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My nerves were going crazy as I entered the building. I’d dreamed of this day but hadn’t thought it would come so soon.
I was done with Malus Custodial Management.
Janice fell into step beside me as she pushed the large, wheeled garbage can toward the custodial closet. Its wheels were anything but quiet.
“Where have you been?” she asked.
“Didn’t you hear? I quit.”
Her face brightened. “You did? I’m so proud of you. It’s about time.”
She knew a fraction of the struggle I dealt with regarding Stina and my stepsisters. Anyone who worked here probably knew just by watching our interactions together, but I’d confided in Janice a year or so ago after Pris was her awful self.
“I know,” I said. “It took too long.”
Janice pulled me into a hug. “Good luck. Where will you work now? What about the stipend?”
“I’m not sure yet. It was probably stupid to quit without having something else in place, but?—”
“It was time,” she said.
“It was time,” I agreed, feelingbolstered.
She entered the breakroom. Pris stood near her mother’s desk. After what she did to me at the ball, I never wanted to speak with her again.
She was a large part of the reason for my decision to quit.
“I wouldn’t look so happy if I were you,” Pris said.
She’d already slipped out of her jumpsuit and into her winter coat. Had she heard Janice and me talking?
The expression on her face somehow managed to be both derisive and gleeful at once.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I was leaving. After today, I never intended to talk to her again.
She pursed her lips, staring at me with a smug, ridiculous smirk.
“You know, Ella, I find people get what they deserve. And it’s a good thing you showed up this morning because you’re about to get yours.”
She strolled past, knocking into my shoulder with her own and leaving unwanted fear pulsing in my veins. What was she talking about?
Stina strode in behind Trevor and Emmett. Her nails were a vicious shade of red, and she folded her arms in an immaculate gesture as if to display her claws.
I sidestepped, bracing myself for the impact of whatever verbal slings she planned to lob at me, but my phone pinged. My heart spun. It was a message from Hawk.
Hawk: Can you come into the office today?
How cute was this? I was eager to see him, too. Just as soon as I got out of this viper’s nest.
Me: I can’t wait for tonight, either.
“I guess you didn’t get the memo?” Stina interrupted my chat.
“What memo?” I clutched my purse strap and closed my phone.
“There’s been another theft. Ella, you may have left our ranks, but this includes you.”
