Regrets Come Too Late (Sierra and Johnny) novel Chapter 82

“The interviewer should have told you already that the position is for a very important new project.” The manager looked at Sierra and explained things clearly. “When you sign the employment contract, you’ll also need to sign a non–disclosure agreement.”

“I understand.” Sierra wasn’t surprised.

She didn’t have much work experience, but she knew the basics about this kind of thing.

The manager picked up the NDA and handed it to her.

“Take a look. If you can accept these terms, you can come in tomorrow to complete your onboarding. If you can’t, then this is where we’ll end the process.”

Sierra took the agreement and read it.

After joining the company, she wouldn’t be allowed to resign without a legitimate reason. If she breached the agreement, she would need to pay a penalty of one million dollars. 1

Clauses like this did exist in some jobs. She had heard that in a few companies, it could even go up to ten million dollars, all to prevent people from joining just to steal the core secrets of confidential projects.

“What do you think?” the manager asked when he saw she had almost finished reading it.

“May I think about it first?” she said.

Sierra had been burned by John too many times. Even though Nicholas had already told her this company had nothing to do with John, she still wanted to double–check everything before she signed.

“I can give you an answer before eight tonight.”

“Of course. This is something that both sides have to agree to,” the manager said readily. “Just let me know once you have thought it through.”

Sierra agreed and handed the confidentiality agreement back to him.

When she stepped out of the building, she immediately called Nicholas and asked to meet. Since John had said he would no longer deliberately make things difficult for her, it meant she was free to make her own choices.

Not to mention, she only wanted to ask Nicholas about some basic details. It didn’t involve any conflict of interest.

They met at a cafe.

Sierra told him what had happened.

Nicholas arched a brow; some emotions could be read from his face. “One million dollars for breaking the contract?”

“Yeah.” Sierra nodded.

“Isn’t that a little too much?” Nicholas frowned.

His company also had similar penalty clauses, and the ones with extremely high penalties were only for very important and highly confidential positions. Even then, they only applied to senior management, not brand–new hires.

No matter how he looked at it, this felt strange.

“I thought it seemed a bit high, too. That’s why I wanted to get you to confirm things for me,” Sierra said honestly.

“Wait,” Nicholas said as he took out his phone and dialed a number. “I’ll ask someone for you.”

Sierra nodded.

Chapter 82

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Half an hour later, he finally had the answer.

“He said that for ordinary projects, the confidentiality clauses usually set damages somewhere between a few thousand to one hundred thousand dollars, and only if there’s an actual leak,” Nicholas said back to her after he had all the information.

“For major projects, it’s just like what you described. They’re worried people might talk by accident, so they added this clause for those who want to resign. But the boss will always explain it clearly to potential hires in advance.”

Sierra gave it a thought and asked, “Who did you ask?”

“Origin Games’s in–house legal counsel,” Nicholas said.

“Really?” Sierra was a little surprised. “And he just told you like that?”

“A friend of mine happens to be pretty close with their legal team,” Nicholas said. “He was the one who asked ”

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