"Are you okay, Vanessa?"
A voice from behind pulled Vanessa from her heavy thoughts.
She turned around to see the worried eyes of Sophia, a young intern who had only been working there for a few months.
"What's wrong, Sophia?"
Vanessa tried to steady her voice.
"I just heard that the person Ashley kicked out was Jessica Carter, the CEO of Carter Tech. This is going to be huge."
Sophia lowered her voice, glancing around cautiously.
Vanessa felt a cold shiver run down her spine.
What she had feared most had come to pass.
Brightwell Enterprises hadn't just insulted an ordinary woman. They had openly disrespected one of the most influential figures in the tech industry today.
Vanessa took a deep breath, trying to suppress the rising anger in her chest.
"Who told you that?"
"The sales department. They just called the higher-ups. I overheard. The whole company is in turmoil now," Sophia replied quietly, her eyes full of confusion.
Vanessa knew exactly what this meant.
She wasn't unfamiliar with the kind of disrespect from people like Ashley Monroe, but she hadn't anticipated it being so openly blatant.
She wanted to run down to the lobby, to shout that they were making a grave mistake, but her feet felt like they were nailed to the floor.
She understood that just speaking out once could cause everything she had worked for to vanish in an instant.
"Are you okay?" Sophia asked with concern, noticing how long Vanessa had remained silent.
"I'm fine. Just go back to your desk."
Vanessa forced out a reassuring smile.
As Sophia walked away, Vanessa glanced once more down into the lobby.
Ashley was still chatting and laughing, completely unaware of the dire consequences of what she had just done.
Mark Reynolds, the powerful man with a calculating, cold expression, was casually stepping into the elevator, unfazed.
To Mark, what had just happened was no more than a power game, with Jessica Carter simply a pawn he had inadvertently used to achieve his personal goals.
Vanessa realized the painful truth.
Brightwell Enterprises didn't only have Ashley Monroe harboring deep prejudice.
Mark Reynolds, and even many other powerful individuals, secretly encouraged that very attitude.
They were just much better at hiding it than Ashley.
Vanessa closed her eyes, her anger and despair mixing, making her head throb as if struck by a hammer.
It was here, in this very place, where she had once believed she could change the toxic culture that existed.
But now, she understood her own helplessness.
If someone as powerful as Jessica Carter, someone who had the strength to change the tech industry, couldn't escape this humiliation, what could she possibly do?