Consider it an early investment.
1.
I made the transfer at one in the morning, hunched over my phone in the dark.
My account was five thousand short, so I quietly used my boyfriend's phone to cover the difference.
The next day, I dropped both transfer receipts into the company group chat and tagged Blair directly.
"There. A hundred thousand for the company. Anything else you'd like to say?"
Radio silence from Blair.
But at lunch, I caught whispers snaking through the break room.
They were talking about me. Laughing.
"Did Bella snap because she didn't get her bonus? Blair tells her to transfer a hundred grand, and she actually does it?"
"Did you see? She needed two transfers to make it—ninety-five thousand, then five thousand. She doesn't even have the money!"
"I think she's actually lost it. She logged more hours than anyone this year, and what does she get? No bonus. She has to pay. I'd lose it too!"
The words stung, but none of it surprised me.
Soon enough, Blair's secretary summoned me to her office.
I walked in to find Blair draped in designer labels, practically glowing with self-satisfaction.