The Intern Who Reported the Boss, Not Knowing the Boss Signs Her Salary Chapter 10

The Intern Who Reported the Boss, Not Knowing the Boss Signs Her Salary Chapter 10

Derek moved fast. 

By that afternoon, a termination list sat on my desk. 

Eight names. Young designers from his department. They all shared the same profile, mediocre skills, but deeply embedded 

in Brielle’s inner circle. 

The ones who spread negativity. The ones who shoved 

veterans aside. 

I picked up my pen and signed the list without hesitation. 

“Tell HR. Standard severance, one month per year of service. Plus one extra month. And they’re out by end of day,” I told 

Diane. 

“Right away, Ms. Whitfield.” Diane’s face was complicated, 

but she nodded and left to execute. 

The news ripped through the company within the hour. 

Panic simmered under the surface. 

Some applauded. Finally, the toxic element was being purged. 

Others got nervous, glancing over their shoulders, wondering 

if they were next. 

I didn’t bother addressing the chatter. A quick cut hurts less 

than a slow bleed. The pain was unavoidable. 

When that was done, I finally sat down to sort through the 

wreckage Colton had left behind. 

I had the finance director haul in three years‘ worth of 

accounts. Every single ledger. I went through them line by 

line. 

I didn’t know the half of it until I looked. 

Colton’s audacity had been far worse than I’d imagined. 

He hadn’t just skimmed… he’d fabricated entire project expenses, siphoning millions into his own pockets. 

And then the real horror surfaced: he’d taken out a massive 

loan using the company as collateral. Behind my back. The money trail went nowhere on the books. Vanished. 

He’d been a greedy rat, gnawing through the foundations of the empire I’d built with my own hands for three years while I 

wasn’t watching. 

Something inside me sank. Cold as ice. 

Past the anger, there was only a hollow sadness. 

I had given him chances. 

And I kept thinking… if, when I’d announced his termination today, he’d shown even a flicker of remorse, if he’d come 

clean on his own, I might’ve found some scrap of mercy. 

Maybe. 

He didn’t. 

He’d doubled down and tried to bite the hand that fed him. 

My phone buzzed. A message from my attorney. 

“Ms. Whitfield, police traced the unauthorized loan straight to Colton Ashford’s personal accounts. They also pulled up 

communications between him and Brielle Sutton. Detailed plan to drain Apex’s assets and start a competing firm. The evidence is airtight. He’s facing a minimum of ten years.” 

Ten years. 

The best decade of a young man’s life. 

I shut off the phone, leaned back into my chair, and closed my eyes. 

My mind pulled up an image from ten years ago. Colton at his first interview. 

“Ms. Whitfield, my dream is to work with you, to build spaces that actually change people’s lives.” 

I was the one who raised him from intern to design lead. Creative director. CEO. 

I thought he was my best creation. 

I never imagined that creation would turn around and try to swallow me whole. 

Was I the one who was wrong? 

Did I trust human nature too much? Overestimate my own judgment? 

A long while passed before I opened my eyes. They were clear. 

No. I wasn’t wrong. 

He was the one who’d been corrupted. His greed. His ambition. He’d devoured his own ideals. 

This wasn’t a failed investment. It was an expensive lesson. 

It taught me never to give anyone one hundred percent of my trust. Not when the stakes were this high. 

The desk phone buzzed. Reception. 

“Ms. Whitfield? There’s a woman downstairs. She says she’s 

Colton Ashford’s mother. She’s demanding to see you. We 

couldn’t stop her…” 

I rubbed my temples. 

Of course. This was coming. 

“Send her up.” 

I’d put this chapter to rest myself. Not just his judgment. 

My rebirth.