CHAPTER 15 — THE CORPORATE CUT
Monday morning, Cheng Group’s headquarters felt different.
Not colder.
Cleaner.
Like someone had finally opened a window in a room full of perfume.
Ethan walked in with Daniel on speaker and HR beside him.
I stayed out of the building.
Not because I was afraid.
Because I didn’t want Stella to frame my presence as “intimidation.”
Procedure mattered now.
HR called Stella into a conference room at 9:00 a.m.
She arrived in white, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, bandage still on her wrist like a brand.
When HR asked her to remove her access badge, Stella laughed.
“You’re firing me,” she said loudly. “Because Ava told you to.”
HR’s voice stayed calm.
“This is administrative leave pending investigation,” she said. “You are not to access company systems.”
Stella’s smile sharpened.
“You’ll regret this,” she said, looking at Ethan. “You’ll regret choosing her.”
Ethan didn’t rise to it.
He slid a document across the table.
“Sign this,” he said.
Stella glanced down.
Her face changed when she read the header:
LITIGATION HOLD NOTICE
Daniel’s voice came through the speaker, crisp.
“This notice instructs you to preserve all communications, devices, and accounts related to the defamatory content,” he said. “Deletion may be construed as spoliation and can have legal consequences.”
Stella’s hands tightened around the paper.
“You can’t prove anything,” she snapped.
Ethan’s eyes were ice.
“We don’t need you to confess,” he said. “We need you to stop.”
Stella stood abruptly.
The chair scraped the floor, loud and ugly.
“Fine,” she said. “Sue me. Do it.”
She flung the pen down and walked out.
In the hallway, she paused just long enough to say, over her shoulder:
“I’ll tell them you trapped him.”
Ethan didn’t answer.
He turned to HR.
“Revoke her access,” he said. “All of it.”
HR nodded.
A minute later, IT confirmed.
Stella’s badge no longer opened doors.
Her login no longer opened email.
Her ability to poison the building from the inside had been cut.
Not revenge.
Containment.
That afternoon, Daniel sent me a PDF.
The draft complaint.
My name in bold at the top.
Not as a victim.
As a plaintiff.
AVA LU, Plaintiff
v.
STELLA TANG, Defendant
It looked unreal.
Then it looked inevitable.