Then again, when did Vivian give a damn about Jules, period?

“Forgetting myself,” she said. “You mean forgetting my place, I guess. As a lowly assistant.”

“Watch yourself,” Vivian said quietly. “Watch yourself carefully, Julia.”

“Watch what?” Jules’s ears were getting so hot that maybe steam was actually going to start coming out of them. “What am I doing that’s so awful? You’re going to a dinner, and I’m going to a party because you don’t need me.”

That had come out all wrong. The words weren’t so bad, but it was the little crack in her voice that gave her away. Fuck.

“Tonight,” Jules added hoarsely. “You don’t need me tonight, so why shouldn’t I go?”

“You seem awfully sure that I’d ever need you at all.”

Had Vivian been taking judo lessons? That had certainly been a blow to the gut. Jules’s breath caught.

“Besides,” Vivian continued, “what if there was an emergency? You’re my assistant on duty at all times. You’d rush from your little tryst to help?”

“Of course I…” Jules trailed off and her stomach flipped over. “Did you say ‘tryst’?”

A moment of silence followed. Silence that said absolutely everything. Vivian crossed her arms, her fingertips pressing into her biceps as if she were cold. She didn’t take back the accusation she’d all but thrown into Jules’s face.

“You’re kidding,” Jules said.

“I don’t kid.” Vivian sneered. “That’s something else you should know by now.”

Wrong answer. The worst answer. “Seriously? That’s what you think of me? She isn’t—and I’d never—that’s not what I want!”

“You’re the one person in the world who doesn’t want advancement? Monique’s going to be surprised. Is that what you’re going to tell her when she tries to lure you away”—She raised a disdainful eyebrow—“or lure you into bed?”

“That’s ridiculous.”

Vivian’s breath caught. Made sense. No assistant could have ever spoken to her like that before.

Might as well go for broke. This was absolutely unbelievable. “What? You want me to tell you when I’m mad, right? You just accused me of sleeping my way to the top!”

Vivian just looked at her.

“You don’t mean it,” Jules said. “You can’t mean it.”

But those eyes grew even colder, if such a thing was possible.

“You can’t,” Jules repeated. Her heart was slamming so hard in her chest, she was shaking with it. “I-I don’t believe this.”

“I might say the same thing.” Vivian was plainly unaware that she’d just broken what was left of Jules’s heart into a thousand pieces.

“I don’t believe this,” Jules repeated as if Vivian hadn’t spoken. “You think I’d do that? You don’t trust me? After everything I’ve—I’ve done everything you asked me to do!”