Blake POV:
The confrontation in the lobby was but a prelude. The main spectacle of humiliation was served an hour later, delivered directly to my desk through the apparatus of the company’s internal telephone system.
I was attempting to configure my development environment when the telephone rang, its shrill summons cleaving the low hum of the office. I lifted the receiver. “Blake Steele.”
“Ten minutes have elapsed,” said the voice on the other end, a sound laced with a silken malice. It was Jaden. She must have procured my extension from Connor’s office. “Where is my coffee?”
The voice on the telephone was a thin, needling sound that made my eardrum ache. I found myself holding the receiver a little away from my ear, my knuckles showing white where I gripped the Bakelite. A film of sweat made the casing slick in my palm. “I apologize, Ms. Juarez. The machine in the pantry uses pods, not fresh grounds. I am endeavoring to discover if there is another machine available for staff use.”
“Pods?” She sounded personally affronted. “Are you serious? This is a billion-dollar enterprise, not a motor lodge. I require a proper Americano. That signifies two shots of espresso, with hot water poured over them—not the reverse, do you comprehend? The crema must be preserved. And I require it in a ceramic mug, not one of those hideous paper cups bearing the company crest.”
The specificity of her demands was a form of artful tyranny; she was not merely requesting coffee, she was composing a test of fealty.
“And I require it now,” she added, her voice lowering. “Do not compel me to wait.”
“I am attending to it,” I said, replacing the receiver before she could append another grotesque stipulation.
I walked to the high-end kitchenette reserved for the executive floor, a sanctuary to which I technically had no right of entry. The ascent in the elevator was a slow torment, each chime of a passing floor seeming to amplify the pressure upon me. The coffee machine was a gleaming, formidable beast of polished silver, its function an intimidating mystery. I spent a full three minutes deciphering the method for grinding the beans.
As I was awaiting the extraction of the espresso, my telephone vibrated in my pocket. A text message from Connor.
*Everything okay? Jaden seems a little on edge.*
I stared at the words, and a strange, bitter humor constricted my throat. A little on edge? She was on the warpath, and he spoke as if she had suffered a minor inconvenience to her morning.
Before I could compose a reply, the telephone at my desk, which I could hear from the corridor, began to ring again. The sound was frantic, insistent. I seized the mug as the final drops of espresso fell and hastened back, the hot ceramic warming my hands.
The entire development team was watching me. The ringing had persisted for some time.
Jaden’s voice was a shriek the instant I answered. “Where have you been? Are you incompetent? I requested a simple coffee, not that you should fly to Colombia and harvest the beans yourself!”
“The machine required a moment to heat,” I said, my voice tight with a strained composure. “The coffee is on its way.”
“A moment? A moment?” she screeched. “My entire mood is ruined! Do you know how delicate my constitution is? The acidity is likely all wrong now because it was left to sit! If it tastes burnt, I shall hold your entire department accountable!”
She was on the speakerphone. Everyone could hear her unhinged tirade. The faces around me were a gallery of pity, disgust, and a prudent measure of fear. This was their daily condition. This toxic, irrational woman held power over their livelihoods.
I attempted to maintain a shield of professionalism against the sheer absurdity of it all. “I assure you, Ms. Juarez, it was prepared just seconds ago. I will bring it directly.”
I hung up and started toward the executive wing, mug in hand. But she was quicker. She met me in the hallway, her arms crossed, her face a thunderhead.
Without a word, she snatched the mug from my hand. The hot liquid sloshed over the rim, scalding the skin of my fingers and wrist. I cried out, a sharp, involuntary gasp of pain, and drew my hand back.
“Clumsy fool!” she hissed, though it was she who had seized it. She took a theatrical sip, then made a face of profound revulsion. “It is lukewarm. And you have burned the espresso. Pathetic.”
She looked down at my hand, which was already turning a painful, angry red. There was no flicker of concern in her expression, only a cool, assessing contempt.
“Look at you,” she sneered. “You cannot even manage a simple delivery without injuring yourself. I am going to have a word with Connor. People like you should not be employed here. You are a liability.”
The pain was a sharp, throbbing fire, but the fury that ignited in my chest was of a hotter and more volatile substance. My fingers curled into a fist. Every nerve, every sinew, screamed at me to wipe that smug, cruel expression from her face. I took a step forward, my jaw clenched so hard that the muscles ached.
“Blake, don’t!”
Mark, my manager, was suddenly there, his hand on my arm, his eyes wide with terror. He physically pulled me back, placing his own body between me and Jaden.
“Ms. Juarez, I am so, so sorry,” he said, his voice a placating murmur. “She is new. It will not happen again. Please, forgive her.”
He was practically beseeching her. It was a humiliating spectacle.
He turned to me, his grip on my arm tightening, his whisper urgent and low. “Let it go, Blake. For God’s sake, let it go. She will have you discharged. She will have us all discharged.” He put a great weight on the last words, a stark reminder that my defiance carried consequences for everyone.
Jaden looked from Mark’s terrified face to my furious one, and her mouth tilted at the corners, though the expression did not reach her eyes. It was the look of a naturalist observing a creature in a trap, a gaze of detached, intellectual curiosity at the suffering she had inflicted. She had won. She had asserted her dominion, and the entire department had borne witness.
“Very well,” she said, her voice dripping with condescension. “Since you have asked so nicely, Mark.”
She took another slow sip of the coffee she had just declared undrinkable. “I was just thinking,” she announced to the assembled, captive audience of developers. “This place feels rather stuffy. I believe I shall take a little tour. See how the lesser beings work. Beginning with the cafeteria. I hear the luncheon options are simply dreadful.”
A sour sickness churned in my stomach, and I felt the fine hairs on the back of my neck prickle and rise. The cafeteria was a massive operation, serving hundreds of employees. It was a place governed by strict protocols of health and safety—a place where a loose cannon like Jaden could inflict real damage.
“Ms. Juarez,” I said, my voice low and hard as iron, “the cafeteria is a restricted area for non-food-service personnel.”
Mark’s hand clamped down on my arm again, a silent, desperate plea for me to hold my tongue.
“Oh, is it?” Jaden arched a perfect eyebrow. “Do not concern yourself. I am quite certain Connor will not mind. After all,” she added, her eyes locking onto mine, “he and I are… intimately close. He tells me everything.”
The implication hung in the air, a greasy smear of a threat. She was not merely a friend of the CEO. She was positioning herself as something more.
“She can have your name placed on the redundancy list tomorrow,” Mark whispered frantically in my ear. “Simply because she dislikes your face. Do not fight her. You cannot win.”
I stared back at Jaden, my mind flashing to the covenant. To the promise Connor and I had made. We were supposed to be building a company founded upon respect and integrity. What I was witnessing was a monarchy built on fear, with a cruel, capricious queen.
Jaden laughed, a sound like breaking glass. “Has the cat seized your tongue, junior developer?”
She turned on her heel, her hips swaying with a smug, victorious rhythm. “Let us see what manner of slop they are serving you all today.”
She headed for the elevators, leaving in her wake a stunned silence and the faint, bitter scent of burnt espresso.
“I am going to have you fired,” she called over her shoulder, a final, parting shot aimed directly at me. “I promise you that.”
