“Oh, no you’re not,” he said. “I want answers. Were you so threatened by me that you set up a whole ‘Oh my god, someone’s been stealing my company card out of my wallet and charging expensive dinners to it’ scenario so that you could falsely accuse me in an attempt to get me fired?”

“That’s enough, Carson,” Sophie said. We both ignored her.

I stared him down. His gaze flitted from mine, hardly keeping it. He was lying. He was projecting what he had done onto me and acting like the victim. I wasn’t having it.

I looked shocked. I dropped all the materials in my arms for dramatic effect. “Carson West, are you telling me you stole my company card out of my wallet and charged expensive dinners to it?”

“No!” He denied it. “It’s all a lie. You faked it to set me up.”

I looked at him in confusion. “What possible reason would I have to do that?”

“Because you’re threatened by me,” he insisted. More projection.

“How would I be threatened by you?” I asked. I made a point of looking him up and down. “Is it my higher salary? No. Bigger office space? No. Being the creative director? No. I’m not really seeing why you think you have anything happening that I would consider a threat.”

“Because I’m . . . Miguel and I—”

“Correction, there is no ‘Miguel and I.’ ” Miguel stepped out of his office. He moved to stand beside his wife. “You’re fired, Carson.”

There was a collective ripple of shock in the office, and I have to admit I was right there with them. I had never seen Miguel look so furious.

“You think you’re so clever,” Carson spit. “Miguel Vasquez, owner of a design firm, married to the hot girl, living the big life, but you’re not. You’re just a whipped—”

“We have video, Carson, of you taking Annabelle’s company card out of her wallet,” Miguel said. He sounded so disappointed. Carson’s chin jutted out like he was still going to deny it, but Miguel didn’t give him a chance. “How was Beckett’s Table last night?”

Carson opened his mouth to speak, but Miguel held up his hand.

“Never mind. We have video of you putting the card back this morning as well. There’s no wiggle room here, Carson.”

“This is a total setup,” Carson cried.

Everyone stared. It seemed no one believed him.

“We’ll escort you to your office to pack up your desk now. We’ll want your keys to the building when we escort you to your car,” Hector said. I hadn’t even seen the security guards arrive, but as they shouldered their way past me, I knew their timing wasn’t a coincidence. Someone had expected Carson to handle this badly. I glanced at Miguel and realized it was probably him.