Chapter 2

I took a deep breath and answered with a smile:

"No, you have the final say on salaries."

But whether we actually work or not—that's our decision.

The people he'd just called out:

There was Marcus, who did engine development, and Katie, who did tool development.

Every single one was an industry talent, each capable of doing the work of three people.

And they were all people I'd recruited at salaries far below market standard.

It was only because they were my underclassmen from university who had received my help before, and were willing to help out in an emergency.

They'd only signed short-term contracts to work until this project ended anyway.

But now it was even better—they could leave directly.

I just wondered whether the company could afford the breach of contract penalties if the project couldn't be completed on time.

Right after Logan announced his series of "brilliant decisions," he received a call from the client.

"Oh, Mr. Quinn, you can rest absolutely assured! We'll definitely complete the task in five days, and we absolutely won't delay your subsequent development!"

"We're definitely foolproof!"

He made these promises without any psychological burden.

After finishing the client's call, he returned to the office.

"Everyone, stay sharp! There's less than a week until the delivery date. Everyone must ensure nothing goes wrong, okay?"

His lackeys all agreed.

Just then, Marcus, who did engine development, stood up:

"Logan, I won't be staying sharp."

"I just arrived today, and I haven't even signed the employment contract yet. Then I ran into your brilliant display of power reducing my salary, so I'm leaving now!"

With that, he left without looking back.

Logan was shocked and turned to look at me:

"Melissa, he's your university classmate, right? How can he just leave like that? No credibility at all!"

I shrugged:

"But weren't you the one who showed no credibility first?"

"The contract hasn't even been signed. He wants to leave, so he left. There's nothing I can do."

Logan's face darkened. He turned to his lackey number one, Derek:

"Derek, you take over Marcus's work!"

I looked at this actual "connection hire" who'd been given special recruitment because he was Logan's cousin, and I almost wanted to applaud.

Brilliant! Having a high school dropout who'd never touched program development do engine development.

What kind of pig brain could come up with such a wonderful idea?

Sure enough, Derek repeatedly refused:

"Logan, I have too much work on my plate already. I can't handle it!"

I smiled. His work consisted of picking up packages and takeout food for Logan.

He was indeed busy.

Logan's gaze shifted, landing on Katie, who did tool development:

"Then you! Can you take over Marcus's work?"

Katie spread her hands:

"Can't do it, Logan. Everyone has their specialty. I do tool development—I can't do other things!"

With that, she winked at me with a knowing smile.

Tool development and engine development were both core R&D positions with significant differences.

But this university classmate of mine was an all-around technical talent—whichever one it was, she could handle it with ease.

But now she wasn't willing, and no one could force her.

Logan was so angry he was seething, shouting at Katie:

"You're fired!"

Katie couldn't have been happier:

"Great! I'm out of here!"

Then, Logan, breathing heavily, said to me:

"Melissa, come with me!"