Chapter 4
I was staring at my computer screen, trying to focus on the numbers swimming before my eyes, when I sensed someone hovering nearby. Looking up, I found Chloe standing awkwardly at the edge of my cubicle, clutching a paper coffee cup like it was a lifeline.
"Hey," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Can we talk?"
I nodded, gesturing to the empty chair beside my desk. Part of me was grateful for any human interaction after hours of being treated like a ghost. "Sure."
Chloe glanced around nervously before sitting down, her eyes darting toward Nathan's office where Julia's laughter could be heard through the glass walls.
"I just wanted to say..." she began, then paused, fidgeting with the sleeve of her coffee cup. "What happened last night was really messed up."
Hope flickered in my chest—finally, someone who'd seen the truth. "It was, wasn't it? After everything we built together—"
"Not just for you," she clarified quickly, her eyes dropping to the floor. "I mean, it was embarrassing for everyone."
The hope died as quickly as it had sparked. Of course. Even Chloe, who'd been my friend for two years, who'd had dinner at my apartment countless times, who knew exactly what Nathan and I had been to each other—even she wouldn't stand with me now.
"Chloe," I said quietly, "you know it wasn't just professional between us. You've seen us together."
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Look, Eliza, I feel bad for you, I really do. But Julia's family has connections everywhere. Her father is on the board of three Fortune 500 companies. If she decides she doesn't like someone..."
Her meaning was clear. She was choosing self-preservation.
"I understand," I said, my voice hollow.
"Do you?" She looked relieved that I wasn't fighting her on this. "It's just... I can't risk my career over office gossip. You know how this industry is."
Without another word, she stood up and walked away, leaving me alone again with the weight of my isolation pressing down harder than before.
---
The break room was usually my sanctuary during lunch, but today it felt like another battlefield. I'd just poured myself a cup of coffee when Julia swept in, her phone pressed to her ear, her voice deliberately loud enough to carry.
"Oh my God, you would not believe this woman at Nathan's company," she was saying, her eyes locked on mine as she passed. "So desperate and pathetic. Can't take a hint that no one wants her around."
I kept my eyes on my coffee, willing my hands not to shake as I stirred in sugar.
"I know, right?" Julia continued, pacing back and forth in front of the coffee machine. "Nathan says she's always been kind of unstable. Obsessed with him."
The coffee pot trembled in my hand as I set it down too hard, splashing hot liquid onto the counter.
"Oops!" Julia exclaimed with exaggerated concern as she 'accidentally' bumped into me, sending my full cup tumbling to the floor. Coffee splashed across my shoes and the folder of files I'd brought with me.
"I'm so clumsy," she said with a smirk that didn't reach her eyes. "Let me help you clean that up."
Before I could stop her, she was grabbing napkins and dabbing at the soaked papers, managing to smudge ink and tear edges in the process.
"Julia," I said quietly, "I've got it."
"Oh, don't worry about it," she insisted, continuing to destroy my work. "Nathan always says I'm good at cleaning up messes."
Through the break room window, I could see other employees watching, their expressions carefully blank as they pretended not to notice what was happening. No one came to help. No one spoke up.
---
"Eliza, I need to see you in my office."
Nathan's voice startled me from my thoughts later that afternoon. He stood in the doorway of his office, his expression unreadable. For a moment—just a moment—I allowed myself to hope. Maybe he'd seen Julia's behavior. Maybe he was going to make things right.
I followed him inside, closing the door behind me.
"Sit down," he said, gesturing to the chair across from his desk.
I obeyed, smoothing my skirt nervously. The office felt different now—colder somehow, despite the warm afternoon sun streaming through the windows.
"I'm sure you've noticed some changes around here," he began, his voice businesslike and distant. "The company is restructuring."
My heart sank as I realized where this was going.
"Your position has been... reconsidered," he continued, not meeting my eyes. "The decision has been made to eliminate it, effective immediately."
Effective immediately. The words echoed in my head like a death knell.
"Nathan," I whispered, "after everything we've built together—"
"This isn't personal," he cut me off sharply. "It's just business."
Just business. As if our year together had meant nothing. As if I hadn't poured my heart and soul into this company while he'd been planning to replace me all along.
I closed my eyes, not allowing him to see my tears.
I packed my desk in silence that evening, aware of every eye in the office watching me. Four years of work reduced to a cardboard box. Photos, awards, the small potted plant that had survived on my windowsill through countless late nights—all of it now just reminders of time wasted.
As I reached for a framed photo of the team from last year's retreat, I caught sight of Julia watching from Nathan's office window.
Her smile was triumphant, satisfied—the look of someone who had won exactly what she'd wanted.
This wasn't just about Nathan choosing a wealthier woman. This was about using me until I was no longer useful, then discarding me completely.
I placed the photo face-down in my box.
As I walked toward the elevator with my cardboard box of memories, I heard Nathan's voice from a conference room.
"Yes, she's leaving us today," he was saying to someone on the phone. "Performance issues, unfortunately. Brilliant mind, but not a good cultural fit."
I froze, the blood rushing in my ears.
"Of course we wish her well," he continued smoothly. "But Locke Capital needs people who can handle pressure without... personal complications."
The elevator doors opened before me, and I stepped inside, clutching my box to my chest as the last piece of my heart broke away.
He hadn't just fired me. He was actively sabotaging my future in the industry. Making sure no one would hire me after learning I'd been let go for "performance issues."
As the elevator descended, something shifted inside me. The crushing weight of heartbreak was suddenly burned away by a white-hot rage.
Nathan Cole had taken everything from me—my job, my reputation, my pride.
He thought he’d won—but he had forgotten what I could to do.
He’d learn soon.