Jennifer sat in front of the glowing server racks as the blinking lights reflected off her face like fragments of fireflies caught in glass. She laid a hand on the console and whispered, half to herself, half to the ghost of everything she’d lost, “You can do this.”
She closed her eyes, and her mind flashed back to her grandfather, Sir Orton. His smiles and his encouraging words.
Her grandfather believed in her more than anyone. But after his death, everything turned dark. Before her grandfather took his last breath, he handed over his automobile company and some other valuable properties, including the mansion, and gave her access to his bank accounts.
He knows she's humble and very talented and will keep his legacy. But after his burial, her dad and mom prevented her from getting access to the company and handed it over to her foster sister, Bella.
Bella accused Jennifer of pushing Sir Orton off the step after deliberately kicking Sir Orton in the chest down the long step. She hated that Sir Orton loved Jennifer more than her. Jennifer always gets special treatment. That day, Jennifer tried to speak, to defend herself, but no one listened.
From that day on, Jennifer wasn’t the daughter anymore. She became a slave servant. She cooked, cleaned, washed, and obeyed every order without complaints or questions. Her father would say, “You’re lucky we even let you stay here after what you did.”
Bella continued to accuse Jennifer of doing terrible things she had orchestrated. Things that always left Jennifer with bruises and body pains from her parents' beatings.
They treat her like a slave in her grandfather's house. They will beat her mercilessly at any accusation from Bella.
Anytime Bella needed money for a new car, jewelry, or business trip, Jennifer would be forced to sign over the money from her grandfather’s trust fund. She wasn’t allowed to buy anything for herself. She barely owned the clothes she wore.
When Sylvester met her, he married her, saying he loved her. He was charming and gentle. He appeared like someone who could fix everything with just a smile. He said he loved her. That he wanted to give her a life where no one could hurt her again, not knowing he just wanted to keep her in his house to warm his bed since she's very beautiful.
For a while, she believed him. She thought maybe God had finally given her someone who saw her heart instead of her scars. But the truth had a cruel way of showing itself. Even in Sylvester's house, her parents always call her to approve and pay bills her foster sister accumulated.
When she started working at his company, she thought she could prove her worth. But Tricia made sure that didn’t last.
Now, sitting in the system room of Skylife, all those memories tightened inside her like a coil ready to snap. She was about to change her situation.
She took a deep breath and began to type on the keyboard. The system’s logs flashed across the screens, indicating some corrupted codes.
Pascal stood by the door with his arms folded. He was still wearing that sneer of disbelief. “You are wasting your time. No one can fix it.”
Jennifer didn’t even look at him. She ignored him and continued tapping on the keyboards.
Pascal bristled. “You still think you are smarter than me?”
“I don’t think,” she said quietly. “You are a novice compared to my skills.”
Her fingers kept moving, deleting corrupted scripts and rerouting backup power. The code flowed before her like a language only she could understand.
At last, she ran a line of code that triggered a complete system sweep. The lights flickered, the fans roared, and one by one, the error alerts began to vanish.
Pascal’s arms dropped. “What did you just do?”
“I just cleaned up your mess,” she said.
In less than ten minutes, the system that had cost the company billions was beginning to stabilize. Data flow returned. The live dashboards, once red and bleeding, turned green. The numbers rose, crawling their way back into the light.
She smiled and said to herself, “I did it. This is mine now.”
The hum of the servers had turned calm. A swell of relief that built into cheers echoed from other offices.
Pascal stood frozen. He rubbed his eyes as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “That’s… impossible,” he muttered.
Jennifer didn’t answer. She typed one last command and leaned back in the chair like a boss.
Pascal turned toward her slowly with his mouth half-open in wonder. For a second, the arrogance was gone. He smiled and took a step towards Jennifer. He knew he was about to lose his job.
“Jennifer… you saved us,” he said. “I—I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I didn't know you were this talented. Congratulations.”
“I don’t need your compliments, Mr. Pascal. You stood here and called me useless. You said I was wasting my time. That I was fired by my husband because I wasn’t good enough."
Pascal’s throat bobbed. He didn't know what to say. She stood up and turned to him. “You laughed when I said I could save this company. You tried to humiliate me in front of Lesnar and the manager. Now you can see how capable I am."
“Jennifer, please…” Pascal started. “I was wrong. I was stupid. I can work under you. I’ll do anything you want. Please don't fire me.”
Jennifer didn’t blink. “I’m not here to ruin anyone’s life, Pascal,” she said. “But I won’t let an unprofessional person like you work with me."
She looked toward the door. “You’re fired.”
The word hit like a stone dropped into still water. Pascal stood still for a moment, stunned, before the reality sank in.
He tried to beg, but she didn’t reply. She simply turned back to the console, dismissing him with silence. He took his personal belongings and left the company.
When he was gone, Jennifer stood for a long moment, staring at the glowing code that now pulsed steadily across the main monitor. It was just her now. The woman everyone underestimated is now the owner of Skylife Company.
The manager rushed in and congratulated her. Together, they returned back to the CEO office. When they got into the office, Jennifer sat down in the leather chair and stared around the office.
“Call a board meeting,” she said to the manager. “Immediately. Power has changed hands, and things are about to change around here.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the manager replied quickly. "I will do that immediately."
When Lesnar called, she thought he would ask her to give it back, but he didn't. Rather, he congratulated her. They talked for a while before he ended the call.
She had climbed up again from nothing. From rejection, from lies, from being treated as a slave and property. Now, she owned something that no one could take away from her. She relaxed her back on the chair and whispered, almost smiling, “Let them watch me now.”