Chapter 2

I couldn't help but mock myself for fooling myself into thinking he cared.

Thousands of drones! As for the grand, one-of-a-kind proposal he once promised me, he gave it to another woman instead, in the most brutal, humiliating way possible.

Standing by the riverside as the season's first snow fell, I felt like the world's biggest fool, left out in the cold.

Katie's little games didn't just start tonight.

About two months ago, when she first joined the company as an intern, she was nervous and trying her best to win everyone over.

She was always pretending to need help just to hang around Luke, always calling him "Luke" instead of "Mr. Perry" like they were old friends.

At first, I didn't pay much attention. I even thought she was hardworking and eager to learn, so I'd offer her some advice now and then.

But as time went by, I started to notice that something felt off about the way Katie and Luke were around each other.

She'd "accidentally" spill coffee on Luke's shirt, then apologize, eyes all watery, fumbling to wipe it off while almost pressing herself against him.

He'd just laugh and say to me, "She's just a clumsy girl. Don't take it to heart."

There were a few times when I dropped off dinner for Luke while he was working late, only to find him already digging into some homemade treat Katie had brought.

Her lunchbox was all pastel pink and adorable, filled with delicate late-night snacks, even a heart-shaped fried egg, with the word "Luke" carefully carved out of carrot.

I felt uneasy and tried to drop a hint to Luke. But he just brushed it off, actually seemed to enjoy soaking up all that admiration.

He said, "Katie's just a fresh graduate, pure-hearted and simple. Don't read too much into it with all your workplace suspicions."

The way Luke kept letting things slide just made Katie push her luck even more.

She started mimicking me, whether she meant to or not. She'd wear the same perfume I used, shop the same indie designer brands I loved, and even start talking like me.

And Luke began taking her along to all sorts of business events, even had Katie step into my shoes as the lead designer, using the proposals I'd stayed up all night working on to pitch to clients.

That time, I completely lost it and trashed Luke's office.

He pulled me into his arms, apologizing, "Jemma, please, just hear me out. It's not what you think. Katie's student loan was coming due, and she's way too proud to accept my help. So I let her pitch to clients in your name, and she could use the commission to pay off her loan..."

I slapped him hard across the face.

From that day forward, I walked away from the design team for good.

But my classic fireworks designs were our secret weapon whenever we went up for a contract.

After Katie kept screwing up bid after bid, Luke finally had to admit defeat.

He put her back in the assistant role and booted her off the design team. And just like that, I was calling the shots again.

I thought I'd won this battle, but Katie's payback and provocations just kept getting worse.

The escalation happened during an important client meeting. I was presenting our proposal, and Katie was taking notes.

When I got to the key part of the presentation, I referenced data from one of our previous successful projects that combined traditional fireworks with drones.

Suddenly, Katie nervously raised her hand and interrupted, "Jemma, isn't this data kind of outdated? I saw a recent report from overseas a few days ago, and it looks like the trends there have changed a lot..."

She called out some tiny, nitpicky "problem" right in front of all the clients and higher-ups, waving around some random, sketchy report she'd found God knows where. The atmosphere turned painfully awkward.

Even though I quickly countered her with my expertise and solid data, I could still see doubt written all over the clients' faces.

After the meeting, instead of saying a word about Katie's blunder, Luke pulled me aside and said, "Jemma, Katie's right. If we want to go big, our traditional fireworks have to keep up with the international scene."

He didn't mention for a second how Katie nearly cost us a huge international contract. He was just full of admiration and indulgence for her.

At that moment, my heart turned cold.

From that day forward, Katie got even more shameless. She'd casually drop little comments to our coworkers, acting like it was no big deal, about how I was "always throwing my seniority around" and "set in my ways."

Whenever Luke was burning the midnight oil, she'd snap photos from all sorts of intimate angles and post them on Twitter with captions like, [Hardworking men are the most attractive. Shoutout to the most talented boss!] Sure, there were other people in the background, but her lens was always locked on Luke.