Prince of Ruin

Chapter Ten: Theodore

"Do you have the Ronson report?" Darcy asked me as she walked by my desk on Monday afternoon.

"Yeah, hang on." I had just come back from lunch and hadn't gotten my head back into work. I opened the drawer and withdrew the file, handing it over.

"Thank you." She chirped. She was turning to go when the door slammed open. "What in the world-"

"This shit isn't funny."

Of course, Coco came storming into the office and slammed a piece of paper down on my desk.

"Excuse me?" I sat down in my seat and quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Your little girlfriend leaving this kind of shit on my desk." she shoved the paper at me. I calmly picked it up but didn't look at it, My gaze turned to Darcy who ducked her head and hurried off with the file

"Is everything okay over there?" Mr. Danworth's assistant, Kaitlyn asked from her desk. It wasn't a huge department, so there wasn't really anything we could do to hide what was going on here outside of Coco calming the fuck down.

"Everything is fine," I assured her. "Coco, take a seat."

"No." She snapped. "Daphne left this on my desk, right out in the open where any of my co-workers could have seen it. If she's bitter then fine, but do not fuck with my workplace."

I finally looked at the paper in my hands, my brows furrowing.

'Man Stealing Whore' was scribbled over the paper- the words were jagged and angry. The letters were thick and the ink smudged.

"There's no way-"

"I brought it to you to be nice. But if she ever pulls shit like this again, Theodore I will handle it myself and it will not be pretty." Coco warned.

"I'll take care of it," I promised, dropping the paper on my desk and running my hand over my face. I didn't think there was any way Daphne could do something like this but- she worked in the ministry, so she could have gotten to Coco's desk. And who else would write something like this?

"What's going on?" Mr. Danforth asked, opening his door to look out at the chaos.

"Nothing." Coco and I chorused, Mine was tired, and hers was angry.

"Just fix it." She snarled and headed out. I folded the paper up and slipped it into my pocket so I could deal with Daphne.

—--------------------

I didn't get a chance until the next day. I skipped lunch in favor of going to the Minister's office. Daphne was about to walk out when I walked in.

"Theo?" She seemed surprised.

"Yeah- can we talk?"

"Of course." She smiled, adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

"I'll take you to lunch." I offered. She nodded in agreement. We didn't go to the cafeteria, instead, we headed out to eat There were a few options around the ministry and this wasn't a conversation I wanted to have around a bunch of our co-workers.

I knew which restaurant was Daphne's favorite so we headed there, letting them seat us.

"First of all- Daphne. I wanted to apologize. I've been, less than kind through this whole thing. I was blindsided by everything with Coco and the betrothal and... I wasn't sure how to handle it or your hurt feelings and the way I chose to do so was the worst possible way." I admitted. Every time she came to me upset or mad it would make me more so because I wasn't in control of the situation and I didn't like not being in control. "I should have been more understanding."