“You hitting someone just made everything worse, Conley. Apologize to Tyron right now and pay over ten grand for emotional damages, and then maybe we’ll consider this matter settled.”
I couldn’t help but laugh and stare straight at my boss.
“Sir… you seriously want me to apologize and pay him?”
Rayner’s face darkened, unreadable, while Lilla yanked at my sleeve.
She hissed, “Conley, don’t be an idiot. Tyron is Thelma Appleton’s son. You can’t afford to cross him. Sir Rayner is still counting on him to close the Aptivion deal.”
I couldn’t help but snort in bitterness.
“He says his mother is Thelma Appleton and you all just believe him? Did he even show proof when he joined?”
Lilla pulled out her phone, scrolling to Tyron’s Facebook.
“It’s legit. First day, Mrs. Appleton drove him here personally.”
I stared at the figures in the photo and almost dropped my jaw.
My goddess-level flawless aunt—standing there looking sharp in front of a luxury car—and next to her… was really Tyron.
Tyron even captioned the photo.
[Thanks, Mom, for taking time from your busy schedule to drop me off for my internship. I won’t let you down.]
I immediately dialed my aunt, but all I got was the mechanical message saying her phone was powered off.
Seeing that I refused to apologize, Tyron shot me a vicious look.
“Boy, don’t regret this. I’ll make sure you pay for it.”
The next day… he really did make me pay.
At the awards ceremony, the top sales trophy that was supposed to be mine—along with the 500,000 dollar bonus—were somehow handed to Tyron.
They didn’t even have time to swap out my name on the PPT slide for the acceptance speech.
It was a straight-up daylight robbery. A surge of anger quickly burned through my chest.
I spoke up on the spot.
“What were the criteria for choosing the top salesperson? This month, my projects brought in over one billion in total sales and generated tens of millions in profit. I’m five million in profit ahead of second place. Meanwhile, Tyron hasn’t closed a single deal. So I’m asking all the executives here—on what basis does he get my award?”
The hall fell completely silent.
The CFO and sales director exchanged glances, but neither dared breathe.
Tyron looked at me with pure arrogance.
“Obviously, your projects weren’t clean. The company can’t condone your kind.
“Right now, we’re only stripping your top salesperson title. Keep playing these dirty games, wrecking the company’s rep… and next up? Termination.”
I was shaking with fury, my eyes scanning the stage.
All those executives who once praised my remarkable performance, called me promising talent… were all avoiding my gaze, heads lowered like spineless cowards.
I had no choice but to turn to the CEO.
“Sir… is that your take, too?”
Being called out publicly clearly pissed him off. He frowned, annoyed.
“Conley, the company has its considerations. Don’t let this small thing ruin the ceremony. Look at the bigger picture.”
“The bigger picture?” My eyes were flames, my voice raw.
“The bigger picture? I grind all year—no days off, midnight nights, my back broken on these projects… just for my work to be handed to someone else?
“One baseless rumor wipes out every damn thing I’ve done, and you all stand there? Doing nothing?
“Tell me—where’s fairness? Where’s justice? Do you feel nothing treating someone who’s carried this company like this?”
Rayner was completely speechless, but Tyron didn’t show the slightest shame. Dude even lifted his chin at me.
“Fairness?” He let out a mocking laugh. “Boy, don’t be naïve. In this world, fairness belongs to whoever holds the power.”
