After Giving the Boss the Cash, the Framing Intern Regretted

When I opened the bottom drawer of my desk, there it was inside a black bag, neatly stacked: ten bundles of crisp, sequentially numbered hundred-dollar bills.

I said nothing.

That day I made an excuse to work late into the night, and once everyone had left, I knocked on the boss's office door.

Mr. James, someone stuffed a hundred grand in cash into my drawer.

In my last life, I never found that hundred grand in my drawer.

Three days later, Georgia Chavez, who'd started at the company the same day I did, reported me for embezzlement.

"I saw the supplier hand you that hundred grand with my own eyes, and then you put it in your drawer."

"Nova Sutton, I know your brother needs money for surgery, but you can't do it at the company's expense!"

The boss wouldn't hear a word of my explanation. He fired me on the spot and called the police, saying I'd taken bribes.

I lost not only the permanent-position slot that had almost been mine, along with the thirty grand in project bonuses.

I was finished in the industry, so thoroughly disgraced that no one else would hire me.

In the end, while cleaning windows to pay off my debts, I lost my footing and fell to my death.

Only after I died did I learn the truth: she'd taken money to plant that hundred grand and destroy me.

That way she could take over my project without anyone questioning it.

And the supplier I'd kept rejecting over quality problems could pass off substandard goods.

Get me kicked out of the company at the same time, and she'd have the only permanent-position slot all to herself.

This life, you can be the one who goes and sits behind bars.

...

"Nova, how are you still here?"

I turned around and saw Georgia Chavez standing behind me.

Her eyes flicked, as if by accident, toward the bottom drawer of my desk.

I sneered inwardly.

Last life, it was exactly at this hour that she'd been watching me.

She'd confirmed I hadn't found the money, then brought people the next day to catch me red-handed.

"I'm not done with the proposal yet. You go ahead and head home."

I looked at her, expressionless, my voice level.

Georgia stepped closer and lowered her voice, playing at concern.

"Nova, don't push yourself too hard."

"I know your brother needs money for his surgery, but your health comes first!"

Every line came back to money. Every line was a test.

"Thanks! I'll be done soon and heading out."

I turned back to my proposal and answered her without much interest.

"Oh right, Nova, did you get enough together for your brother's surgery?"

"Do you want me to lend you some? Just say the word if you need it."

"No need, I can handle it myself!"

I didn't even turn my head, just kept tapping at the keyboard.

The air between us went very awkward.

Then I turned and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Georgia, you seem awfully concerned about me today."

Her gaze wavered, and she gave a dry little laugh to cover it.

"We're close, aren't we? Of course we look out for each other."

"Well, you get back to it. I'll head out first. Don't stay too late."

I watched her back disappear out of the work area, then went straight to the boss's office and knocked.

"Mr. James, someone's trying to frame me."

I set the heavy black plastic bag right on his desk.

I pulled the zipper open, and the ten bundles of crisp, sequentially numbered hundreds spilled into view.

The boss's eyes swept over the money.

Then they settled on my face, sharp.

"What's this supposed to mean?"

"I found it in the bottom drawer of my desk."

He leaned back in his chair, watching me with real interest.

"Then why bring it to me?"

I took a deep breath and spoke plainly.

"Mr. James, honestly, this is the first time in my life I've ever been near this much cash."

"When I saw it, I'll admit I was tempted. It's not something I'm proud of."

He said nothing, just listened.

"But I went back and forth for a long time, and I decided I couldn't make that kind of mistake."

I gave a self-mocking little smile.

The hard set of his face eased a fraction, and he nodded.

"That's normal. Nothing to be ashamed of."

He paused, then shifted.

"But what makes you say someone's framing you?"

"Whoever heard of a person leaving money like that with no note, no explanation, not even a name?"

I answered him steadily, neither cowed nor overbearing.

The boss looked at me, and something like approval flickered in his eyes.

He stood, came over to me, and gave a small smile.

Then he leaned in slightly and murmured a few words in my ear.

I nodded and stepped out of the office.

I'd just reached the elevators when Georgia came out of one.

"Nova, all done with the proposal?"

I looked her in the eyes, my voice calm.

"Just finished. About to head home."

"How come you're back again?"

Georgia stepped out of the elevator and hooked her arm through mine.

"I was worried about you being all alone in the building!"

"So I figured I'd come back and walk out with you!"

As she talked, she looked me over.

Seeing that I had nothing in my hand but my phone, the corner of her mouth curved up before she could stop it.

"Come on, let's go! Look how late it is!"

Downstairs, she actually took an Uber and dropped me off in front of my building.

The next day, Supervisor Finch from the audit department came straight to my desk with two employees, his face cold.

Georgia Chavez trailed in right behind them.

"Nova, put down whatever you're working on."

Finch rapped his knuckles on my desk, loud enough that the whole floor turned to look at once.

"Supervisor Finch, is something wrong?"

I stopped and got to my feet.

"Someone has filed a formal report accusing you of taking bribes."

Finch stared me down.

The coworkers around me started murmuring at once, and every eye on me had changed.

I didn't flinch. I denied it flat out.

"I haven't taken money from anyone. Where's your proof?"

That was when Georgia stepped out from behind Finch, looking at me with a face full of heartbreak.

"Nova, stop hiding it!"

"Yesterday I saw it with my own eyes. A supplier handed you a black plastic bag downstairs."

"You brought it up here and stuffed it into the very bottom drawer of your desk!"

Georgia's eyes were rimmed red, her voice low but pitched so everyone could hear it.

"Nova, I know your brother needs money for his surgery, and fast."

"But you can't hurt the company to get it!"

The same words as in my last life.

I let out a cold laugh and threw the question back at her.

"Georgia, you saw it with your own eyes?"

"Yes! I saw it myself!"

Her tone was dead certain. She turned to Finch.

"Supervisor Finch, just search it and you'll know."

Finch nodded and pointed at my drawer.

"Nova, cooperate with the investigation. Open the drawer."

"On what grounds? This is my private workspace."

I put up the resistance a normal person would, on purpose.

"If we have to force it open, that changes the nature of things entirely."

Finch didn't mince words.

I clenched my teeth, dug out my key, bent down, and opened the bottom drawer.

The second it slid open, Georgia's eyes lit up.

She even leaned in a step, eager to watch me go down in flames.

But the drawer came open on nothing.

Two unopened packs of printer paper and a few folders. Nothing else.

Dead silence in the office.

Finch frowned and reached in himself, turning everything in the drawer upside down.

There really was no black plastic bag, and certainly no hundred grand in cash.

"Where's the money?"

Finch turned and fixed a hard look on Georgia.

The color drained from her face in an instant.

She stared at the empty drawer in disbelief, stammering.

"That's impossible! I watched her put it in there yesterday!"

Her head snapped toward me, her eyes full of panic and accusation.

But she didn't dare say it outright.

"Georgia, where exactly is this money you're talking about?"

I crossed my arms and looked at her coldly.

"One 'I saw it with my own eyes' from you, and you march the auditors over to tear apart my desk."

"Now nothing's turned up. Don't you owe me an explanation?"

Sweat broke out on Georgia's forehead, and she suddenly jabbed a finger at me, shouting.

"You must have moved the money out ahead of time!"

My voice stayed calm.

"Got proof? Let's see it."

Georgia was left with nothing to say.

Finch's face went ashen. A wasted trip made him feel he'd lost face.

He gave me a long look.

"The audit department will keep investigating this."

"Nova Sutton, until it's cleared up, you'll cooperate with our work."

With that, he turned and walked off, his people with him.

Georgia shot me a vicious glare and followed after him, seething with resentment.

Over the next few days, Georgia Chavez put her people skills to full use, stirring up talk in one department after another.

"Think about it. There's no smoke without fire. Why would the audit team just up and investigate her?"

She was in the break room, holding forth with a few of the others.

"Nothing in the drawer doesn't mean she never took anything."

"That's a hundred grand. Who'd be dumb enough to keep it sitting at the office? She moved it a long time ago, for sure."

"Her brother's waiting on that money to save his life. In her shoes, wouldn't you grab it?"

The coworkers around her chimed in one after another, their eyes on me full of wariness and contempt.

In meetings, the moment I put forward a plan, someone would shoot it down with some snide remark.

The few colleagues who'd been helping me push the project along started begging off with one excuse after another.

The messages I posted in the work group chat sank without a trace.

I'd been completely frozen out.

On the afternoon of the third day, general manager Lewis Chavez called me into his office.

Lewis was Georgia's direct boss, and the two of them had always been close.

"Nova. Sit."

Mr. Chavez gestured at the chair across from him with a smile that never reached his eyes.

I walked over and sat down without a word.

"You've heard the talk going around the company lately, haven't you?"

He picked up his travel mug, took a sip, and sighed.

"It doesn't look good."

"The whole place is a mess right now because of your business."

"Mr. Chavez, I was framed."

I laid out the facts calmly.

"Whether anything turned up in the investigation is one thing. Public opinion is another!"

His voice shot up out of nowhere.

"Nobody's willing to work with you now, and the supplier's filed a complaint saying you're deliberately making things difficult for them."

"You're putting me in a very tough spot here!"

He set the mug down, and his tone left no room for argument.

"I've given it some thought. To calm the talk down, and to cooperate with whatever the audit department does next."

"You're suspended, for now."

"Suspended?"

I looked at him.

"That's right. Go home, rest for a few days."

Lewis had the air of a man just doing his job.

"Hand off everything you're working on to Georgia Chavez."

"Once this is all cleared up, you can come back."

I knew exactly what handing it to Georgia meant. It meant giving away the project with both hands.

And that "come back" was nothing but a blank check with no date on it.

In my last life, this was the exact combination they used to back me into a corner with nowhere to go.

But I didn't get angry, and I didn't argue. I simply nodded, calm.

"All right. I'll handle the handover this afternoon."

Lewis clearly hadn't expected that. He stalled for a second, as if he'd never imagined I'd agree so easily.

But he recovered fast and waved a satisfied hand.

"Good. Off you go."

When I came out of the manager's office, Georgia was waiting by the door.

The moment she saw me, the smug tilt of her mouth was impossible to hide.

"Nova, I hear you've been suspended?"

She said it loudly on purpose, drawing every pair of eyes nearby.

"Oh, you should've just owned up to it earlier. Why drag it all the way to this?"

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of that project of yours."

"Thanks for the trouble, then."

I looked at that petty, triumphant little face and didn't lose my temper.

I just tossed the words out coldly and turned back to my desk.

The coworkers beside me were still whispering, glancing over at me now and then.

I didn't need to hear them to know they were talking about me.

I'd barely clocked out when a text message came through.

Then a location pin followed it.

I opened the Uber app and set the destination to the spot on the pin.

A week later came the day the company announced who would get the permanent slot.

By the time I arrived, the conference room was already packed.

Lewis Chavez sat at the head of the table, with Supervisor Finch from the Audit Department beside him.

Georgia Chavez had taken the seat closest to Manager Lawrence, laughing and chatting with the coworker next to her.

The moment they saw me walk in, the room went dead quiet for a second.

Then the whispering broke out, louder than before.

"How does she even have the nerve to show up?"

"Suspended and under investigation, and she still shows her face. Some nerve."

I ignored all of it and walked straight to an empty seat in the corner.

Lewis cleared his throat, signaling for quiet.

"All right, everyone's here. Let's begin."

"Today's main item is announcing the results for this batch of interns' permanent positions."

He picked up a document from the table and let his eyes sweep the room.

They finally settled on Georgia, and a satisfied smile spread across his face.

"After a full company evaluation, the one and only permanent slot this round goes to Georgia Chavez."

Applause broke out at once.

Georgia stood and bowed modestly to the room in thanks.

When the clapping died down, Manager Lawrence shifted his tone and turned to look at me.

"Now I'd like to give special recognition to Georgia."

"Not only is her work outstanding, but even rarer, she holds herself to the highest professional standards!"

"She reported corruption inside the company in time and protected the company's core interests!"

"That's a spirit every one of us should learn from!"

The other coworkers all turned and clapped for Georgia in unison.

When their eyes landed on me, they were full of contempt and mockery.

"Mr. Chavez, I have no objection to who gets the slot."

I leaned back in my chair, my voice low but perfectly clear in the silent room.

"But you say she reported corruption. Was any of it ever verified?"

Lewis's face darkened, and he slammed a hand on the table.

"Nova Sutton! Even now you refuse to admit what you did!"

"No cash in your drawer doesn't mean you didn't take any!"

Georgia stood up too, looking wounded.

"Nova, we've all been coworkers. I never wanted to push this to the limit."

"Since I've already got the permanent position, you should hand in your resignation these next few days, don't you think?"

"Don't force the company to fire you. Think how ugly that'll look on your record."

I let out a cold laugh.

"Whose record ends up ugly is anyone's guess."

Lewis lost it completely and jabbed a finger at the door.

"Get out, now! Or else"

Two burly security guards rushed into the conference room.

"Mr. Chavez, you're going to regret this!"

One look from Lewis, and the two guards started hauling me toward the door.

I struggled, but I was no match for them.

Georgia watched me being dragged out in that sorry state, a vicious smile curling at her lips, and mouthed the words at me.

"You can't beat me."

I threw everything I had into it, tore free of the two guards, and strode straight for the big LED screen.

Pulling the USB drive from my pocket, I looked back at Lewis.

"Mr. Chavez, I hope you can still act this tough after you've watched this!"

"You useless idiots! Drag her out of here right now!"

Lewis roared at the two guards.

Just as they were about to grab me

The conference room door swung open from the outside, and a man in a sharp suit walked in.

"Nobody move! Let her play it!"

The LED screen lit up all at once.

The instant they saw what was on it, every person in the room sucked in a sharp breath.