Chapter 3

3

Without me to fix her mistakes, Audrey's true incompetence was on full display.

She was never actually good at her job; she just relied on me to fill the holes she left behind. Now that I'd stopped, her work was garbage, and the boss's patience was wearing thin.

The breaking point came during the monthly strategy presentation.

Audrey submitted a product launch plan to the Marketing Director. When he opened the file, he saw data from last year. The competitive analysis was just one sentence, and the budget numbers didn't even add up to the total at the bottom.

The Director slammed his hand on the table. "Audrey, are you mocking me with this trash?"

Audrey panicked, trying to explain, but she had nothing. She instinctively looked at me, hoping I'd jump in and save her like I used to.

I sat there with my noise-canceling headphones on, pretending she didn't exist.

Audrey had to rewrite the plan three times just to get it past the first round. By the end of the month, her performance rating dropped from a B to a C. Her bonus was cut in half.

To make matters worse, the boss started asking her detailed questions about that "award-winning" plan she had stolen from me. Audrey stammered and couldn't explain the logic behind the budget.

The boss got suspicious. He private-messaged a few other people and finally realized I was the one who had actually done the work.

He called me into his office. "Chloe, tell me the truth. Who really wrote that Event Strategy?"

I didn't sugarcoat it. "I wrote the entire thing. Audrey just provided a few vague bullet points."

The boss was silent for a few seconds, then nodded. He didn't say anything else.

When the monthly performance rankings came out, I was at the top with an A. Audrey was stuck with a C.

For the first time, when she looked at me, I didn't see anger. I saw fear.

Joanna wasn't doing much better. Because she had to organize her own files, she missed several key errors. A client got a quote with the wrong price and tore her a new one over the phone.

She tried to crawl back to me, whispering, "Chloe, can you just take a quick look at this?"

I told her, "Joanna, if you can't handle basic admin work, maybe you should ask the boss to demote you."

Her face turned beet red, and she never asked again.

As for Chris, his reports were such a mess that the CFO flagged them for potential tax errors. He was nearly in tears.

But this time, there was no one to catch him.