Chapter 7

Scarlett POV The next morning, I went back to the Hale Group. I told myself people would stare. I didn't expect them to laugh. As I reached the middle of the executive floor, I caught the sound of voices coming from the break room. "You think Luna Scarlett's coming back today?" That was Mark from Finance. He'd been around since before Jaxen took over. Sarah laughed. "Why would she? Probably still at the hospital, crying over Alpha." "Crying?" Tom snorted. "More like scrambling to figure out how to keep her job." "Please," Sarah dropped her voice, as if that made it kinder. "She only got the Luna seat because Regina Hale felt sorry for her. If Liliana hadn't been overseas, do you think Alpha Hale marries her?" "Not a chance," Mark said. "Five hundred bucks says Jaxen files within three months." "One month," Tom said, way too pleased with himself. "Once Liliana's back, why keep Scarlett around?" I stood outside the door and just listened. I'd known for years what people thought of me. I just never let myself hear it out loud. I kept telling myself if I worked hard enough, smiled wide enough, made myself useful enough, eventually they'd stop counting down the days. Turns out they'd just been waiting for me to leave so they could say it to my face. I pushed the door open. Three faces swung toward me. Mark almost dropped his coffee. Sarah's smile vanished. Tom turned as if he were already halfway out the door. I walked past them to the coffee machine and poured myself a cup. Took a sip. Looked at them over the rim. "So — one month or three?" Nobody answered. "Never mind. I'll save you the trouble." I set the cup down. "I'm the one who asked for the divorce." The silence lingered. "So you can stop taking bets on when Jaxen gets rid of me." I picked my coffee back up. "He doesn't have to. I already left." I turned to go, then stopped, pretending I'd just remembered something. "Oh, almost forgot." I looked at Mark. "Someone in Finance filed a complaint about you recommending your own nephew for deputy. The kid doesn't meet a single qualification on the list. I still got the complete file. Was going to hand it to Jaxen on my way out." Mark's coffee actually did drop that time. I turned to Sarah. "And you and Jack from HR: the two of you sneaking off during work hours? Somebody saw. Filed a report and everything. Office hours, a married coworker, an affair — you really want HR pulling that thread?" Sarah went completely white. Tom was already backing toward the wall as if it might swallow him. I smiled at him. "Yours is smaller. Just every single time you steal toilet paper from the supply closet? That's not even clever, Tom. That's just sad." I took one more sip. "Anyway. Carry on." I let the door swing shut behind me and kept walking until I hit the end of the hall, out of their sightline, and only then did I let my hand tighten around the cup until my knuckles ached. That old pressure came back behind my eyes. I hadn't expected it to still hurt this much, saying it out loud. I straightened my spine and went to find my office. The wedding photo was the first thing I saw on my desk. Jaxen and I. I looked stupidly happy in it. He looked exactly the way he always did. I turned the frame face down and opened my laptop. The resignation letter had been sitting in my drafts for two days. Name. Position. Department. Reason for leaving. My cursor sat over the submit button for a long second before I clicked it. The system chewed on it, then spat back: Waiting for Jaxen Hale's approval. I stared at that line until it stopped making sense. Even now. Even just to leave, I still needed his signature. "What a joke." I started packing anyway — the pen holder, the plant I'd somehow kept alive for five months, a scarf, a photo of Delaney and me. Things that had nothing to do with him. Halfway through, my phone buzzed. Resignation request rejected. Rejected? Like he could cross out anything he didn't like. Fine. If he wanted to make this difficult, he could tell me to my face. I picked up the box and headed for his office. The hallway had never felt this long. Every step closer, something under my ribs pulled tighter, the same wire that had been there since the day we were bonded, the one I used to feel as warmth and now only felt as a dull, constant ache. It didn't want me to go in there. I went anyway. I knocked once and pushed the door open before he could answer. And stopped in the doorway, the box digging into my hip, my breath caught somewhere in my throat. Liliana was sitting on Jaxen's lap. For a second, I couldn't hear anything. Just that wire under my ribs, snapping taut and then going horribly; even Lydia didn't know what to do with what I was looking at.