𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 ☏︎

𝟏𝟐 | 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏𝐒

𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐞𝐡 ☁︎

Silence seeps in. Sadie is sat at the head of the table, so I know she's leading the meeting.

"Who's going to begin?" She asks, narrowing her eyes at me.

I don't give her what she wants. I just stare back at her with a small smile. "We went to a business event yesterday." I tell her.

Annoyed by my answer, she gets straight to the point. "What's this?" She turns around a large iPad, and on the screen is a news article.

An article about Damien.

"Aggressive CEO attacks innocent man." She reads without looking, the anger seeping through her words as she looks over to Damien. Had she actually memorised the article?

Nevermind that, the wording of the caption makes Damien look like the villain. A burst of inaudible whispers and chatter breaks out. "That isn't what happened." He says. He's sitting across from me, at the other end of the table, dominating the whole room into silence.

"Oh?" She questions, softening her tone subtly. It's not subtle enough though, because I detect it right away. "You're telling me that you didn't punch him unprovoked?"

"Yes." He states firmly, not saying anything else after. She looks back to me.

"I want you to tell me why you were there and why you were interacting with that man." She demands, giving me a hard stare.

Do I say that he's my ex? "He came up to me and tried to snatch me." I keep my words minimal.

Sadie stares at me like she doesn't believe me. Her furious blue eyes dance between me and Damien, before she speaks.

"Don't lie to me. Who would ever want to take you away?" She says slyly, adding a backhanded comment. "There's nothing particularly special about you."

I press my lips into a thin line. Dang it, I probably smudged my lip liner. "Everybody's special in their own way, Sadie." I say. "Are you still interested in the meeting?"

Well, everybody but her. She was sent from hell. I like to kill people with kindness. Apart from Damien and Katelyn. They deserved something more worse.

"That's Miss Brooks to you." She retorts bitterly. "And of course I'm still interested in the meeting. We haven't discussed the consequences yet."

Consequences? Bitch, I'm this close to throwing hands. Am I still in school? "Consequences for what?" I ask, my eyes furrowing confusedly.

"Causing a scene. What do you all think?" She queries the people sat around the table.

I look to Damien for help, but he just sits there like a little shit. He's the one that punched Noah! Who does Sadie think she is?

As they all discuss how to 'punish' me for a situation that wasnt my fault, I think of ways to interject it. "So you're punishing me for something that Damien did?"

Everyone turns to me. Normally I'd shy down but I don't care.

Sadie doesn't respond.

"Don't you think it's a little weird?" I change my tone to make it sound more curious. "I'm being treated like a high schooler. Can I know why?"

She's silent for a bit. "Nobody's treating you like a high schooler. And if you want to know so badly, it's because you invited that man to the event, to cause a scene." She finally says, completely throwing ridiculous accusations at me. "You've jeopardised the company's image."

"I didn't." I clarify. "I'd like to see proof." She was trying to get me angry, and if I got angry she'd win. So I'd get her angry instead. I send Damien a look that says 'You're in deep shit'.