Golden Cage, Mommy Mutiny Chapter 08

Golden Cage, Mommy Mutiny Chapter 08

Back in my office, I made tea and waited. Less than ten minutes later, there was a knock.

To my surprise, the first person through my door was Nancy. She clutched a USB drive in a death grip.

“Ms. West!” She dropped to her knees the moment she entered. “I was wrong. I was really wrong. I was blinded by greed!”

She sobbed and bowed, lifting the USB over her head like an offering. “This has the full chat logs about the fact that Elyse planned everything from the beginning, step by step, to blow it up and force you to cave!”

“She even contacted an outside PR firm! She schemed to ruin your name, then open her own daycare and poach our working moms!”

“She led everything. We were just used! Please, I’m begging you, for the sake of how hard I’ve worked… let me off this once!”

I didn’t take the USB. I just said calmly, “Give it to my assistant. She’ll review it.”

“You can go.”

After Nancy left, my door never closed again. One “defendant” after another flooded in, tripping over each other to talk.

“Ms. West! It was Vanessa. She was the first one in the group chat who said the daycare food gave her kid diarrhea!”

“Bethany contacted the influencer! I have screenshots!”

“Iris said we should drive you into bankruptcy and all jump ship to her new company!”

At 4:50 p.m., with ten minutes left before the cutoff, there was only one person still standing outside.

Elyse.

She didn’t come crying and begging like the others, selling out everyone else. She just stood at the end of the hallway, spine straight, staring at my door coldly.

Five p.m. My assistant placed the final report on my desk. “Ms. West, every piece of evidence has been verified. Based on your rules, the defendant order has been updated.”

I lifted the report. The last name on the list was exactly what everyone knew it would be.

Elyse Austin.

She’d offered nothing. She chose to carry all the consequences alone.