They Called Me the Freaking Rulebot

Didn't bother arguing. Just glanced at my phone.

Still no reply to the message I sent this morning.

Everyone was suddenly a critic, taking turns throwing shade.

"Logistics is sick of her. She wants itemized receipts like we're stealing or something."

"Procurement can't move without her picking through every contract."

"HR's got beef too—"

White noise.

I typed a follow-up to the CEO, still off on his business trip:

[Mr. Gainey, can you approve my resignation today?]

***

The screen finally lit up.

Mr. Gainey replied:

[Unbelievable! We're mid-IPO. You can't just bail. Whatever's going on, I'll fix it when I'm back. Don't stir up drama right now.]

And just like that, any last shred of doubt? Gone.

All I felt was ice.

I'd already figured him out. Mr. Gainey didn't give a damn about finance department.

If he did, he wouldn't have blown off every suggestion I made to tighten up reimbursements.

Or trashed my idea to give the business teams even a basic crash course in finance.

The office drama was still in full swing when I looked up from my phone.

Winnie caught it and lost it, voice climbing like a fire alarm.

"Rina, are you even paying attention? What is this attitude?!"

I locked my screen and looked up, deadpan.

"Ms. Dunn. Everyone. Are you done?"

Silence. Not even a cough.

I stood, walked over to Winnie's desk, and grabbed the pile of reimbursement forms Bella had slammed down earlier.

Gave it a little wave.

"So, since I'm apparently the villain holding this company back—fine."

I turned to Bella and dropped the stack right into her hands. My voice didn't even flinch.

"Bella's all about team harmony, right? I'm officially handing it all over. Ms. Dunn, that cool with you?"

Winnie blinked like I'd slapped her. Definitely didn't see that coming.

But Peter jumped in like he'd been waiting for this moment.

"Great idea. Let Bella handle it. She's young, flexible!"

"Yeah, finally some fresh blood!" another one chimed in.

Winnie caught the shift in the room and pounced. Anything to push me out.

"Bella, you're in charge of Rina's duties now. Do it right. Don't screw this up."

Bella lit up like she just won prom queen. Girl was practically vibrating.

She hit me with a smug look and thumped her chest. "Don't worry, Ms. Dunn! And everyone else—relax! I'll handle everything. No delays!"

I smiled, just a little. "I'll send an email to make the handover official. After that, it's all yours."

Still on her little power high, she waved me off. "Yeah, yeah, I got it. No need to nag!"

I didn't bother replying. Just turned back to my desk and quietly started packing up my stuff.

***

The rest of the afternoon felt weird.

I kept my head down—sorted files, wiped my computer. Quiet. Clean.

Meanwhile, Bella was living her dream, buried in forms and loving every second. She was basically a human stamp at that point. No reviews, no double-checks, just "approved, approved, approved."

The department heads swarmed her with fake praise and fatter claims, and she lapped it all up like free samples.

Halfway through, an old coworker messaged me:

[Rina, you're seriously done? Those claims are a trainwreck...]