Forgotten Pleasure | Venable vs Winters [Book 2]

Chapter 7 | Bad Blood

"Congratulations, cuz. You got promoted! So I guess this is a call for a celebration?"

Vince lightly punches you on your shoulder as he sips his cup of coffee after. You lift your cup and take a drink. "Sure thing, as long as you could get our friends to hang out in one place." Then you look at the time on your wristwatch, it's only ten minutes before your lunch break ends.

His eyebrow rises up in curiosity. "Wait, so you're allowed to go out again? I was supposed to invite you as a joke." Your cousin chuckles as he types on his computer.

You pucker up your lips and look at your side while nodding, shrugging your shoulders as well. "I guess so, Wilhemina seems to let me loose these days which is a good thing. She lets me out, she trusts me again, and she's behaving normally ever since..." You're explaining how things are going to your cousin but you got lost in the middle when something comes across your mind.

Your cousin is curiously gazing at you as he stops doing his work. "Ever since?" You didn't even realize you were drifting away from the conversation as you were staring blankly at his desk. "Hello? Earth to (y/n)?" His hand waves at your face to pull you back into proper thinking.

"Uh, yeah, never mind. I gotta go. Tell Wilhemina to eat her lunch." You rush out of there and head to your new office. It's actually Cynthia's old office but she got fired by Wilhemina after she learned that your paths crossing with Lana was caused by her.

You have nothing else to do because the magazine was just published weeks ago so you just slack off and it's probably the longest time you've been free ever since Cynthia got fired. She's a kind person but she's also making you do things that are beyond your job description.

As you're surfing the web on your computer, a knock on your door appeared which made you exit your tabs. "Come in!" Making your voice audible to the other side of the door and it swings open. 

I thought she left last month.

Your eyes widen in shock and your eyebrows are pulled to a frown. You can't believe what you're seeing right now. "I, uh, what are you doing here?" It made you rise from your office chair. 

The door closes behind Lana as she walks towards your table with documents in between her arm and chest. "Is that how you greet your new editor-in-chief, Miss (y/n)?" Then she puts the folders over your table. 

You're speechless as you're connecting the puzzle. Yes, you did get the news that Jim, the old editor-in-chief, got moved to another company but you did not expect that the new one will be Lana. Your mouth is left open in disbelief. 

This means I'll be her assistant. Oh, God.

A few days later.

You cut a bite-size portion of your fillet salmon. "So, uh, I wanna ask you something." You fly the salmon in your mouth and chew it gradually. Wilhemina looks at you while she's consuming her dinner as well, her attention is all yours. "Did you do something I didn't know of?" You break eye contact once you drop the question.

It made her put down the utensils over the plate and she lets herself finish breaking down her food before she once again open her mouth to speak. "I should be asking you that, are you hiding something from me?" Her eyes aim for yours as it narrows down, she's sensing that you have a thing to hide. 

"I don't have any secrets to hide." 

You're eating your salmon incredibly fast and you're just focusing on your plate instead of her. "Really? I just noticed that you're acting odd these days." Your hand grabs the glass of iced water and chugs it down, giving you a slight brain freeze as she discusses something and doubts every word you just said.