Chapter 45 A Blessing in Disguise
Only now did Elaine realize how screwed she was. She tried to make excuses, but I had the recording. PR had the viral videos flooding the internet. Nothing she said would make any difference.
As director, Blake couldn't be too obvious about taking sides. He sat at the head of the conference table and looked around. "Who was responsible for hiring Elaine?"
The HR person responsible raised their hand slowly, clearly terrified. I felt a twinge of sympathy and started to speak up for them, but Blake shot me a look. I shrank back quietly.
He was going to bat for me—how could I possibly defend someone else? Get it together, Catherine!
Blake had already shifted into full director mode. The HR rep who'd hired Elaine got their performance bonus docked for the month as punishment. A warning, basically.
As for Elaine—her motives were impure, her work abilities terrible. And now she'd dragged the company's reputation through the mud. She was blacklisted across the entire industry and her internship terminated early. The company let her go, completely legally.
As the victim in all this, everyone looked at each other uncertainly, not sure what compensation to offer me. Blake winked at me. I immediately got it.
I pinched myself hard. Tears instantly spilled down my cheeks. "Everyone, if I hadn't recorded evidence today, Elaine would've successfully framed me. It doesn't matter if I leave DI, but Elaine is practically a cancer that almost destroyed the company! I'm not trying to claim credit or anything. I just want some compensation. Otherwise... well, it's pretty disheartening."
I'd watched Sabrina play two-faced my whole childhood. Now imitating her came naturally.
Everyone sympathized with what I'd been through and debated how to compensate me fairly. Blake cleared his throat twice and made the final call. "How about this—Catherine gets promoted to full-time early. She'll still participate in the evaluation, and if she takes first place, then she gets a promotion and raise."
The original rule was top five, but that was because the other candidates were children of business partners. To solidify those partnerships, promotions and raises were expected. Now, with this whole mess, they could bend the rules for Catherine. And since she was being promoted early, to keep things fair, she had to prove her abilities.
No one objected. I was thrilled. Talk about a blessing in disguise.
On my way back to my office, I ran into Elaine leaving after finishing her exit paperwork. She looked completely shell-shocked, in terrible shape. I worried she might do something drastic. After an internal struggle, I decided to approach her with some words of comfort.
The moment I got close, she glared at me viciously. "Catherine, you must be so proud of yourself right now. You ruined my life. Happy now? Don't think you're safe at DI. My ending? Someday it'll be yours too!"
With that, Elaine clutched her box and shoved past me roughly, storming off. "Stop with the fake concern. Your face makes me sick!"
Her parting words hit me like a tidal wave of malice. Elaine and I had known each other for just a few hours, and already she hated me this much.
I tried replaying every step from when we met to how we'd ended up here. Hand on my heart, I hadn't done anything wrong. At first, I'd genuinely wanted to help her. After learning her request required my sacrifice, I'd firmly refused. When she falsely accused me and everyone condemned me, I'd weathered it all.
So why did my chest still feel so tight? Why were tears streaming down my face uncontrollably? I hadn't done anything wrong, yet I'd become the villain.
That suffocating feeling crashed over me again. My vision blurred. My legs could no longer support my weight.
Right before I completely blacked out, I thought I heard someone calling my name. "Catherine!"
---
I had no idea that while I was unconscious, the video of Elaine and me had gone absolutely viral online. Even though DI did emergency damage control and issued a new statement, it kept trending.
In a remote warehouse on the outskirts of the city, a scarred man held a cigarette in one hand while casually scrolling through a tablet with the other. "You're saying when that bitch Daisy escaped, this woman was involved?"
"Yes, Boss. According to our investigation, we can't touch Nicholas, but a nobody with no background who's been abandoned by her family..."
The man smiled viciously. The scarred boss blew out a smoke ring and snorted coldly. "Anyone who messes with my merchandise needs to learn a serious lesson. Go make the arrangements."
"Understood."
---
When I woke up again, I was staring at a stark white ceiling. The smell of alcohol and disinfectant filled my nose.
"Cate, you're awake?"
"Catherine, finally!"
They spoke in unison. I rubbed my throbbing temples, looking between the two people sitting on either side of me in confusion.
Nicholas looked deeply worried. "Does anything hurt?"
I shook my head. Blake jumped in to explain. "The doctor said you're under too much stress. I'd just stepped out of the office when I found you passed out in the hallway. Scared me half to death." He patted his chest dramatically, still shaken.
"Sorry for worrying you both," I said apologetically.
Blake waved it off. I started to say something else, but Nicholas shot him an icy look. "Blake, I trusted you with her, and this is how you take care of people?"
Blake looked away guiltily. That's when I learned the full story—my situation with Elaine had blown up big time. The moment Nicholas saw it, he'd rushed to DI. He'd just arrived when Blake told him I'd collapsed. The two of them had frantically rushed me to the hospital.
Given the tension crackling between them, they'd clearly had more than one argument. I felt both exasperated and touched.
Just as I was thinking that, they started bickering again.
"Some director you are. Completely useless. Cate got hurt right under your nose."
"Hey now, that's not fair, Nicholas! I have my own work. Catherine has her freedom. Am I supposed to predict danger?"
"Bottom line, your negligence caused today's problem." Nicholas turned to me. "Cate, why don't you quit DI and come work at my company? I promise you, I won't let anyone bully you."
His ulterior motives rang loud and clear. Blake and I both heard them perfectly. The second Blake realized Nicholas was trying to poach me, he bristled. "Nicholas, that's completely unethical!"
"What gives you the right to say that?"
Blake was genuinely pissed. Listening to them argue like children, I found it strangely entertaining. Both industry leaders, completely losing their composure out of concern.
Realizing he was losing ground, Blake turned to me instead. "Catherine, you be the judge here."