"You obviously cut a deal with a competitor and came back to sabotage company property!"
"You're paying for every cent of the damage!"
He took me to court. I lost. The judgment was over a million dollars.
I sold everything I owned and it still wasn't enough. I worked myself to the bone trying to pay it off, until one day my blood sugar bottomed out, I collapsed, and I fell down a flight of stairs. By the time the ambulance got me to the hospital, it was too late.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day before the long holiday weekend.
——
I walked into my boss's office and handed him my resignation. Victor Henson looked at the paper, then looked at me. "Layla, you're quitting?"
I nodded. "Mr. Henson, aren't you the one who's always saying my salary alone could pay for five fresh college grads?"
"So isn't my resignation exactly what you wanted?"
I knew Victor had been itching to get rid of me for a while now.
After all, my salary was high.
But if he fired me, the severance package alone would cost more than he could stomach.
On top of that, I was genuinely the backbone of the company. That precision instrument? I was the only person who could operate it.