TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 294

Two hundred and nienty four

Isabella POV

I had five minutes left before lunch break ended.

Five minutes that should have been enough to eat the sandwich I’d packed that morning. Instead, it sat beside my sketchbook exactly where I’d left it, untouched and already beginning to go stale.

Emerald took charge of the department the moment Luna Lisa left for her trip on Sunday. Coming in on Monday to find out Doris had traveled with her should have warned me how the week was going to go. The only two people Emerald ever seemed to restrain herself around were gone.

Iris hadn’t traveled with them, but she called in sick, and just like that, I was alone.

Emerald didn’t waste the opportunity. Every criticism she’d apparently swallowed in Doris’ presence came pouring out the moment there was no one left to stop her.

“You don’t belong here. You don’t even have enough experience to be a janitor. You got this job because someone pitied you.”

She said it while I was sketching. I ignored her and kept working.

Anita’s gala dresses needed their final concepts, and the department’s regular workload hadn’t magically disappeared because Emerald had decided to make me miserable. I buried myself in both, moving from one task to another as quickly as I could, hoping efficiency would leave her with nothing to complain

about.

It didn’t.

People who wanted a reason to hate you rarely needed one.

The other two women in the department barely spoke to me. Their loyalty to Emerald showed itself in smaller ways. Whenever an unpleasant task came up, it somehow landed on my desk. They disappeared from their workstations for long stretches of time, returned laughing from extended coffee breaks, then casually dropped another pile of work beside me before leaving again.

Nobody questioned it or supervised them.

By Tuesday morning, Emerald had found a fresh audience.

“The new girl has a lot to prove,” she announced, loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Some people think getting hired means they’ve already earned their place.”

I didn’t look up.

She wanted a reaction. She wasn’t getting one.

The silence only irritated her more.

She leaned back in her chair and looked me over from head to toe.

1/4

nity our

+15 Bonus

“You claim to understand fashion, but have you ever looked at yourself? You dress like someone who wandered in off the street.”

That one almost made me smile.

If she thought my clothes were capable of hurting my feelings, then she’d greatly overestimated how easy my life had been. After everything I’d survived, being mocked for wearing simple clothes barely registered. It was noise, like a fly that kept circling your lunch.

Annoying, persistent, but mostly harmless.

Unfortunately, flies had a habit of landing where you least wanted them.

I stood to print something. The printer jammed twice before cooperating, costing me another few precious minutes. When I returned to my desk, I stopped so abruptly the papers nearly slipped from my

hands.

Coffee covered the edges of my concept board, enough to soak through the presentation border I’d stayed late finishing the previous evening.

“Oh no…”

I hurried over and lifted the board before the liquid spread farther. Brown drops slid off the corner onto the floor while I grabbed tissues and pressed them carefully against the wet cardboard.

“Who did this?”

I wasn’t shouting. I was trying very hard not to.

Emerald glanced up from the dress she was beading.

“Next time, don’t leave your things lying around.”

I stared at her.

“It’s my workstation.”

She shrugged.

“People walk past all the time. If you leave things out where everyone can bump into them, that’s hardly anyone else’s fault.”

I looked around the room.

“My board wasn’t in the walkway.”

“No? I thought maybe you left it out so everyone could see how busy you were. Some people enjoy looking important.”

I tightened my grip on the tissue.

“The design wasn’t bothering anyone.”

2/4

+15 Bonus

“It wasn’t very good anyway.”

The words hurt me, not because I believed her, but because I’d stayed late finishing it.

“It may not be your favorite design,” I said, “but I spent hours working on it. The least anyone could do is respect that.”

“Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes. “Stop acting like a victim. I haven’t left this chair in over two hours, and nobody walked past your desk.”

There wasn’t any point in arguing. Even if she’d poured it herself, she wasn’t about to admit it. The damage looked worse than it actually was. The center of the board had survived. Only the decorative edges had soaked through.

I grabbed a pair of scissors, trimmed away the ruined sections, straightened the remaining border, and quietly returned to work.

Across the room, I caught Emerald watching me. She looked disappointed, almost cheated, as though she’d expected tears instead of scissors.

I lowered my head and kept working.

By Wednesday morning, Iris was back, and I’d never been so relieved to see someone in my life.

“You look exhausted,” she said the moment she reached my desk.

“I feel exhausted.”

She glanced toward Emerald before lowering her voice even further.

“I figured.”

Having Iris back didn’t magically improve Emerald’s attitude, but it changed something important. I could finally leave my desk at lunch without wondering what fresh disaster would be waiting when I returned.

We chatted about ordinary things on the way back, and I remember thinking how strange it was that a simple lunch break could feel like a luxury. The feeling lasted until we reached the department.

Two security guards stood outside the entrance.

Nobody was being allowed inside.

“What’s going on?”

One of Emerald’s minions folded her arms.

“Bag inspection.”

“Why?”

She looked at me before answering.

3/4

+15 Bonus

“Someone stole one of Luna Lisa’s pearl sets.”

I leaned against the glass wall and let out a slow breath.

The security guards searched each bag one by one while the department stood around waiting. Iris looked mildly irritated more than anything else.

One by one, bags were opened. One of the guards reached mine. He unzipped it, glanced inside, and frowned.

He reached into my bag and pulled out a velvet pouch. Even before he untied it, I knew exactly what it

was.

P

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