Chapter 3

The basement storage on level three was dim and damp.

A hundred cardboard boxes. Each one close to thirty pounds.

I didn't touch a single one of them. I pulled out my phone, photographed the towering stacks of materials, and sent the pictures straight to my personal assistant.

"Send a few people over to move these upstairs. And while you're at it — I want everything you can find on Sandra Zhou."

I had barely sent the message when I heard quiet footsteps approaching from behind.

Before I could turn around, something slammed hard into my back.

I lost my balance completely and pitched forward.

Thud.

My knees hit the concrete floor. The pain shot through my entire body like electricity.

I threw out my right hand to protect my head. My palm scraped across the rough ground and came away bleeding.

I sucked in a sharp breath and forced myself to turn around.

Sandra was standing less than six feet away, a cup of iced coffee in her hand.

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry."

She pressed a hand to her mouth in exaggerated shock, but her eyes were glittering with something ugly.

"It's so dark down here — I didn't see you. Are you okay?"

She walked over at a leisurely pace and looked down at my bleeding hand with an expression of mocking concern.

"Tsk. I guess a girl like you really is delicate. Can't even keep your footing. How are you ever going to make it in the real world?"

I clenched my jaw and pushed myself back to my feet.

The pain in my knee nearly buckled me again, but I grabbed the metal shelving beside me and held on.

I pulled out my phone and photographed my injured knee, my bleeding palm, and Sandra standing across from me — one shot after another.

"What are you doing?!" Sandra's expression shifted. She reached out to grab my phone.

I stepped to the side. My eyes were flat.

"Evidence."

"Whether you pushed me on purpose is something the security footage will answer."

The word footage made Sandra flinch for just a second — and then she smiled again.

"Security footage? Stella, did you hit your head?"

She stepped closer, dropping her voice to something low and mocking.

"The system on this level went down for repairs yesterday. Every camera down here is blind. What exactly are you planning to prove?"

She poked me in the shoulder.

"You're playing in my house. You've got a lot to learn."

"I'll tell you right now — this is just the beginning. You're finishing those boxes today, and tomorrow's launch? Don't think for a second that's going to go smoothly for you."

She gave a short, dismissive laugh, turned around, and walked away.

I watched her go and said nothing.

I pressed a tissue against my palm to slow the bleeding, then limped out of the basement.

The cameras went down?

The security system in this building had just been upgraded last month by corporate — a full overhaul using enterprise-grade cloud redundancy. There was no way it had simply gone down.

I didn't go back to the strategy department. I took the elevator straight to the eighteenth floor and knocked on the division director's door.

Sandra was out of line. So I was going above her head.

I wanted to see exactly how deep the rot went in this branch.

Bang.

I didn't knock. I pushed the door open.

Division Director Gary Wu was in the middle of practicing his golf swing in his office.

He turned at the sound, and his expression curdled.

"Stella? Were you raised in a barn? You knock before you come in."

I walked straight to his desk, limping, and held up my injured palm and my swollen, bandaged knee.

"Gary, Sandra Zhou deliberately pushed me in the basement storage room. I'm injured. I'm requesting immediate security footage review and formal disciplinary action against her."