Jacob didn't get home until the middle of the night.

He'd had a lot to drink, unsteady enough that his walk swayed.

Then he stepped inside and saw me sitting in the living room, still awake.

He gave a little jolt.

A third of the drunkenness cleared out of him in an instant.

"Silvia, why are you still up?"

I looked at him with a cold smile.

"You think I'm in any mood to sleep?"

At that, Jacob came straight over and sat down beside me.

He put his arm around me and asked in a gentle voice, "Are you upset about tonight?"

"What do you think?"

"Lucinda's young. She doesn't know any better."

"Oh."

I answered flatly. "She's young and doesn't know any better, so I deserve to be humiliated?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I mean, my girl has a kind heart, and she's beautiful and gracious."

"There's no need to get into it with an intern."

His words only stoked the fire in me.

"To go along with her."

"You'd rather let your own girlfriend be humiliated in front of everyone, take all that grief?"

"Who exactly is your girlfriend?"

Jacob pulled me in tighter.

"You, of course."

"Heh..."

I let out a cold laugh. "You want her to replace me, don't you?"

"There is absolutely nothing like that going on."

"Don't overthink it."

"I'm overthinking it?"

My eyes were fixed on Jacob's neck.

He'd deliberately pulled his collar up to cover it.

But I could still just make out a lipstick mark he hadn't wiped off clean.

"Jacob, you're the boss of a company now."

"You haven't learned how to run a business."

"But you've gotten pretty polished at trading favors under the table, haven't you."

Jacob looked confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I lifted his hand off me and stood. "I may not measure up to those young things, but don't you forget."

"I bought those cars. I never abused company resources."

Seeing that I was angry, Jacob still wanted to smooth it over.

I went straight to the bedroom.

And locked the door behind me.

The next morning.

I woke to the frantic buzzing of messages.

I opened my phone and looked.

Turned out the company work chat had blown up.

Ten minutes to clock-in.

But today the company drivers hadn't pulled up outside their doors on time to take them to work like usual.

"Where are the drivers, old Zach and old Walt?"

"Why didn't the company cars come pick us up today?"

"I've been standing outside my door waiting twenty minutes."

"Where'd the cars go?"

"We're going to be late. Somebody tag Assistant Winfield, quick."

Dozens of them tagged Lucinda at once, and she replied, "Hold on, don't panic. I can't reach the drivers, I'll handle it as fast as I can."

"Why can't you reach them?"

"We're about to be late here."

"Assistant Winfield, you're the one who said joining the report against Miss Henson would get everyone a car to use, but now we don't even have a car to get us to work."

"Right, and who's covering the pay we lose for being late?"

"Hold on, hold on, I'm on it."

"Just stay calm."

Right now, Lucinda was going out of her mind.

Last night she'd already messaged all the company drivers.

From now on, the fleet under the company's name was hers to manage.

Including the drivers.

She'd assumed the drivers would keep shuttling employees to and from work on schedule, the way they always had.

But when she woke up this morning, she found out otherwise.

The messages she'd sent.

Not one reply!

And the drivers had vanished as if the earth had swallowed them.

No answers to texts, no answers to calls.

And so it went.

The entire staff showed up late.

Some lived too far out, missed their trains, and just called in sick.

Which was when the strangest thing happened.

For an entire morning.

The office held only the boss and his secretary.

Not a single employee in sight.

The work they'd planned to finish, the negotiation times set with clients.

All scrapped because the staff came in late.

By afternoon.

The employees trickled in one by one.

But having been stood up, those clients pulled out of their deals.

Furious, Jacob docked the bonuses he'd set aside for them to finish the project.

Seeing the anger and resentment aimed straight at her in everyone's eyes.

Lucinda rushed to explain: "It's not my fault."

"Somebody sabotaged this."

"Otherwise there's no way every driver disappears at the exact same time."

And just then.

I strolled in with a coffee in hand, taking my time.

The moment Lucinda saw me.

She jabbed a finger at me, furious: "It's her. It has to be her. She used to manage the company fleet, and she's the one who hired all those drivers."

"She can't stand that the company decided to push her out."

"So she made the drivers disappear on purpose."

"She's the reason you were all late."

"And the reason you lost your bonuses."

"She's the one behind all of it!"

Lucinda's little move—pinning it on someone else—worked fast.

The employees, stung by their losses, glared at me with pure fury.

Some demanded to know why I'd done it.

Some called me petty.

One even lost it completely and hurled a pen off the desk at me.

"My mother's waiting on that bonus for her surgery."

"And now the bonus is gone."

The pen struck my forehead, and blood ran down my cheek.

Jacob, my boyfriend, watched it happen with his own eyes.

And said nothing, did nothing.

He even blamed me: "You let your temper get the better of you."

"The whole staff was late today."

"A few deals we could have closed."

"All blown."

I didn't bother with any of them. I only gave Jacob a cold look.

Then I took out my phone and snapped a photo of myself to keep as evidence.

"You're the one who caused everyone these losses."

"Their losses."

"You should be the one to cover them!"

Lucinda said coldly.

"Heh..."

I gave a cold little laugh, let my eyes sweep over them all, and asked: "I bought the cars. I hired the drivers. Their wages, the gas for the cars—all of it came out of my own pocket."

"I gave you free rides to work, and you wanted to throw me out."

"I let all the drivers go. What exactly is wrong with that?"