I received an invitation to a face-to-face meeting with my boss in a nearby meeting room. At that time, the naive me was even happy to see it, since I was sure it was going to be about the promotion I had been hoping would be mine for ages. Seeing the invitation, I was sure it was mine. I could not wait to see the reaction of my fiancée, Isabella, when I was going to tell her that I finally got the promotion we had both awaited so long.

  I spent the next hour constantly checking the time and fidgeting. In my head, I was already practicing my thank-you speech and imagining the look on Isabella’s face when I told her the news.

  Five minutes before the scheduled start, I stood up and slowly walked up to the meeting room. I was about to open the door when I noticed the sign 'Meeting in Progress—Do Not Enter' above the door was lit up.

  So, I stepped back a few steps and waited patiently. The sign meant that there was already a meeting ongoing inside and that they were not expecting more people to join in. My naivete struck again, and I just told myself that the boss must be just doing last bits of prep before letting me know that I was being promoted. So, I stood there patiently for more than fifteen minutes, smiling like an idiot, not suspecting a thing.

  The door opened, and the department parasite stepped out with a smug smile. It was Duncan—the person I hated most in the world. He was a sleazy bastard who had even tried to pick up my fiancée right in front of me at last year’s Christmas party. A man who managed to sink two major deals in a single week, got two promising interns fired for his mistakes, and then had the audacity to take credit when I fixed the mess he made.

  I froze. Seeing him leave the meeting room with a smile on his face, he even waved to the people inside and gently bowed before speaking.

  “So, I'll take the rest of the day off as we spoke. I am going to celebrate the promotion with my girlfriend. Have a nice day!”

  “Sure, Duncan! Enjoy!” my boss called out from inside.

  Duncan turned to me with his smug smile; seeing me, he even smirked. It looked like seeing me here was funny to him.

  This made it clear to me: the one getting promoted was not going to be me, but this sleazy asshole. Realizing this, I became worried. If the meeting wasn't going to be about me getting promoted, what was it going to be about?

  I took a deep breath and entered the meeting room, my steps uncertain. As I entered, another bad sign surfaced right in front of me: there was a person from HR sitting right next to my boss, and she didn’t look like she was leaving. She comes to meetings only to handle promotions, new hires, or matters like sacking somebody. In other words, unless you were new or getting promoted, seeing her here was extremely bad news. I bowed my head politely and greeted them with a forced smile.

  “Greetings, Mr. Chadwick! Greetings, Miss Bradford, I wasn’t aware that you would be joining us!”

  My boss, Nathan Chadwick, an average-looking man in his late forties in an expensive-looking suit, pointed to the chair across the table, right in front of him.

  “Let’s skip the formalities, Victor. Sit down and let’s get to the point!”

  His voice was stern, with a hint of anger and disappointment in it. Hearing this, I quickly sat down as he asked, my worries skyrocketing. The moment I sat down, he sighed.

  “Until just a few days ago, I was sure that the three of us were going to meet here to let you know that you were getting promoted, but then it all changed.”

  He remained silent for a few seconds, after which he sighed once again and continued, the disappointment seeping out of his voice.

  “The reason we called you here is that there was a transfer from the sales department company account to an account in the Cayman Islands—transferring everything, more than $1,250,000. The money moved from that account right away and jumped so many times in such a short time that nobody is able to track it down properly.”

  I paled and quickly blurted out, confused, “And what has that to do with me?”

  Nathan became visibly angrier, but he did his best to respond professionally.

  “We tracked the device the transfer came from. It was your laptop!”

  “I didn’t do that! There must be a mistake!” I screamed out in desperation.

  Nathan didn’t even speak; he just threw some papers at my face. I quickly looked at them and saw that the transfer was really made from my laptop. This Monday, during the lunch break. Not able to think straight, I desperately tried to defend myself.

  “I eat lunch every day in the restaurant across the street, like everybody does. You should have seen me on the cameras, leaving the premises.”

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  Nathan shook his head before speaking.

  “No, Victor, you didn’t leave for lunch that day. And before you ask, there are no cameras inside the premises, so that the sensitive contents of your work won’t be caught on them!”

  As he spoke, my brain started to catch up. It was the truth. Monday was the only day in years I didn’t leave for the restaurant and had my lunch here in the kitchenette. My fiancée packed me lunch that day. It was part of our effort to revitalize our relationship. We had grown distant lately, buried under our hectic work schedules.

  “The person who did the transfer even entered your password on the first attempt, without any issues! And we even have a witness who testified that you returned to your seat in the middle of lunch!”

  I wanted to defend myself but words weren’t coming out I ended up just opening and closing my mouth without making a sound.

  The only person outside of me who knew my password was my fiancée. I told her this weekend during a truth game. It was also part of our efforts to fix our relationship; by answering very sensitive questions to each other, we were meant to reinforce the trust between us and get closer again. One of her questions was the password to my work laptop. Nobody else knew! And it was impossible for her to do it; she loves me and she doesn't even work here. Also, who could have seen me return? There must have been some mistake. I spent the whole lunch eating in the kitchenette alone.

  Seeing my failed attempts to speak, Nathan just sighed and waved his hand towards the HR lady.

  “Please take it from here. I can’t take it anymore!”

  She took a deep breath and spoke. “Look, the evidence against you is damning. But we would prefer to handle this silently within the company. Nobody wants to risk a scandal! So, you have two choices. First, you sign this—it is a document stating that you borrowed $1,264,158 from the company and will be paying it back. You will pay this in installments. Until this is fully paid off, you will lose access to any and all company bank accounts. You will also waive your rights to any bonuses, time off, or insurance. And in case you are let go or leave the company, you will be required to pay the rest of the loan in one go! Second is that we call the cops and let them investigate and arrest you! Which one is it going to be?”

  I grabbed the papers and quickly skimmed over them. Signing this would make me basically a slave to the company. There was even a much higher than normal interest rate per year on the so-called loan. And that was not everything; after fully paying off the debt, I would be let go. Seeing this, I shuddered. I took a deep breath and thought about it for a moment. Signing this, however bad it was, was still better than going to jail for a thing I didn’t do. There was no other way for me to go about this.

  Once I signed the document, Nathan grabbed it, shaking his head in disgust.

  “Your laptop was taken in by the IT security department while you were here. Go and get yourself a new one. Your privileges should have been amended to match your new position in the company! Now, get out of my sight!”

  I left the meeting room with my head down, barely able to hold back my tears. I went to pick up my new laptop; it was a much slower and older model than the one I had had before. I walked up to my desk, connected the shitty laptop, and booted it up. The moment it started, monitoring software greeted me, recording my every click and making sure I didn't try anything.

  First, I checked what I could do. I very quickly realized that outside of the menial work of preparing presentations and materials, I could do very little. Then the realization dawned on me: I would be working my ass off, preparing materials for others until I paid off the debt, and only then would I be let go. The only saving grace was that nobody around me knew what had just happened, but less than a minute later, it changed. An email from my boss addressed to whole team had arrived.

  ‘

  Greetings;

  I would like to announce to you a few personal changes:

  Firstly, I would like to congratulate Duncan Boblight on his promotion to senior representative.

  Secondly, I would like to inform you that Victor Shrier position was changed due to recent issue with team business account. From now he won’t be tending to clients or have any access to our bank accounts, but please contact him freely regarding your materials or presentations. That’s all he can do now anyway

  …

  ‘

  As I read the email, I felt it, gazes, heavy, accusatory and disgusted, they were coming from all around me. The humiliation was on a level I could not even comprehend. The rest of the day at work was hell. But it ended. I was free.

  I could not wait to speak to my fiancée, to let her know what had happened. I didn’t know what I was expecting her to do, but I needed to tell her. I needed her to be there for me today. And I was sure she would be.

  I hurried to our apartment, but when I arrived and tried to unlock the door, the key didn’t work. I was able to insert it, but the lock didn’t turn. I gave an exhausted sigh, “Even my key gets fucked up somehow! What a day!”

  I knocked on the door, “Isabella, it’s me, Victor! My key is broken! I can’t get in!”

  Nobody responded. I could just hear some movement inside, and soon the door opened. But I froze the moment it did. My fiancée was standing there in a bathrobe that hardly covered the fact that she was naked under it, her hair disheveled, satisfied grin playing on her face as she looked at me. Next to her was Duncan, also in a bathrobe. He stood there smugly, holding a suitcase. The next moment, he threw it at my feet as Isabella shattered my world entirely.

  “There is nothing wrong with your key. I just changed the locks since I won’t be needing you anymore. We are finished!” She removed her engagement ring and threw it at me. “Get lost!”

  Duncan smirked at me one last time before closing the door. I stood there in front of the closed door, listening to the moans and rhythmic thudding against the wood. Every sound made my reality clearer and darker at the same time.

  The realization hit me like a train. The 'truth game,' the packed lunch, the late meetings... it all fell into place. That bitch had been sleeping with him the whole time. They had set me up. He stole over a million dollars, pinned it on me, took my promotion, and now—when I was of no more use—they were discarding me like trash.

  I was done for. I was trying to find a way out of this, but there was nothing. I was raised in an orphanage, never knowing my family, never really fitting in. The only person I ever got along with was Isabella; from the orphanage all the way until now, we had been a team, the two of us. She was the only family I had, and I thought she was the only family I needed.

  I sat on the ground for what felt like an eternity, hoping that all of this was just a bad joke.