Page 144 of Code of Heart

Harris

Harris Wilkerson lounged in his chair, a self-satisfied smile curving his lips as he surveyed his new office.Hisoffice. The corner office of the Chief Technology Officer of Neuronix. Finally, the position he deserved, where he would leave his mark on the world.

For a while, he had worried Tyler might not follow through on their deal. Especially after that humiliating day when someone uncovered the backdoor he had slipped into the Project DL code and ratted him out. Being fired and escorted out like some low-level nobody had been nothing short of a disgrace.

His smile faltered as the memory surfaced. That day in the HR conference room, his predecessor was already there, waiting with a glare full of contempt. Harris had seen that look from him too many times.

Tyler approached him soon after. Tyler cornered him in the elevator, bought him a drink, and offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse. Sabotage the code, tank the project, and when the dust settled, there would be a nice little reward.

And here he was. Rewarded. Seated exactly where he belonged.

He had already begun tearing down the old systems, dismantling the pair programming structure first. Collaboration was for weaklings. Every man for himself; that’s how real power worked.

Ping.

Harris glanced at his monitor as an email popped into his inbox.

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping—

One after another, dozens of new emails flooded in.

Each one carried the exact same subject line:

MY LETTER OF RESIGNATION.

The smugness bled from his face.

Opening one email at random, his heart sank. Then another. And another. Each resignation was real—and every sender was a member of the IT or software engineering teams.

Panic and fear blazed through him.

The faint sound of footsteps sounded outside this office.

He sprang from his chair and yanked open his office door in time to see the wave of people moving toward him down the hallway.

One by one, they stormed into his office, each holding a single sheet of paper. Without a word, they set their resignation letters on the small conference table and walked out.

But it wasn’t the resignations that stripped him—it was the looks. Some met his eyes with disgust. Others with cold disapproval. A few even laughed openly in his face.

And Harris…could do absolutely nothing about it. Frozen in that moment, he realized how powerless he truly was. A trickle of cold sweat started to slide down his spine.

Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.

The emails kept coming.

Despite ascending to his precious throne, Harris Wilkerson witnessed what a real-life revolution entailed…and it was directed at him.

That was when he realized just how completely, utterly alone he was.

No one would be helping him out of the grave he had dug for himself.

CHAPTER 60

Tyler

Tyler Faulkner leaned back in his chair, inhaling the steam from his freshly brewed coffee, boots propped arrogantly on the hunter green executive desk in the CEO’s suite. Exactly where he belonged.

It had all gone according to plan.