Chapter 3

To Percy's face, I ran the numbers.

Of the ten deals I'd handed him to get himself established, five were the big ones.

By company policy, my commission came to three hundred eighty-eight thousand.

The one Bridget stole didn't count, since Luke Lambert hadn't signed yet.

Add the severance for firing me without cause, and it came to exactly four hundred fifty thousand.

"Percy, I'll leave Zenith, but every cent you owe me, I want it, down to the penny!"

Eight years together, and it was the first time I'd spoken to him that hard.

Percy stared at the tally, uneasy for reasons he couldn't name, and his tone softened a great deal.

"Muriel, it's not that I don't believe you. It's that enough voices can melt metal!"

"Firing you was a decision by everyone at the top. Your share, I'll pay out of my own pocket. If you love me, don't put me in a hard spot, all right?"

"Fine."

Seeing that I wasn't going to make a scene, he pulled out his phone and transferred the money right away.

I turned and walked without a word.

Watching me go, he felt an irritation he couldn't explain.

Instinct took over, and he grabbed my arm.

"Muriel, if your new company runs a background check, I'll cover the real reason you left. And if you really can't find work, I'll support you."

"No need."

I pulled my hand free, ignored the darkness in his face, and went back to my desk to pack up.

The coworkers who had to stay late because of me grew bolder with their jeers.

"Well, look who got canned!"

"Where's the next stop on the money train, huh?"

"Straight back to working the street? Or hanging it all up and marrying that gullible boyfriend of yours?"

Percy passed right by me and did nothing to stop the insults.

But his clenched fists told me he was furious enough to burst.

He'd insisted on making a fool of himself. Serves him right to choke on it.

I tugged the corner of my mouth into something like a smile, picked up my box, and left Zenith.

The moment I stepped into the elevator, Bridget brushed past me.

Before I could even turn, she suddenly screamed.

"Ah! Muriel, why did you push me?"

Then a wave of scalding heat hit my back, liquid sliding down my spine.

I turned to see Bridget crumpled on the floor, her face streaked with tears.

The boiling water in her hand had soaked me head to foot.

Her sobbing drew the coworkers at once.

Percy was the first to storm over, face black, and cut me down coldly.

"Muriel Simmons! Are you done causing scenes?"

Bridget struggled to get up and failed.

She could only cling to Percy's hand and choke out,

"Muriel, if you're jealous of me, you don't have to do this."

I forced back the pain and called her out.

"I didn't push you. You threw boiling water on me!"

But not one of them believed me.

The coworkers looked at me with contempt.

"You're obviously jealous, Manager Vance getting promoted and about to become Mrs. Whitney!"

"Right, Manager Vance thinks you're too filthy to even look at. Why would she throw water on you?"

"If you ask me, you staged the whole thing yourself!"

Instinctively I looked at Percy.

"I didn't. It really was her..."

He shoved me hard to the floor.

"Bridget is the kindest person there is. How could she bully you?"

Pain stabbed through my tailbone, and with the burning across my back, one small movement made the tears spill on their own.

I shouldn't have hoped he would believe me.

If he had, the rumor never would have hurt me.

And I never would have ended up like this.

Percy looked at the tears welling in my eyes, disgust plain in his voice.

"Muriel Simmons, is this how you cry in your clients' beds too?"

With that, he scooped Bridget up in his arms and carried her off to the infirmary.

Leaving me behind, with the coworkers pointing and whispering.

I don't know how I made it out of the building.

The second I reached the parking garage, Everard blocked my path and put his hands on me.

"Muriel Simmons, just spend three nights with me, no charge, and I'll explain the truth to Percy for you."

Turned out he'd seen the whole thing, Bridget framing me from start to finish.

"Did you record it?"

Everard shook his head.

I looked at him like he was an idiot.

"Then what makes you think Percy would believe you over Bridget?"

"He might not believe anyone else, but he'll believe me for sure. Just as long as you..."

Everard's revolting stare crawled over me, and it turned my stomach.

"Get lost!"

Seeing me stay this defiant even when the pain had me breaking out in a cold sweat, he simply dragged me into his car.

I struggled with everything I had, and it was all for nothing.

I could only warn him.

"I'm Percy's girlfriend. Let go of me!"