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I looked up again, and rolled my eyes. Of course it was my office. It was exactly the same door I’d always—
“It’s not your office,” Lilith repeated, “because you don’t work here anymore.”
Her words didn’t register, at least not right away. When they finally did, it was like a punch to the gut.
And then there it was, the wry smile. The little smug look of satisfaction, as she said the words:
“You’ve been fired.”
Fifty
LAUREN
I wandered the rain-soaked streets of New York in a daze, somehow unable to put two coherent thoughts together. I was utterly shattered. Totally blindsided, by what had just happened.
Fired…
Lilith’s words echoed hauntingly in my mind. They came with such satisfaction, too! Such unbridled joy, and a pleasure she wasn’t even trying to hide.
She’d wanted me to come to her office. To ‘explain the dismissal’ and to sign a few forms. I’d wanted to rage at her. To flip over her desk and tell her where she could shove the forms of my exit interview, or whatever the hell she’d been trying to accomplish.
Instead, I’d done something even worse. I’d cried.
That part made me the most angry, now that I was out of the building and down in the street, going over the whole thing in my mind. I’d lost it… right there in front of her. In front of everyone, really, but it was giving Lilith the satisfaction of seeing me lose it that really made my blood boil.
For the first half hour, I’d sobbed uncontrollably. No less than five passers-by had stopped to make sure I was okay, and that was a pretty decent percentage considering the general impassivity of the New York streets.
After that I’d made some calls…
I didn’t even know who I called, or why, or what I’d said. All I knew was that I’d cried into the phone on each retelling. That I’d poured my heart out right there to friends, to family, to anyone who would listen… even leaving voicemails I could only cringe now, thinking about.
Worst of all I pictured Lilith’s twisted smile, as she’d said the words. Noelle’s look of horror and helplessness. She’d tried to tell me. I’d even had text-message warnings from her, sent minutes before my arrival, only I’d been too busy daydreaming to even check them.
Somehow I found the coffee shop. I stumbled through the door dripping wet, still bleary-eyed and half-blind from crying. I had an umbrella, but it had been in my office. Or rather, my former office…
“Hey hey hey…”
Two arms went around me, pulling me close. Holding me tightly against a warm, soft chest.
“I got you.”
I sniffed hard and looked up, right into Bella’s smiling face. Her eyes were glassy and sad and full of compassion. She’d been crying too, just looking at me.
“Over here,” said Bella, guiding me like a wounded soldier. “I got us a table in the back…”
My friend walked me to the most secluded seat in the little coffeehouse, and I went gratefully. I felt better almost immediately because Bella knew the drill. She knew exactly what was needed in every situation, regardless of how tough, or how overwhelming. She was thoughtful and caring and always kept her cool. But Bella could be fiery also, and she knew how to kick unholy amounts of ass.
“You can sit here and say nothing if you want to,” she said, sliding a piping hot cup of coffee my way. “Or you can tell me what happened. It’s entirely up to you, Lauren. Take it at your own—”
“I got fired, that’s what happened,” I said needlessly.
“Yeah, but—”
“Lilith!” I practically screamed. “She just… she just dropped me! She siphoned off all my important work and transferred my clients and—” I stopped halfway, realizing the obviousness of it all. “Holy shit, I’m so STUPID!”
A dozen or more people looked my way, raising more than a few eyebrows. Like a good friend, Bella whirled and delivered a look of such withering contempt they all went immediately back to minding their own business.
“I’m such a fool,” I said, lowering my voice. “A total blind idiot, to not have seen this coming…”
