Chapter 2

I hung up and instantly powered down my phone.

The blur of city lights through the cab window made my temples throb. The sheer misery of the past three years flashed before my eyes.

Slaving away early mornings to late nights for a meager paycheck, supporting three people on one income. Mia’s private high school allowance, Brenda’s endless therapy and prescription bills.

Whenever a supervisor undermined me or a coworker threw me under the bus, I swallowed it whole because of them.

Other companies had reached out with six-figure packages, and I had turned them all down.

Too far away. Wouldn't be able to run home when Mom had an "episode."

Too far away. Wouldn't be able to keep an eye on Mia.

A new venture was too risky; I couldn't afford to gamble with their survival on my shoulders.

But now, I was only living for myself. No one else had a seat at my table.

A surge of heat rushed through my veins. The fierce ambition I had buried for years was finally breathing again.

When my flight touched down in Chicago, I turned my phone back on. Over a hundred missed calls lit up the screen.

Brenda’s texts bombarded me like machine-gun fire.

[What is this bullshit? This is my apartment! Since when did you rent it?]

[I don't care what scam you pulled, you pay the rent! Where am I supposed to get that kind of cash?]

[I have an avoidant attachment style! It doesn't mean I don't love you, I just haven't learned how to express it! Until I do, you're my daughter, and you owe me absolute loyalty!]

I stared at the screen, then typed back two simple words: [Who's this?]

Predictably, the cold dismissal triggered her instantly.

A second later, the phone rang.

I declined the call and blocked her across every platform.

Moments later, another call popped up—Rachel’s executive assistant, asking me to come to the headquarters to sign my partner contract.

I hailed a cab. The route was green lights all the way.

I couldn't help but think back to when Rachel and I were cubicle mates. She had started at my old firm after I’d been grinding there for three years. That office was a viper pit. Senior managers dumped all their grunt work onto us, confident that I was too docile to push back.

Covering their shifts, rewriting their decks, even expensing their holiday parties out of my own pocket.

They bullied newcomers as a sport. When Rachel joined, they tried the exact same hazing rituals on her.

Except Rachel was no helpless newbie. Nobody realized she was actually the youngest daughter of the Harrison Capital empire, merely working undercover to audit a department run by her corrupt cousin.

She had tried to poach me multiple times, promising to clean house the moment I walked out.

Back then, I had only smiled bitterly and declined.

"If I relocate, what happens to my mother and sister?"

Her stunning face had clouded with pity. After a pause, she had said, "Give me two years. In two years, I’ll launch my own independent firm in Chicago, and you’ll run it with me."

I had nodded. "I believe you."

Snapping back to the present, Rachel was already sitting across from me, taking a sip of her iced Americano. "You finally woke up?"

I let out a genuine, unburdened laugh.

She grinned back at me.

"You were wasting your talent there. At my firm, you have full operational authority."

Words couldn't capture my gratitude, so I poured everything into results.

Over the next few weeks, I practically lived at the office, ultimately closing a multi-million-dollar tech acquisition that had stalled for months.

Rachel clapped me on the shoulder. "I knew I wasn't wrong about you. Your performance bonus is already hitting your account."

Just as my banking app pinged with a $5,000 direct transfer notification, an unknown number flashed on my screen.

I answered.

"Chloe! When the hell are you sending my allowance? My debit card just declined in front of the whole cafeteria! Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?!"

The joy from a moment ago evaporated. I replied coldly,

"Mia, from now on, go ask your mother for your lunch money."