Chap 2

In her office room, Lena sighed, leaning back in her chair as she scrolled through a luxury gift catalog.

Watches? No, too formal. Designer bags? Feels a little weird. Oh! A limited edition gaming console!

She tapped her fingers on her desk. That could work! Surely, employees would love that as a performance bonus. But the thought of standing in front of everyone to announce it made her stomach flip.

Maybe she could just leave the gifts in their offices with a mysterious note. "From a generous yet anonymous source"… No, that sounds like a mob boss move."

Just as she was contemplating hiring someone to do the announcements for her, her assistant, Noah, knocked on the door.

“Uh, Lena, your grandfather just called. He wants to talk about the… uh… sports yard thing?”

Lena groaned and dropped her head onto her desk.

---

Lena sat in her grandfather’s massive office, staring at the ridiculous golden eagle statue on his desk. The thing was bigger than her head, and its beady little eyes made her feel like she was already losing this argument.

“A sports yard, Lena?” her grandfather, Richard Sterling, asked, his gray brows lifting. “You just graduated, and now you want to invest in sports?”

“It’s not for me,” Lena said, already feeling frustrated. “It’s for the employees. A place for them to exercise, play games, socialize—”

“You mean a place where they can waste time instead of working?”

Lena gaped at him. “No! It’s for morale! Productivity! People who exercise work better, right?”

Grandpa took a slow sip of his tea, looking utterly unimpressed. “Lena, business is not a playground. If we wanted happy employees, we would give them raises, not basketball courts.”

Lena clenched her fists. “So do that!”

“Raises are expensive.”

“So are burnt-out employees.”

He sighed, setting down his tea with an exaggerated clink. “And how, exactly, are you paying for this grand project? Your salary is fixed.”

“I… I have savings!”

He tilted his head. “You mean your allowance.”

“…Same thing.”

He stared at her. She stared back. A long silence stretched between them before he spoke again, his voice completely serious.

“Sell your watch.”

Lena’s mouth fell open. “What? No.”

He gestured toward her wrist, where a sleek, ultra-expensive luxury watch sat, catching the light. “You’re wearing a watch worth more than most people’s cars. Sell it, and you’ll have enough to build your little… sports facility.”

Lena clutched her wrist like he’d asked her to cut off a limb. “Absolutely not.”

“You have dozens of watches,” he pointed out.

“This one is different!”

“Is it made of magic?”

“No, but—” She gritted her teeth. “It’s the only thing I bought with my own money.”

Grandpa gave her a look. “Your own money, which came from your allowance.”

"But I can sell my sport car.

Grandpa seems panic, briefly cut her off. "Anything but that"

Lena stood up, her chair scraping back against the marble floor. “You know what? Fine. I’ll find another way.”

“And how exactly do you plan to do that?”

Lena turned on her heel. “By earning it.”

He seemed to be used of her attitude not even calling her back.

She stormed out of the office, pulling out her phone as she walked down the hall. The moment her assistant, Oliver, picked up, he got straight to the point.

“Oliver, how do I earn money without technically breaking any corporate policies?”

There was a long pause.

“…Lena, please don’t start an underground casino.”

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