New York, USA- April 2026
"Arjun, they want you to take responsibility," Jamie said carefully.
Arjun looked up at him, expression flat. "They lost the trade."
Jamie hesitated, shifting his weight. "Are they mentally incompetent or just completely out of their minds?" Arjun asked, already turning back to his laptop. His fingers moved across the keyboard before he spun the screen around. "Look at this. I've sent them over a hundred and twenty emails warning them about their investments. Every single risk was flagged."
Jamie exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry. But the legal team messed this up. Now we owe them twenty million dollars in damages."
Arjun went still for a moment.
"Orders from the top," Jamie added. "They're terminating you to cover the cost."
"I see," Arjun said quietly. The silence lasted half a second. His fist drove straight through the laptop screen. "Fuck!"
Jamie flinched and took a step back. "I'm really sorry. Truly."
Arjun stood up so fast his chair scraped violently against the floor. In one motion, he kicked it over, then slammed his palm into the desk. Papers scattered. His monitor hit the ground and shattered under the force of his throw.
"Fuck!" he shouted again, breath uneven, eyes burning with rage.
Jamie slowly backed out of the room without another word.
Arjun had built his entire life inside that company. Ten years of climbing, sacrificing, proving himself. And now, he was being discarded to patch over a mistake he had tried to prevent at every step.
He turned toward the desk again, ready to strike it down one more time.
Then it hit him.
A sudden, crushing pain exploded through his skull, like his brain was being squeezed in a vice.
"Damn it!" he gasped, collapsing slightly as he grabbed his head.
The world around him blurred, dimmed, and then faded completely into darkness.
Earth-India-1990