Called a Mooch, I Answered with Fire

I never expected Ryan Cooper would strip me of all authority and shove me to the bottom—turning me into the lowest-level sales rep in the building.

“Ethan Carter, you’re nothing but a gold digger living off your wife. Without Olivia, you’re nobody. Today, I’m going to show you how worthless you really are—and how you can’t earn a single dollar on your own.”

Ryan leaned back in the executive chair behind Olivia’s desk, looking down on me like a king passing judgment. His tone dripped with pure disdain.

He snapped his fingers, and someone dragged in a huge box stacked with flyers—at least a thousand.

“Evans Innovations is launching a new product. Your task today is to hand out all one thousand flyers. Fail, and you’re out.”

I glanced at the heavy stacks of glossy paper, then lifted my gaze to Ryan’s sneering face. “And what if I get it done?”

“Get it done?” He laughed mockingly. “Then that only proves you’re not completely useless. But listen up—I’ll have someone watching you. Try any tricks and you’re dead.”

Tricks? Please.

As the heir to Carter Global Holdings, I grew up surrounded by business. Street marketing is child’s play. One thousand flyers look like a lot, but with the right approach, they’re nothing more than a warm-up.

But as soon as I walked out of Ryan’s office, rumors spread through the entire company like wildfire.

A few star sales professionals—people I personally trained—rushed to my side, furious.

“This is outrageous! Who does he think he is? I’ll go confront him right now.”

“I’ll come with!”

“No, confronting him is pointless. We should talk to CEO Evans. Everyone knows he only dares act like this because he’s riding on her position.”

“Right. Let’s go to Ms. Evans!”

I quickly stopped them.

Olivia had caught a cold last night and woke up feeling even worse this morning. I wasn’t going to bother her with something this petty.

“It’s just flyer distribution. I can handle it. Get back to work.”

To me, Ryan’s little games weren’t even worth mentioning.

But I underestimated him.

Ryan secretly had someone record me handing out flyers on the street and blast it online—with a caption:

“A gold digger needs to stay in his place. Living off a woman isn’t easy, huh?”

The comments section was vicious:

“So he’s a pretty-boy freeloader? What a waste of a good face.”

“Pathetic. A grown man living off his wife? Shame on him.”

“Good. Teach him his place. Even leeching off others takes effort.”

The post went viral and quickly hit Twitter Trending.

My parents, friends, and even CEOs who had been begging me for partnerships blew up my phone asking what the hell was going on.

I was blindsided, scrambling to explain.

When I finally logged online and saw the pinned post—

“Gold Digger Gets What He Deserves — So Satisfying!”

—rage shot through me so hard I nearly crushed my phone.

I’d tolerated Ryan because of Olivia—again and again. Did he really think her protection meant he could walk all over me forever?

Right then, Olivia called—her voice thick and nasal from her cold.

“Babe, I’m calling on Ryan’s behalf to apologize. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, so don’t take it to heart. The post will be deleted soon.”

She still had to worry about me while she was sick. My anger simmered, but I forced it down.

“This is the last time. Tell him he better learn his place.”

But the next morning…

Ryan tried to fire me for “damaging the company’s image.”

“Fire me?”