Hidden Identity Crushes Office Evil

After graduating from college, I took a job at a prominent architectural design firm.

In my first six months, I brought in over two million dollars in revenue for the company. Yet, when the year-end bonuses were distributed, my hard-earned payout was snatched by a seasonal winter intern.

When I went to the director's office to demand an explanation, he scoffed at me.

"How can you even think to compare yourself to Nadia? Do you have any idea who she is, and who you are?"

"Let me be completely honest with you, Paige. After factoring in your basic salary, health insurance, and overhead costs, you actually owe the company a hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

Furious, I decided to take the matter to the general manager.

But the general manager simply shrugged and gave me an ultimatum: either pay back the debt immediately, or secure a five-million-dollar corporate sponsorship for the firm; otherwise, they would see me in court.

I was so incredibly angry that I stepped out and dialed my fathers number that very night.

"Dad, I thought you ran an architectural firm. Since when did you become a mob boss?"

"I owe the company a hundred and fifty thousand dollars?"

I was utterly dumbfounded. My monthly salary was barely three thousand dollars, and I had no earthly idea how I could have accumulated such a massive debt in just six months.

When I first heard the number, my jaw nearly hit the floor.

But Director Riggs looked completely unfazed.

"Caring for you fresh college graduates is an incredibly expensive endeavor. Office rent, utilities, software licenses, travel reimbursements; those are all heavy costs for the firm."

"But my salary is what I earned by working!" I argued, my voice rising. "And the travel reimbursements? I paid for those trips out of my own pocket first!"

Director Riggs slammed the stack of folders onto his desk.

"Did HR not explain our system to you? Our base salary is a draw. Do you not understand what a draw is?"

Seeing my blank stare, he let out a heavy, patronizing sigh.

"A draw is an advance. If the revenue you generate doesn't cover the company's overhead, we claw it back."

"Look at you. Sure, you brought in some revenue, but it doesn't even cover the resources we invested in you. The company has to turn a profit, Paige. If every employee operated at your level of overhead, we'd go bankrupt in a week."

I stared at him, genuinely wondering if there was something wrong with my hearing.

For starters, my father had explicitly mentioned at dinner last week that our subsidiary was performing exceptionally well this fiscal year. Furthermore, the team I worked with had generated over ten million dollars in revenue. There was absolutely no risk of bankruptcy.

Besides, even if the firm were struggling, that was a management issue. How on earth was that a debt to be paid by an entry-level employee?

"But"

"Alright, that's enough," Director Riggs interrupted, cutting me off and physically ushering me toward the door. "Times are tough, Paige. You can't just keep pointing fingers at the company. You need to ask yourself if you've truly been working hard enough. If you were, why aren't you making any money?"

My head was spinning as I walked back to my desk.

The logic felt incredibly twisted, but my thoughts were too jumbled to find the right words to counter it.

I slumped into my chair. My colleague, Hailey, immediately leaned over from her cubicle, her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Paige! Did you seriously just ask Director Riggs about the year-end bonuses? You are so brave! What did he say?"

I repeated the director's explanation word for word. Hailey let out a long, knowing sigh.

"You're a top-tier graduate, and you're still this naive? He's practically selling you out, and you're helping him count the cash."

She leaned closer, lowering her voice. "It's not your fault, honestly. Those old executives are incredibly cunning. You cannot let them trap you in their twisted logic."

Seeing my confusion, she broke it down for me.

"Actually, a bunch of interns before you left because of the exact same bonus issue. They weren't stupid. Who would pay their own employer to work there? It's a joke."

"What happened to them?"

"They paid the settlement fees and left. Apparently, Riggs threatened to sue them and ruin their professional files. They were young and terrified of ruining their careers, so they just paid to make it go away."

"But the annual report shows our branch made a massive profit this year!"

Hailey quickly grabbed my sleeve, shushing me.

"Keep your voice down! Yes, the branch made money, but that revenue wasn't credited to your name."

"Look at Nadia. She's just a seasonal winter intern, but she walked away with a fifty-thousand-dollar year-end bonus!"

I followed Hailey's gaze. Nadia was standing comfortably by Director Riggs's desk, chatting happily. Riggs, usually so arrogant, was nodding eagerly, his posture almost subservient.

"But my dad said seasonal interns don't get year-end bonuses?" I muttered.

Hailey tapped my forehead with the end of her pencil.

"Silly girl. Is your dad the boss, or is Nadia's dad the boss? If Director Riggs says she gets it, she gets it!"

I refused to believe my father's company could be this incredibly corrupt.

Armed with my revenue confirmation sheet, I marched back into Director Riggs's office.

Seeing me back so quickly, his hand froze mid-pour as he made tea for Nadia.

"Paige Carter. What is it now?"

"Director Riggs, the revenue confirmation sheet from last week clearly shows that I personally generated over two million dollars. Since you claim I owe the company money, I would like to see a detailed, itemized breakdown of my expenses."

Riggs's face instantly twisted in anger. "Paige! I just explained this to you! Why are you still making trouble? You fresh graduates do barely any real work, but you certainly know how to question your superiors! Always causing drama!"

"And who told you that preliminary revenue sheet was the final result? Do you not know that management has the right to redistribute revenue based on performance?"

Nadia, hearing the commotion, sauntered over with a sweet, patronizing smile.

"Paige, you shouldn't make things difficult for Director Riggs. He works so hard to keep this branch running."

I ignored her, looking past her shoulder to point directly at the director.

"If I owe the company a hundred and fifty thousand, what about her? What did she do to deserve a fifty-thousand-dollar bonus?"

Riggs slammed his teacup onto the glass desk.

The sharp clatter made several colleagues outside turn their heads to peer through the blinds.

"Who gave you the right to pry into other employees' salaries? Do you not know what salary confidentiality is? The company can sue you for this!"

He took a deep breath, forcing his voice to calm down.

"Paige, I'll let it slide this time. Go back to your desk."

"But Director Riggs, this is an issue that affects everyone in this office. We deserve a transparent answer."

"And as far as I know, the law requires employers to provide clear, individual revenue statements to their employees. The company cannot just ignore the law!"

Riggs's hand slammed onto the desk with a deafening bang.

"You want to compare? You want to use the law to threaten me? Fine! Let's talk about status! Let's talk about who she is and who you are, and why on earth the company should pay you a single cent!"

Seeing that I still refused to back down, Riggs grabbed me by the sleeve of my cardigan and dragged me out of the office.

Every eye in the open-concept workspace locked onto us. In that humiliating moment, I finally understood why my father had insisted I start from the very bottom of the ladder.

"Everyone, listen up!" Riggs cleared his throat, raising his voice.

"I hear some of you are very curious about your year-end bonuses. Fine. Anyone who wants to see their final revenue statement can come to my office to collect it."

The office erupted into hushed, anxious whispers. Usually, individual revenue was kept strictly confidential, allowing the management to pay whatever they felt like at the end of the year.

"However," Riggs paused, letting his gaze sweep over the room. "As you know, market conditions have been incredibly poor. After factoring in overhead costs, many of you are actually operating at a net loss. In other words, the company has been losing money just to keep you employed."

"Anyone whose statement shows a negative balance will need to transfer the owed amount to my account immediately so I can consolidate and return it to corporate."

The room went dead silent.

After a long, agonizing pause, an older colleague spoke up hesitantly. "Director Riggs... if we don't collect our statements... can we just...?"

"Absolutely not!"

Riggs shot a meaningful, icy glare in my direction.

"You can all thank Paige Carter for this. She's the one who insisted that withholding statements is illegal, forcing us to make everything public. I wanted to protect you all and handle this quietly, but... well, my hands are tied."

Once again, every eye in the room turned to me, but this time, the look in their eyes was filled with pure resentment.

The moment Director Riggs stepped back into his office, a heavy, suffocating silence fell over the room.

"Are you kidding me? What an absolute idiot, dragging the rest of us down with her."

A senior colleague nearby spat, his face red with anger.

"But this is our basic right," I argued.

"Who asked you?" another colleague snapped, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "You think you're the only one who went to college?"

"Now we might actually have to pay the company back! Are you happy now?"

I stepped forward to explain, but Hailey quickly grabbed my arm, pulling me away.

"Are you crazy? You want to get beat up?"

She dragged me back to my cubicle, whispering fiercely, "Most of these people have mortgages, car payments, and kids to feed! Because of your little crusade, they might not get a bonus at all; they might actually end up in debt! You're literally threatening their livelihoods!"

"But the company's policy is completely illegal! If we don't stop it, it's only going to get worse!"

"That is a management problem! Small fry like us can't change anything!"

Hailey let out a long sigh. "Honestly, this place is a sinking ship anyway. You're young and single, Paige. Just hand in your resignation and find another job."

I shook my head. "I can't. I made a bet with my dad."

My father had received several anonymous whistleblower letters detailing the complete lack of transparency regarding revenue and employee benefits at this subsidiary. But every time he sent corporate auditors down, they found absolutely nothing. Someone was stealing the employees' benefits and successfully covering their tracks.

"Why not just fire the management?" I had asked him at the time.

"It's not that simple," my father had replied with a sigh. "We don't know exactly who is involved yet. More importantly, the employees have been exploited for so long that they've become completely numb to it. They need to learn to stand up for themselves."

"I want you to intern there, Paige. It will be an opportunity for you, the company, and the employees to grow."

Hailey watched my determined expression, shaking her head in disbelief. "If you had a wealthy father like Nadia, maybe you could pull this off. But... well, good luck."

While she was talking, I had already found the corporate whistleblower hotline on my phone and dialed it.

"What are you doing?!" Hailey looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

"Reporting the lack of financial transparency," I replied honestly.

She stared at me, horrified. "Just... try to stay alive, okay?" She immediately scurried back to her desk, pretending she didn't know me.

The hotline connected quickly, and the operator promised to address the issue immediately.

Within ten minutes, I received a message: the general manager wanted to see me in his office.

When I arrived, Director Riggs was already standing there, looking incredibly smug.

"Paige Carter! How long are you going to keep causing trouble?" Riggs snapped the moment I walked in.

"Manager Briggs," I said, ignoring Riggs entirely. "I just want to know why, after six months of hard work, I suddenly owe the company a hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

Manager Briggs offered a warm, grandfatherly smile, though his eyes were as sharp as needles.

"Riggs, what is the meaning of this?"

Riggs froze, stammering, unable to find his words.

"Useless idiot!" Briggs slammed his pen holder onto the desk, glaring at Riggs. "How do you manage your team? You can't even handle a simple administrative issue! What does the company pay you for?"

He ordered Riggs to fetch my physical statement.

The office fell silent.

"Paige," Manager Briggs said, his tone softening into a warm, paternal purr. "I'm about the same age as your parents, so I understand how hard it is for young people starting out. It's not easy... by the way, what do your parents do for a living?"

"They're just ordinary company employees," I lied, keeping my expression neutral. "They're retired now."

"Ah, retired," Briggs murmured, his smile fading slightly as he fell silent.

The silence was broken by Riggs returning, clutching a few pages of paper. Briggs took the document, flipping through the pages before throwing them onto the desk.

"You foolish girl!"

Director Riggs let out a sigh of relief as Briggs turned his anger toward me. Riggs immediately stepped forward, adopting the posture of a loyal lapdog.

"Exactly, Manager Briggs! I kept telling her that the preliminary revenue statement wasn't final, but she insisted on making a scene and disrupting company order!"

"But even if the statement is final, there is no logical way I owe a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Where is the evidence?"

"Oh?" Briggs looked at Riggs.

Riggs leaned down, whispering something in the general manager's ear. Briggs nodded slowly, turning back to me.

"Your director just informed me that you frequently stay late at the office, wasting company electricity. Furthermore, you consume a massive amount of bottled water. A significant portion of our utility overhead is due to your wastefulness!"

"By law, the company has every right to demand immediate repayment, or we will take legal action. However, considering your parents are retired and likely under financial strain, the company is willing to offer you a concession."

Just when I thought the conversation couldn't possibly get any more absurd, Briggs continued.

"We are willing to offer you a second option. If you can secure a five-million-dollar corporate sponsorship for our branch, we will waive your debt and forgo legal action. Otherwise, we cannot keep an unproductive employee."

I stared at them, completely speechless.

But Briggs and Riggs looked at me as if they had just offered me a massive act of charity.

My hands clenched into tight fists at my sides. It took every ounce of my self-control not to throw a punch.

"I don't have that kind of money. If I could secure five million dollars, I wouldn't be working here," I said, my voice cold.

"If you don't have the money, you can always borrow it," Director Riggs offered, a greasy smile stretching across his face.

"I know some online platforms that cater specifically to young women like you. You know, those adult modeling loans?"

Seeing my silence, Riggs winked at me, his eyes filled with a disgusting, suggestive light. "Don't play innocent. Those platforms pay out incredibly fast, and girls like you love using them when you're short on cash."

He and Briggs exchanged a vile, knowing chuckle.

That was the final straw.

I lunged forward, delivering a solid left hook to Riggs's jaw, followed by a vicious right cross. Before Briggs could even react, I had Riggs on the floor, pinning him down and raining punches on his face until he was whimpering like a dog.

By the time Hailey and several colleagues managed to pull me off him, the office was swarming with police officers.

"It's her! Officer, arrest her! She didn't get her bonus, so she went completely insane and attacked me!" Riggs screamed, shrinking behind an officer, his face bruised and swollen.

Manager Briggs immediately chimed in. "This employee is clearly unstable. She refused to settle her debt and violently assaulted her superior! Officer, lock her up!"

Sitting in the police station, I clutched my phone, my face burning with embarrassment as I wondered how to explain this to my father.

But I didn't have much time to think. The call went through almost instantly.

The moment I heard his voice, tears of frustration finally spilled over.

"Dad... I thought you ran an architectural firm. Since when did you become a mob boss?"