Emily
The days following the carnival felt like walking on shining sands. One moment, everything fell fine. We settled into this space where we were two people figuring each other out. The next, the weight of the words the fortune teller spoke hung over me, heavy and suffocating.
Fated males
I couldn’t shake the thought.
I watched Logan, too, but he was closed off in a way that only made me more uncertain. Every time I looked at him, there was a part of me that wondered if he was grappling with the same realization. Was he thinking about what the woman said? Was he filled with the same fear and uncertainty that I was?
Logan kept his walls high, even when I thought I had made some kind of crack in them. It felt like everything we had built together, including the vulnerability we showed each other, was lost.
We drifted Sway from each other once again.
We didn’t talk about what happened at the carnival. It was like that night never existed, like the connection we shared under the ferris wheel’s lights was a fleeting illusion.
In the office, it was easier to avoid the tension between us. That was mostly because we had a little more separation between us. It was also because I had to deal with tensions somewhere else.
Iris wasn’t going to let me slide into this life, Logan’s life, without a fight, but I didn’t expect the venom to seep in so quickly.
I walked into the accounting department that morning to find Iris and another woman, Carla, whispering to each other over some paperwork. As soon as I entered the room, their conversation went silent, and both women exchanged glances before looking away.
It was clear they weren’t happy to see me, and their reactions made my stomach sink. I was overwhelmed by dread.
“Morning,” I said, trying to sound casual as I moved to my desk.
Neither of them responded. Instead, Iris leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest as she watched me.
I sat at my desk, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was brewing Something bad.
The day moved forward, but there was no escaping the tension. Every time I looked up, I felt Iris’s eyes on me. She wasn’t being subtle anymore. Her passive–aggressive comments had become regular, sharp jabs that hit harder than I ever thought they would.
Finally, after a few hours of biting my tongue, I couldn’t stand it anymore. “What’s going on, Iris?” I asked, turning in my chair to face her.
She looked at me with a smug smile that made my skin crawl. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” I said, lowering my voice, “you’ve been acting weird.”
Iris’s smile widened, and I saw the glee behind her eyes. “Maybe you’ve been imagining things. Or maybe you’re guilty.”
I froze at her words, trying to process what she was implying “Guilty of what?”
“Guilty of stealing,” she said, her voice dripping with faux sweetness. “Everyone knows the pack’s finances have been doing well lately. Maybe you’ve been helping yourself to a little extra.”
My blood ran cold at her accusation, and for a moment, I didn’t know how to respond. I opened my mouth to speak, but the words were lost.
Before I could think of something else to say, Carla stepped in. “I think we should look into this. After all, we wouldn’t want our
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accounting department’s reputation ruined by someone who doesn’t belong here, would we?”
Tclenched my jaw. This wasn’t about me anymore. This was about everything they had been plotting in the shadows, everything they were trying to do to discredit me and hurt Logan in the process.
“I haven’t stolen anything,” I said, my voice tight. “If you think you can make an accusation like that, then you’d better have proof.”
Iris’s eyes flashed with something dark. “We’ll see about that.”
The day spiraled from there. I felt like I was walking a tightrope, trying to keep my head down and avoid getting tangled up in whatever plot Iris was weaving.
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Chapter 33
