Fifteen ◑ The Departure

An hour and a half. Lucille was late for work for an hour and a half. Her face was blotchy, her eyes were red, and she was still smarting from this morning's events.

Of course she was hurt. Of course she'd left the suite without talking to Agnes. Why would Lucille bother? Agnes knew where she was heading, anyway.

Bonus points if Agnes sent Dimitri to follow her again. Double bonus if Dimitri actually dropped by and watched her struggle in the office. Triple bonus if he reported it to Agnes. Jackpot if they discussed it behind her back.

The mere thought of it caused Lucille to stomp all the way to the lobby, but apparently, she wasn't the only one having a bad day.

In the center of the lobby, standing behind the couches, was Cade and Martin.

And they were having a very loud, very intense shouting match with guards in the background, shooing away the employees who'd come to watch.

"I said get out!" Cade was sporting a bloody nose. "Or I swear I'll have you arrested!"

"Fuck you, Linden!" Martin was shouldering his his way from the grip of the guards who were pulling him back. "Tell them to let me go so I can fucking prove to you how stupid you are!"

"You're fired, and that's it!" Cade cocked his chin at the guards, glancing at the smear of blood on his sleeve. "Please escort him out of the building."

This effectively made Martin freeze. However, he wasn't afraid or regretful like Lucille thought he would be. Even in his sorry state, he managed to smirk.

"You fired the wrong person, Linden, I'm telling you," he said in a surprisingly calm voice, raising a hand to stop the guards from dragging him away. "The one who tried to fuck you over will try to do it again, and until then, you'll still be goddamn blind about it."

Cade ignored him and continued to address the guards. "Please see to it that he's out."

They nodded, and one of the guards grabbed Martin's wrists and fastened them in handcuffs behind his back. The entire lobby was silent now. There were only very few left of the original audience. The atmosphere was heavy with awkwardness, which was intensified when the guards started to lead Martin towards the door.

Lucille moved out of the way, and by doing so, caught Martin's attention. He turned to her direction. Their eyes met. And slowly, the smug look on his face darkened into a scowl of pure rage.

There was no question about it: Martin knew that Lucille was the culprit.

Too bad, because he was out of the picture.

"Get back to work, everyone," Cade announced stiffly as Jamie rushed towards him with a tissue. "You know the rules. What happens here, stays here. If I see even a text, you'll be following Martin quickly."

The threat hung in the air and motivated the remaining employees to disperse and head back to their usual routine. Lucille was about to do the same, basically tiptoeing around the front desk to avoid getting barked at by Cade.

However, her all-red ensemble made her an easy target. The moment she started moving, Cade faced her.

She forced herself to halt. "Sir, I'm going back, I swear I—"

"You're late," Cade interrupted. Although he was dabbing at his bleeding nose, his tone was casual. It was like he hadn't just sacked an employee exactly two minutes ago. "I was looking for you."

Lucille stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "I'm so sorry. I can explain."

"It's okay." He folded up the tissue and accepted another from Jamie. "I just need to run some things with you. You may go up now. I'll just call you in later."

She nodded mutely and headed towards the elevator, leaving him and Jamie locked in a hushed conversation. Eavesdropping would be highly beneficial for her, yes, but she decided against it in the end. She didn't want to stay there and come across as more suspicious than she probably already was, given what had happened to Martin. He'd probably said some shit about her when he and Cade had been battling it out. Maybe that was what Cade wanted to address. . . .

Whatever. If Cade really suspected her, why had he even told her to go back to work? He would've fired her on the spot as well.

Lucille kept this in mind as she arrived at their department. As expected, the three employees there were huddled in the snack corner, each holding cups of coffee and talking in low voices.

When Clifford saw her at the door, he quickly put a finger to his lips and beckoned her to join them.

Setting her bag on her chair, she whispered, "I'm late once and a shouting match ignited. What happened?"

"Martin got caught," Rosie, Martin's assistant, replied quietly, shooting a glance at the door. "The cameras have been reviewed, to check the footages from the past days. He was seen entering the conference room twice before the meeting. And—get this—a flashdrive was found in his bin. The thing was melted, but only on the exterior. They managed to find a complex virus in it. It's like he wasn't even trying to get himself off the hook, which is typical, since he always likes to get recognized with his antics."

Lucille adopted a wide-eyed, slack-jawed surprised face. "Really? That's demented!"

"And remember how they already swept through the laptop?" Clifford pointed out. "The experts said that it came from an external source, although the date and time where the virus was installed couldn't be traced."

Shanry sipped coffee from her mug. "Martin was blaming you, Lucille."

"What?" This time, she didn't even need to act shocked. "Why would he do that? What did he say?"

Rosie snorted. "He said that you went inside the conference room too."

"He's desperate," Clifford remarked. "You were there with Justin, and you're a part of the meeting. Of course you'd go there."

"After that he said a bunch of nonsense shit about you plotting to take Cade down," Shanry said, rolling her eyes. "I knew he should've retired. He's too old now. He's senile."

Lucille nearly cracked a smile, but she remembered the role she had to play.

"Oh, my God." She blinked rapidly, biting her lip. "Don't tell me people believe him. He's done so many bad things to me already. Why does he hate me so much?"

Shanry rubbed her shoulder consolingly. "Nobody believes him, don't worry. We all know what he's like. When he finds himself in tough situations, he throws other people under the bus."

"True that." Rosie nodded in assent, taking a biscuit and tearing its pack open. "I can't count how many executives he'd fucked over. I don't know about you guys, but boy am I glad that he's gone. I just wish my new boss wouldn't be such a shitbag."

"We're all glad he's gone, but that only means that our work will be harder," Clifford said. "Or at least, Lucille's work will be harder."

The three of them faced her.

Lucille sighed. "Oh, no. I have to do PR too?"

"Yeah, and Cade will definitely try to test you," Rosie said. When Lucille looked horrified, she quickly added, "He'll just see if you're up to it. He's not going to fire you. Besides, we're here. We got your back."

It was weird, but it was a nice feeling to have them say that. It was even nicer that she could tell they were genuine. She couldn't quite believe how she'd dismissed them before. They seemed to be good people, good friends. Since she'd been doing this whole revenge business, she'd stayed away from other people, trusted no one else but Agnes and Dimitri.

Now she wasn't sure if she could really trust those two. Especially since she knew they had a point.

The thought of it left a bitter taste in her mouth and a pinch in her heart. A part of her wanted to go home and apologize, especially to Agnes, but a big part of her was still wounded by what they'd done. She didn't want to know what else they'd been discussing, what theories they'd come up with. She wanted to prove them wrong.

Well, she couldn't make a choice anyway. She still had a mission to fulfill in this office. Even if she didn't, she would've remained working here just to spite Agnes and Dimitri.

Rosie handed Lucille a steaming cup of coffee, opening her mouth to talk, but she was stopped short when the elevator pinged.

The four of them share panicked looks, then they hurriedly took their seats, all in casual positions. Lucille tried her best to act normal, but she still felt jumpy, prickly, and snippy all at the same time.

And it didn't help that the moment Cade entered his office, Jamie came bounding towards Lucille.

"Sir Cade needs you," she said briskly, even before she got close to the door. "Right now."