The Intern They Tried to Freeze Out

Just because I carried a limited-edition bag on my first day of the internship, my department manager had the nerve to pressure me into personally funding a company-wide trip to the Maldives chartered flight included, two million dollars out of my own pocket.

Stella, you're so loaded what's the big deal about treating your colleagues? Consider it an honor to buy your way into the inner circle.

I turned her down flat. She never forgave me for it.

On the day of our global launch event, she didn't just steal my core strategy proposal she locked me inside a server room held at fourteen degrees below zero, planning to ride my work straight to the top in front of the billion-dollar conglomerate's chairman and a top-tier investor.

She thought I'd quietly freeze to death in the dark.

What she didn't know was that the billion-dollar chairman she was killing herself to impress was my father.

And that untouchable top investor? My fianc.

Ding

In the quiet of the open office, my phone screen lit up.

It was a direct message from my department manager, Sandra Zhou.

I had just finished sorting through a stack of market analysis data. I rolled my stiff neck and tapped the notification open.

It was a quote for a seven-day luxury trip to the Maldives.

Total cost: $2,150,000.

I hadn't even processed that number when Sandra's second message popped up right behind it.

Stella, that Herms Himalayan you had today that's the real thing, right? I looked it up. Those go for six figures easy.

Since your family is clearly doing so well, how about you cover the company's annual team retreat this year? Full sponsorship?

Nothing crazy just charter a private jet and book the overwater villas at a five-star resort. Think of it as your initiation gift to all the senior staff. Do this right and everyone will have your back on the job.

I stared at those words on my screen and almost laughed.

I was interning at this subsidiary under a fake identity to learn how operations ran at the ground level. It was my own money I spent on my own bag.

What gave her the right to expect me to drop over two million dollars on a hundred-plus employees I barely knew?

I typed back without hesitating.

Sorry, Sandra. That's not my responsibility, and I don't have that kind of money lying around.

The message had barely sent when the company group chat exploded.

Sandra had posted a company-wide announcement to the group all hundred-something members.

HUGE NEWS!! A massive thank-you to our very generous intern, Stella Lin!! She's offered to personally sponsor this year's annual company retreat!! Seven days in the Maldives, first-class flights, five-star overwater villas the whole way!! Drop a comment to thank our girl Stella!!

The chat went absolutely insane.

Notifications rained down like a thunderstorm.

"No way!! Stella's a secret heiress?? Legend!!"

"Thank you so much, Stella!! I've been dreaming about the Maldives forever, and now it's actually happening!!"

"She's always so quiet at work didn't see this coming at all. This is the kind of energy that makes people rich, honestly."

"Stella, I already checked out the itinerary can we lock in the charter for Friday night? That way it doesn't eat into the weekend."

I looked at every single one of those messages every grasping, entitled face behind them and something cold settled over me.

She was going to spend my money to buy herself goodwill.

Didn't even ask me. Just announced it publicly and let the social pressure do the rest.

I exhaled slowly and started typing.

"@SandraZhou Sandra, when exactly did I agree to sponsor anything?"

"Using someone else's wallet to play generous don't you think you're laying it on a little thick?"

The moment those two messages went out, the group chat went dead silent.

For a full two minutes, not a single person dared to respond.

Then Sandra called me on FaceTime.

I looked at her name on the screen and hit decline without blinking.

She panicked and started leaving voice messages one after another, rapid-fire.

I used the transcription feature to read them.

"Stella, don't push your luck. I'm giving you an opportunity here. Do you have any idea how the real world works? You just graduated."

"Showing up with a six-figure bag like that what was that supposed to be if not showing off? So what if you put in a little money?"

"I'm telling you, the list has already been submitted. If you ruin this for everyone right now, your career at this company is finished. I will make sure of it."

I read every word, and my expression went completely flat.

"My money is mine. Team retreat expenses go through the company's finance department on the official account. If you want to be generous with someone else's wallet, you need their consent first."

I typed back, voice cold.

"You have three minutes to post a correction in the group chat. If you don't, I'm filing a report with corporate HR for workplace coercion."

The message had barely sent when the sharp click of heels cut across the office floor.

Sandra came storming over to my desk, face set hard under a full face of makeup.

Slap.

She threw a thick stack of papers the retreat sign-up list directly onto my keyboard.

The sound made heads turn all around the office.

"Stella Lin, who do you think you are?"

Sandra crossed her arms and looked down at me, her voice slicing through the air.

"Threatening me with corporate HR? You think that actually scares me? There are a hundred and twenty people on that list. They've all made plans."

"I'll say it once. If you don't put up that money, you fail your performance review tomorrow. Pack your things and get out."

A few of her usual sycophants the ones who always trailed behind her in the hallways piped up from the sidelines.

"Seriously, if you weren't going to pay, you shouldn't have let people get excited."

"She strung everyone along and now she's backing out? That's just bad character."

"No team spirit whatsoever. People like that are just a liability."

I sat there and didn't even look up.

I reached over and picked up the stack of papers she'd thrown on my keyboard. I turned it over in my hands once.

"Sandra, with sales instincts like yours, you really missed your calling at a flea market."

"You!" Sandra's face went white-hot with rage. She jabbed a finger with bright red nails directly at my face.

"I'll say this one more time."

I stood up. I grabbed the stack of papers and tore it in half, then dropped the pieces into the trash can at my feet.

"I'm not paying. And I'm genuinely curious exactly how much authority does a department manager have to fire someone without going through HR?"

Sandra was shaking. She stared at me with something close to hatred.

"Fine. Stella Lin. You want to play it that way?"

"You'll regret this."

She spun on her heel and clicked furiously back to her office.

The rest of the team watched her go, then turned and gave me the kind of look people reserve for someone walking toward a cliff.

"Young people these days. So impulsive."

"She just made an enemy of Sandra. Her life here is going to be miserable."

I ignored all of it and went back to work.

I thought that was the end of it.

I underestimated how far Sandra was willing to go.

At three o'clock that afternoon, the company was in full preparation mode for the next day's global product launch.

Sandra walked to the center of the office and announced loudly, "The event materials just arrived. They're down in the basement storage on level three."

She turned and looked directly at me. Her eyes were cold.

"Stella. Go bring all hundred boxes of promotional packets and gift sets up to the rooftop conference center."

I stopped typing and looked at her.

"I'm a strategy intern. Moving materials is logistics department work."

Sandra let out a short, contemptuous laugh. Her voice went up several notches.

"Cross-department support is standard when we're short-staffed. What, you can't handle a little hard work and still expect to get paid?"

"The elevator is restricted today. Use the fire stairs. If it's not done before you clock out, I'm marking you absent for the day."

The office went quiet. Not a single person spoke up.

I looked at the satisfied expression on Sandra's face and let the corner of my mouth curl.

"Fine. I'll do it."

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."