His jaw tightened and he glanced away. "That's true." He pondered for a while. "I'm sorry." Sliding closer, he pulled me against him and leaned down to kiss my hair. "I just find the idea of leaving you exposed terrifying. But you're right, this isn't fair on you. How about this: you go in there tomorrow and kick some ass, and once you have your job back, Aaron and Tony will take you to and from the office every day. As long as you don't leave the building, you'll be fine. Several thousand witnesses should be enough to deter anyone from trying anything."
I found myself grinning once more. "Not to mention building security. You, sir, have a deal." Snuggling in against his chest, I began reading over the emails again. "God, I can't wait to see her smarmy little face."
* * * * *
"Hello, Jennifer," I said in my sweetest voice, as I peeked my head around her door.
For a brief second, shock registered on her face, although it was gone in an instant. "Sophia. What a pleasant surprise. I thought you were still on leave."
"I was. I just dropped in to deliver something to Mr Bell."
Her brow furrowed. I think she could tell by my demeanour that something wasn't quite right, but she didn't know what. "That seems... unorthodox."
"Oh, I know. I wouldn't have bothered him, except I recently came into possession of some information that I knew he'd want to see."
"Oh?" She sounded uncomfortable, which only made my smile grow. I knew it was petty and childish, but it felt indescribably satisfying to finally be able to toy with her as she had so many times with me.
"Yeah. It's a bit of a scandal, actually." I leaned in close, as though sharing a secret with a friend. "Apparently, one of the partners has been fooling around with a senior associate. I got a look at the emails they've been sending each other. Some of the things they've been writing... well, graphic doesn't even began to describe them. But the worst part? He's been doing her all kinds of favours around the office. He even gave her a promotion after a weekend away together. Pretty shocking, right? You think your work is what's important, and then you hear about something like this. It's enough to make you sick."
The expression on her face was priceless. Her eyes were open so wide I thought they might pop out of her head, and her mouth worked soundlessly, as though she might somehow still be able to argue her way out of the situation. She looked like one of those rotating carnival clowns.
For a few seconds I simply stood and enjoyed. "Anyway, as you can imagine, Mr Bell is taking the matter very seriously. The partner is in with him right now I believe, and he should be calling the associate any moment. I can't imagine either of them have much longer with the company."
In a piece of spectacularly fortunate timing, at that exact moment, Jennifer's phone began to ring.
"Oh, you have a call," I said. "I'll let you go, then. Just wanted to share the news. Have a nice day."
I don't know how I did it, but I managed to turn around and leave without letting out a cheer, although internally I was giving myself a million high fives. Even Jennifer herself would have been proud of that performance. It had been as chirpy and fake as any act of hers.
I could have been the bigger woman and let that be the end of it, but after years of torture, the moral high ground was the last thing on my mind. This was my moment and I was going to enjoy the hell out of it. After a brief visit to see what had become of my office, I hunted Elle down and dragged her out into the main foyer to wait with me.
"Oh. My. God," she said, when I relayed what had happened. "You're my fucking hero. What did she say when you told her?"
"Nothing. She just sat there growing redder and redder, like someone was pumping her full of hot air."
She laughed. "Christ, I wish I'd been there to see it. That must have been the most satisfying thing in the world."
"It was pretty amazing," I replied.
"How the hell did you get access to her email, anyway?"
I shrugged. "I didn't. Some mysterious little bird forwarded them to me."
"You're kidding, right?"
I shook my head. It was a pretty flimsy lie, but ironically it was more believable than the truth. Oh, yeah, my boyfriend is part of a secret society that hacked Jennifer's email. That would go down a treat. "They just showed up in my inbox the other day."
She shook her head in disbelief. "Well, apparently you have a fairy godmother looking out for you."
I couldn't help but grin at the Cinderella reference. "You know, maybe I do."
At that moment, Jennifer appeared around the corner, escorted by building security. She was the picture of a sudden firing; eyes blank, skin deathly white, possessions clutched listlessly in a cardboard box against her chest. There had been no dancing around the issue with her, no feints involving temporary leave to ease the blow. She'd been summarily let go, and company policy dictated that she had to leave immediately. There was too much sensitive information at stake to allow ex-employees to linger.
She did her best to maintain the veneer of superiority, although the smeared mascara running below her eyes certainly detracted from the effect, and the moment she saw me her expression crumpled. I'd positioned myself perfectly, exactly where she'd stood during my walk of shame. There was nothing sweet about my smile this time. I let loose with everything I had. I even threw in my most sarcastic wave for good measure.
Elle was a little more direct. "Seeya, bitch," she said, as they swept past and into the lift. Jennifer flinched as if struck.
As the doors closed, Elle drew a deep breath and smiled. "Is it just me, or does the air smell a little sweeter in here all of a sudden?"
I sniffed pointedly. "You know, I think it does. Must be the lack of bullshit."
She laughed. "So, please tell me this means you're coming back? This place is a bore without you."
"It will likely be a bore either way. But yeah, I'm back. Apparently they were getting ready to make my leave more permanent this week, so the timing is perfect. I'm still on the books, so we don't even have to do any paperwork."
Elle clapped. "Awesome. Surely this calls for a celebration?"
I winced, remembering Sebastian's rules. As appealing as an old-school office bender sounded, it wasn't safe. "Let me settle back in and then we'll talk. Okay?"
She looked a little disappointed, but didn't question. "Sure. Well, thanks for inviting me to the show, but I should get back to it. Wrights won't prosecute itself."