Chapter 86
Faced with a wall of muscle and height from the approaching security guard, Calista had no chance to fight back. Just as she was about to be dragged out of the room, a voice cut through the tension.
It was Lucien. “Let her speak.”
“What?”
Ophelia was the first to react. She instinctively leaned in to remind him, “Mr. Fenwick, you still have that video call with the branch company.”
Lucien didn’t even glance her way. “Five minutes.”
His gaze landed squarely on steady and unreadable. Their eyes met for a brief second.
Calista didn’t hesitate. She raised her voice and said clearly, “I made that report. I compiled it using archived company data from the internal system.”
Roxanne scoffed. “You’re joking, right? You’ve been here a few hours, and now you’re claiming that entire report as yours?”
Even for a newcomer, it would take at least a few weeks just to get familiar with the company’s statistical reports. Yet, Calista had managed to compile that data in such a short time? It hardly seemed possible.
“Oh, so you do know I’ve only been here for a few hours. Then, explain this to me. Why assign a new hire the task of compiling decades‘ worth of sales data? Was that some sort of onboarding test or just workplace bullying?”
Calista hadn’t wanted to escalate the situation to this point. She couldn’t understand why she was suddenly being targeted, seemingly out of nowhere.
But if someone deliberately tried to humiliate her, she wouldn’t just let it slide. She had nothing to lose, and she certainly wasn’t afraid of offending anyone.
“I’m guessing you just read directly from the report during your presentation, right? I bet you didn’t notice that I made a mistake. I misread a date field while compiling the report, which led to a few discrepancies in the final numbers,” Calista added, looking directly at Roxanne.
Roxanne snapped, “You think you can just throw that out and expect people to believe you? What? You think you’re some kind of executive now?”
Roxanne hadn’t studied the details of the report when presenting it. So, she didn’t realize there
were errors.
Calista calmly pulled up the original data set on her laptop and began comparing it to the statistical report she had compiled. She flipped to the corresponding pages and pointed out the exact discrepancies–page by page, figure by figure.
She reprimanded Roxanne right in front of the executives. Despite Roxanne being one of her most capable subordinates, she fired her on the spot.
That was how ruthless Zelda could be when protecting her own position.
Lucien didn’t press further. After dismissing the executives, he turned and left the room.
“You’ve only just joined the company, and you’ve already managed to stand out in front of Mr. Fenwick. I have to say, that was impressive, Calista… the way you handled that data wasn’t bad.”
Calista said nothing in response. She knew she had embarrassed Zelda earlier, so she remained quietly at attention, letting Zelda say what she needed to–even if every word dripped with mockery.
There was a moment of silence before Zelda suddenly snapped. She grabbed the documents from her desk and flung them at her. Paper was scattered over her hair and shoulders.
She glared at Calista, her voice low but laced with venom. “You really are something, huh? You made me look like a complete fool in front of Mr. Fenwick. First day on the job, and you’ve already gotten the project lead kicked out.
“Bold move. It’s almost impressive. I’ll be keeping a very close eye on your performance from now on. Now, get the hell out of my office!”
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