Every time an elevator door slides open, our heads swivel, wondering if this is the moment we’ve been waiting for, only to be disappointed moments later when strangers come out.
“I don’t know,” I murmur. “It’s not every day I’m out to destroy a lawyer’s career.”
“Not just any lawyer,” Jack says back, voice just as low. “Bliss has been our friend for years.”
I pause, turning to look at him. “Are you having second thoughts?”
He shakes his head furiously. “No. It’s just—” He lifts a shoulder. “I wish it hadn’t come to this.”
I sip my coffee, acting as if it doesn’t taste like tar. “I wish for a lot of things, and regret even more. Seeing Bliss face the consequences of her own actions? It’s not one of them.” I swallow hard, my own guilt surfacing. “Charlie’sgone. Marisa’s gone.” Jack’s expression grows tight at the reminder. “We played a part in it, but Bliss…” I blow out a breath. “She doesn’t care.”
“You’re right,” he agrees. “She never has. You remember that party in college? It was some costume thing. For Halloween, I think. Some girl turned up in the same outfit as Bliss?—”
I breathe out a low curse. “She made her life hell until the girl quit school.” It’s not something I’ve thought of in years. Suddenly, the memory shines a light on a reflection that has horror cascading through me. “Why has this taken us so long? Why did we let that happen?”
Jack’s throat moves on a swallow. “Charlie was right, I think. It was easier to go along with Bliss, safe in knowing we were on her side. If we let her do what she wanted, even if we didn’t help, we were safe.”
“And what about now?” I demand hoarsely. “We’re almost thirty. We’re not kids anymore. What’s our excuse now?”
Jack shakes his head silently just as a group of people surges through the front doors, their loud conversation catching our attention. They’re halfway across the lobby when an elevator slides open and Bliss steps out.
“Look,” I mutter at Jack, straightening up from the wall. Bliss is carrying a cardboard box in her arms, a monogrammed leather case hanging off one shoulder. Her face is pale except for two bright splotches of red on her cheeks. She walks toward the front doors, her eyes glazed.
The approaching group registers her appearance, and my eyebrows climb as the whispering begins—so loud that I don’t know why they bothered lowering their voices in the first place. Bliss’s head jerks up, eyes impossibly wide as she takesthem in.
True to herself as always, she doesn’t try to avoid them. Her mouth sets into a firm line as she slows to stop, watching as a woman breaks away from the group.
“Well, well…” the woman says mockingly, popping her hip out and smirking at Bliss. “Where are you going?” She makes a show of checking her phone. “It’s not quitting time yet, is it?” She tuts her tongue disapprovingly.
“Fuck off, Trish,” Bliss snaps, her mouth twisting into a snarl.
Trish flicks up a shaped brow. “Now, that’s just rude. I was only asking a question.” She glances pointedly at the box Bliss is carrying. “Now I know they didn’t offer you a partnership. It’s surprising, given how hard you’ve been working for it.” There’s an edge on the wordworking, and Jack and I share a look.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bliss grits out, those splotches of color in her face darkening. She looks away, gauging how many people are stopping to watch the showdown, her eyes skipping right over where we’re standing.
“Don’t I?” Trish taunts. “You think dirty tactics are the way to climb your way up in the world, Bliss, but all it does is make you a whore.” There are gasps and a hoot of laughter from the group, right before they cheer Trish on. She takes it in stride, her back straightening and a vicious grin widening over her face. “Stealing clients, trash-talking your colleagues,fuckingyour way through the ranks.” More people have stopped to gape at the spectacle now. Neither woman seems to notice; their focus is firmly on each other.
Bliss steps closer, her fingers digging into the sides of the box. “If you can’t handle the way this all works, maybe you’re the one in the wrong career.”
Trish cocks her head. “That sounds like something youneed to tell yourself. This is good, though,” she confides like she’s sharing a secret, but her voice carries clearly. “Once everyone knows who you are, you’ll see what your negativity truly brings you.” Trish smiles serenely. “A whole lot of nothing. I wish you luck, Bliss, and that you always have the day you deserve.” She eyes her one last time, and then spins on her heel, heading back to her friends—who are all staring at Bliss like she’s shit someone walked in.
I watch this all unfold, curiosity rising about what Bliss has been up to that she’s strategically kept to herself. I had no idea how utterly despised she is. It’s just more proof of how willfully blind we were to the truth—and how blind we were to the poison Bliss spreads as easily as breathing.
The group moves away, heading for the elevators. She watches them go, clutching her box, the expression on her face as lost as I’ve ever seen it.
Jack takes the opportunity to step forward, and her head whips in our direction, her mouth dropping open on a gasp. “Bliss,” he says with a frown.
“What…?” Her eyes fly past him to me, her shocked expression fading into something uneasy. “What are you doing here?”
I step up next to Jack, tucking my hands into my pockets. “We wanted to see the fallout.”
‘The f-fallout…” Bliss echoes, and a beat later, understanding fills her expression. “Youdid this? The two of you…” Her hate-filled eyes bulge comically. “You got mefired? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Did we get you fired?” Jack muses. “Pretty sure you fucking a co-worker in a partner’s office got you fired.”
“It could also have been her sucking off Callum in the copy room,” I add. “For a lawyer, Bliss,you aren’t real fucking smart. Or are you just so arrogant, you didn’t give a shit about the cameras?”
“Fair, when they aren’t monitored around the clock, I suppose,” Jack says conversationally. “I mean, Thompson even told us they only used them to cover their asses in ajust in caseway. Unless they had a reason to go back through the footage, of course.”
