Of course, if I was to have any hope of getting even a mild referral, I wouldn’t be able to burn this place down like I wanted to. I’d have to sit there and take the reprimand, ignore the scald of the scolding, endure what was sure to be a brutal lashing without defense.

They made the Felix Femmes look like a basket of kittens.

The doors opened to Archer, and I could practically hear the screech of tires as eyes shifted to me. The girls at the desk gave me a quiet hello. The faces beyond turned to me. And I did the only thing I could—I straightened up, lifted my chin, and strode into the galley with all the confidence I had left.

I was so focused on keeping it together that I didn’t see Addison until I was nearly upon her office. The sight brought me to a halt, my stomach climbing up my esophagus in shock and confusion.

Addison Lane stood behind her desk in a suit of black, her hair in that stern ponytail she was partial to. But her dark eyes were ringed with dark circles, her face without a stitch of makeup, swollen from crying.

The shock that the devil not only had working tear ducts, but emotions deep enough to engage them, was total.

The utter disbelief that she was haphazardly shoving the contents of her office into boxes nearly brought me down in a faint.

Slowly, I entered our offices, my eyes locked on her. When she looked up, those eyes were hard and hurt and hot.

“Come to gloat?” She tossed an award into the box without care.

“You … you got fired?”

“What gave it away?” she snarked, dumping a stack of files on top of the award.

“What happened?”

“I did my job. I did everything they asked, and they still fired me. I was supposed to get promoted.” Her chest heaved, fanning the rage in her. “This is all your fault. You and Natasha. I never should have agreed when she came to me, but I thought it would be the thing to break you. That you’d crack, falter, and I’d be rid of you. When I pitched it to Caroline, all I had to do was say publicity, and she was in. She thought you could take it, the indestructible Lila Parker. I hoped differently. But none of us saw last night coming.” She snatched the box off her desk and dropped it on the floor with a clang and a thump. “I ended up the villain, and I’ve lost my job for it. So will Brock. It’s all in a day’s work for Natasha, but you? You ended up the hero. Lucky fucking you.”

I stood there mutely as she picked up an empty box and started throwing things in. The world tilted sideways and stuck there. Nothing made sense, and nothing was recognizable.