3: 3
3.
She dangled the box of condoms in front of me, a nasty little smile on her face.
"Polly Swanson, what kind of decent person brings this to their internship?"
Zachery snorted out a laugh.
"Wendy, you don't get it. Her real job isn't here at the office. It's somewhere else."
"Service industry, you know how it is. Always prepared, always on call. A girl at anyone's beck and—"
He didn't finish the last word.
But everyone standing there had filth on their minds.
They all laughed anyway.
I clenched my fists and swallowed the urge to hit him.
"First, whatever's in your hand isn't mine, so I wouldn't know. Second, I've recorded every word you've slandered me with. When my lawyer and the police show up, don't say I didn't warn you."
Zachery noticed the phone in my hand and lunged for it.
I dodged, and he stumbled forward and went down.
I saw my chance and stomped down hard on his left hand.
He let out a howl like a stuck pig.
"Polly Swanson, you hate me for exposing you, so now you're getting your revenge."
I lifted my foot, all polite apology. "Sorry. Too much trash on the floor, didn't see it."
He scrambled up, eyes gone red.
"Polly Swanson, I was going to let you keep some dignity. You didn't want it. Don't blame me."
The work-chat cursor blinked a few times on the screen.
All at once, everyone opened the company group chat.
It was the video. The one that went viral across every platform in my last life.
Me on the arm of an older man in a black baseball cap, stepping out of a Rolls-Royce.
Walking into a private members' club.
"It really is her. Look how cheap she dresses."
"There's video and she still won't admit it. How thick does your skin have to be?"
"If her skin weren't that thick, would she be out hunting for a sugar daddy?"
Zachery stared at me, something vicious in his eyes.
He kept dumping photos and videos into the chat.
Some at the luxury counters, some in the passenger seat of a Rolls-Royce, some on a beach vacation.
Wendy dug up my social media feed.
"Still trying to talk her way out of it. She took her vacation on a beach last month. Exact same background."
Like she'd uncovered the crime of the century, she posted my whole photo set into the chat.
She pointed at a blurred figure in the corner.
"A fox always shows its tail in the end. That's the old man right there."
I looked at the photo and couldn't help laughing.
Zachery had gone to a lot of trouble to frame me.
And to make everyone believe it,
he'd deliberately mined my own social feed for material, inventing a sugar daddy who didn't exist but left just enough of a trail to be "found."
"Polly Swanson, weren't you so full of yourself? Why so quiet now?"
"If it weren't for that old man's help, how does a lowly intern like you land the Stonebrook project and get her position confirmed?"
I lifted my eyes to Zachery.
After all the circling around, he'd finally named what he was really after.
He'd started three months before me and still hadn't been confirmed.
The Stonebrook project was the stage every intern was fighting over.
Winning it didn't just mean getting your position confirmed.
Whoever landed the project would also handle all the follow-up business from Fox Corp behind Stonebrook.
Whoever took Stonebrook, and hooked into Fox Corp,
their career was as good as made.
Zachery's internship was almost up.
He needed Stonebrook. He needed Fox Corp.
"Zachery, I'm not like you. No real skill to speak of. Every intern in your batch got confirmed and you're still hanging on."
"Can't cut it yourself, so you cook up some cheap, dirty trick to humiliate other people."
That hit the nerve. Like some cornered clown, he started shrieking that he'd hit me.
The instant his fist was about to come down,
a sharp voice cut through the room.
"This is absurd. It's working hours. You think this company is a street market?"
I glanced up at who'd come in.
I let out a breath.
Now, I might just be saved.
