Chapter 3

Those lackeys of Logan's were whispering again.

"Why's he calling her again?"

"What else? The people she recruited aren't useful, so she's going to get chewed out again!"

"Haha, I bet that's it! Best if he fires all the people she recruited and divides their salaries among us!"

I couldn't be bothered with them. I followed Logan into his office with neither humility nor arrogance.

As soon as I entered, he pounded on his desk:

"Melissa, what's the deal with these people you found? Not a single one of them is useful!"

"Forget it, I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself. Go recruit someone else, preferably someone who can do both Marcus's and Katie's work!"

I shook my head:

"Logan, I can't do that."

He jabbed his finger at my temple:

"Can't do it? What does the company pay this HR for—to do nothing?"

"Do you know how much the company will have to pay in breach of contract penalties if the project can't be delivered on time?"

I dodged his finger jabbing at my forehead and steadied myself.

I looked up at him:

"I can't means I can't. What kind of person do you expect me to recruit for $3,000?"

"Why don't you get your cousins, nieces, and nephews to do it? They seem pretty smart to me."

This project team was already short on funds, and the relatives Logan had brought in had taken up a large portion of the salaries.

After I finished speaking, I slipped out quickly before Logan could throw files at my head.

Ten minutes later, my phone rang.

It was Mr. Harrison from headquarters.

I knew Logan must have tattled.

Harrison had given me a job opportunity when I'd fought with my family years ago and refused to go home to inherit the family business.

So all these years, I'd worked hard for the company with all my heart.

I resolved that if Harrison would agree to fire the parasites Logan had brought in and let me use their salaries to recruit people, I'd be willing to try again.

The call connected, and Harrison's voice came through:

"There you go being impulsive again! The company's been tight on funds lately—you need to understand!"

"How about this: I'll privately reimburse you the $10,000 that was deducted, and you just pretend it didn't happen, okay?"

"I know you have a wide network. Hurry up and find two more people to help with the emergency!"

Harrison spoke as if he'd bestowed some tremendous favor upon me.

For the sake of his willingness to reimburse my salary, I decided to give him one more chance:

"Harrison, our salaries are really too low! The people I recruited before were all my classmates who came as a personal favor to me."

"Now they've all left. If we don't raise the salary a bit, I don't have the confidence to convince them again."

"Could we take the high salaries that Logan's relatives are getting—when they can't do anything—and use that money..."

Before I could finish, Harrison interrupted me.

"Enough, Melissa! Logan is a veteran employee of the company, and he's also my brother. Isn't it normal for me to have a few trusted people around me?"

I was stunned. So Logan and Harrison were also relatives—no wonder he was so fearless.

"Besides, didn't you also recruit people you know? Who doesn't have their own interests?"

"Didn't I just reimburse you $10,000? You can use that money to recruit people! Why can't you learn to be flexible?"

I smiled. So that was his calculation.

Then don't blame me for completely giving up on this company that recruited a bunch of freeloading relatives.

"Yes, yes, yes, you're so smart!"

"Hurry and transfer the money to me. I can't wait to use it to recruit people!"