Fired by the Company, Yet the Heir to the Richest Man

My girlfriend put me on the layoff list to win over her sidepiece.

I became the laughingstock of the company, being cheated on and kicked out.

But they seemed to forget one crucial thing. I was the one who secured all the major contracts.

Once I was gone, she struggled, defaulted on agreements, and eventually went bankrupt.

Meanwhile, I made a comeback as the heir to a massive fortune, bought her once-prized company for peanuts, and watched her beg for a second chance.

I found her pathetic and didn't bother with her pleas.

——

Last night's client was tough. To clinch the deal, I drank so much that I ended up with alcohol poisoning.

I didn't want to worry Serena Linwood or disrupt her sleep, so I went to the hospital alone after closing the deal.

When I woke up in the hospital, my stomach still churned. My phone kept buzzing on the nightstand.

[Nolan, you're on the layoff list. Please come to the office to complete your departure procedures.]

It was a text from HR at eleven, and the layoff list was sent to my email box earlier this morning.

The company group chat was blowing up.

Many of the employees I had personally hired were messaging me, confused and asking what was going on.

It was a good question. I wanted to know too.

How did I, one of the company's founders, end up on the layoff list?

We always had to do year-end layoffs to keep the company lean as every company had some employees who did the bare minimum for their paycheck.

Serena and I started this advertising company five years ago, and we were still a small operation with just a few dozen people.

Of course, we made some hiring mistakes along the way. Some folks who were initially hardworking eventually got lazy.

Their productivity dropped, and they started coming in late, leaving early, and spending work hours on TV shows and games.

As a small company, we couldn't afford to carry dead weight. Our best strategy was to let go of the slackers at the end of the year and hire fresh talent at the start of the next.

Since business was slow in the early months, we gave everyone a month-long holiday with minimal pay.

This way, the year-end layoffs were the most efficient way to cut costs.

Serena and I had a detailed discussion and put together a preliminary layoff list, planning to announce it the day before the year-end party.

I suggested letting the employees on the list stay for the party out of consideration for our time working together.

The party was when we handed out bonuses and held a prize draw, and to keep things transparent and motivational, the bonuses were given out publicly.

As I scrolled through the company chat, it became clear that Serena had completely deviated from our plan.

Several names on the list had been replaced. She kept a few of the project manager Griffin Whitaker's newly hired cronies while getting rid of some of my most reliable employees who had been with me for three years and were essential to our operations.

To make things worse, the employees being laid off were told to finish their exit procedures by this morning, only getting half a day's pay and no year-end bonuses.

Aside from the legally required severance, there was no extra compensation.

The more I understood the situation, the worse the pain in my stomach and chest became.

I was livid.

"Serena, what on earth are you doing?" I thought furiously.

I tried calling her, but she didn't pick up.

Left with no other choice, I checked out of the hospital early and took a cab to the office.

The moment I walked through the door, I could feel the tension.

Colleagues who usually greeted me now avoided eye contact and steered clear.

Even when I tried to greet them, they acted as if I were invisible, treating me like some sort of outcast.

When I reached Serena's office and pushed the door open, the sight that met my eyes made my blood boil.