If you actually quit, where would you go? With your degree, what major company is going to hire you? Are you really sure you can find a better job than this?"

He had a half-smile on his face, as if mocking my overconfidence.

A chill ran down my spine. The scene was sickeningly familiar.

When I graduated, my resume was rejected everywhere. It was my mother who, through a distant acquaintance, introduced me to Adrian, who was then just a junior manager. She had humbled herself, treated him to a lavish dinner, and slipped him a thick envelope of cash.

"Leah, you're just too earnest," she had told me. "You don't know how to sell yourself. Mr. Cole is a sharp man. Stick with him, and learn."

So I joined the company, and Adrian did "take care" of me.

He gave me the toughest, most thankless tasks, calling it "training."

He took the credit for the work I did overnight, then patted my shoulder and told me, "Young people shouldn't be so concerned with personal gain."

My naive parents thought I had found a great mentor and constantly reminded me to be grateful.

If they knew I was leaving Adrian, they would call me ungrateful. They might even drag me back here to beg for my job back.

I shuddered.

Adrian, thinking he had me trapped, softened his voice. "Alright, that's enough. You have no connections, no prestigious degree. How are you going to survive without me?"

"It was wrong of me not to let you present. But I was just worried you'd get nervous and say the wrong thing, messing up the whole project."

"Once we land this contract, I'll give you a big bonus, a promotion, a raise, how does that sound? Didn't you always want to be a team lead?"

Amy stepped out from behind him, adding her two cents. "That's right, Leah, don't overthink it. Today was a very important meeting, with very important people."

"You're not used to that kind of pressure. What if you got nervous and embarrassed yourself? The clients would question our professionalism, and Adrian would be in a terrible position."

"He was just trying to protect you. How can you misunderstand his good intentions? You should apologize to him."

She pulled an intern in front of her like a shield. "See? You've scared the new staff. Don't worry, Tom, I'll have Leah apologize to you."

Other colleagues gathered around, fussing over Amy, checking her face and hands for any injuries.

"She's completely out of control. Adrian, you can't let her get away with this."

"She needs to make a public apology, at the very least, and forfeit her entire bonus for the month!"

Five or six people stood before me, all waiting for me to bow my head and apologize, just like I always did.