I stopped in my tracks and looked at Marilyn. "Marilyn, whether that evidence is real or fake, you know the truth better than anyone."
Marilyn's expression flickered for a second before she thrust her chin out defiantly. "The screenshots are right there in the group chat for everyone to see. You seriously think you can talk your way out of this?"
I didn't utter a single word. I just stood there, watching her in dead silence.
Unnerved by my gaze, she took a defensive step back. "What are you staring at? Stare all you want. You're still getting sacked!"
My mind flashed back to when we were planning the team-building trip.
Marilyn had approached me in private.
She slid a business card across my desk, claiming it belonged to an agricultural supply company run by her cousin.
"Sheryl, let's source the catering ingredients from my cousin this time. The pricing is highly negotiable."
She flashed three fingers, waving them in front of my face. "We'll get this much back in kickbacks, and we can split it 50-50."
I turned her down on the spot.
I told her that our company policy was strict, and all suppliers had to go through a rigorous vetting process.
Marilyn's face turned sour instantly. "Sheryl, don't be ungrateful. We're all just trying to make a living here. Cut the high-and-mighty act."
I ignored her and chose the farm Ethan had recommended.
Throughout the entire trip, Marilyn wouldn't let it rest.
During lunch, she slammed a platter of chicken onto the table. "This chicken is as dry as cardboard. Sheryl, did you take a bribe to feed us this garbage?"
Ethan, who was in the middle of picking up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks, froze at those words.
I didn't panic. I simply called Julio over.
He walked out in his chef's whites, holding the health inspection certificates and invoices.
"Ma'am, these are free-range chickens raised on the hills. If you find the meat too tough, perhaps the issue lies with your teeth."
Julio was a straight shooter. His bluntness turned Marilyn's face red.
Ethan took a bite, nodded, and remarked that the flavor was perfect.
That was the first time Marilyn had been humiliated so thoroughly in public.
Later, in the restroom, she cornered me. "Sheryl, you think cozying up to some farm manager guarantees your spot as administrative manager? Let me tell you something. The finance department has 100 different ways to ruin you.
"Just you wait. If I don't get you kicked out of this company, I'll change my name."
At the time, I brushed it off as the barking of a mad dog.
I never expected her to actually have the nerve to forge evidence.
Marilyn dropped another screenshot into the chat. It was a bank statement showing a 50-thousand-dollar deposit.
"Look at this, everyone. Case closed. The funds hit her account the exact day after the team-building trip ended."
Marilyn had really gone all out to frame me. She had even enlisted Ben to play along.
Ben yelled in the chat, "I just passed the admin department and saw Sheryl destroying the contracts! Go look, everyone! She's panicking!"
In reality, I was just sitting at my desk, reviewing the original contract.
This document bore Ethan's personal signature, and stamped on the cover was the farm's official seal.
It was Ethan's private corporate seal.
Marilyn had been in finance for three years, yet she didn't even know her own boss' private holdings.
Then again, Ethan was a private man. The farm was a side business registered under his son's name.
It was typically reserved for entertaining VIP clients or hosting company team-building trips.
An opportunist like Marilyn naturally had no access to the inner circle's secrets.
She was still barking in the group chat. "Sheryl, if you're going to keep hiding like a coward, I'm sending this evidence straight to HQ. You won't just be fired. You'll be looking at jail time!"
I picked up my phone and dialed Julio's number. "Julio, help me back up the last team-building's surveillance video and your original records."
Julio's voice boomed through the receiver. "What happened? Is that mad woman causing trouble again?"
