She Dressed Me Like Bait, Not Knowing the Shark Was My Brother Chapter 03

She Dressed Me Like Bait, Not Knowing the Shark Was My Brother Chapter 03

“Mr. Thornton, we need to give Mr. Hayes a proper explanation for what happened today!” She quickly passed the responsibility back to the boss.

Seeing the others whispering and too afraid to make Jack even angrier, Mr. Thornton, meanwhile, just wanted to cut his losses.

He rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Alright, Nicole. Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, Mr. Hayes is angry because of you, and that’s a fact.”

“Nicole, you’re off the Lane Holdings project. Give all your files to Emily.”

“And you go report to HR yourself. Demotion, pay cut. You’ll start from the bottom.”

Seeing herself safely out of the blast zone, Emily leaned in to whisper in my ear. “See? I’m too valuable to the company. You’re the one who has to take the fall.”

“Don’t even think about trying to get anyone to stick up for you. Sucks to be you, kicking the hornet’s nest with Mr. Hayes today.”

But facing her gloating, I didn’t panic. I smiled.

That Lane Holdings deal the whole company had been chasing for six months? I had more or less begged my best friend for it.

I’d been complaining to her for weeks about my pathetic commissions, whining, “Feed me, rich girl!” until she’d rolled her eyes and thrown me the bone.

If they tried to take me off it, the company might lose its other major pillar.

“Mr. Hayes, is… is this acceptable?” Mr. Thornton asked my brother, wringing his hands nervously.

Emily quickly grabbed her glass, plastering on a fawning smile. “Mr. Hayes, I’m sorry I overreacted earlier. I was just being protective of my team, you know. I’ll have three drinks as a penalty.”

She pretended to bravely down the wine, and Mr. Thornton joined in. “Yes, yes, Mr. Hayes. Please, don’t let one little employee ruin the good will between our two companies.”

I was tired of listening to their garbage. They were just going to throw mud on me either way. So I sat down, picked up my fork, and took a bite of the salad.

“Nicole!” Emily saw me sit down and start eating, and she panicked, shoving my shoulder. “What’s wrong with you? Get over here and apologize to Mr. Hayes!”

Then she immediately switched back to smiling at Jack. “Don’t mind her, Mr. Hayes. Nicole’s from a small town. She doesn’t know any better. I guess being poor just makes people lose their sense of decency.”

Jack was sitting in his chair, listening to Emily drone on about me being “from a small town” and having “no decency.” The hand holding his glass suddenly stopped moving.

“Ms. Foster, you seem to know quite a lot about your subordinate’s background?” Jack asked slowly, his voice unreadable.

Emily immediately took it as encouragement. “Oh, sure. When she was hired, she said she came from a little farm town out west. It’s not easy for a girl like that to make it in the city… people like her are easily tempted by the wrong things.”

“And honestly,” she added, “every time there’s trouble at a business dinner, she’s somehow involved. As they say, flies flock to garbage. If she weren’t so… morally loose, she wouldn’t attract that kind of attention.”

“As her supervisor, I take responsibility for her poor judgment,” she continued smoothly. “But I can assure you, any cooperation with our company will be clean and transparent. No funny business.”

“Poor judgment… morally loose? Are we talking about Nicole Ryan?” Jack repeated the words, his smile turning razor thin.

“Yes.” Emily said with a sigh, as if reluctantly admitting a flaw. “I’m sorry to say it, but I wouldn’t lie to you, Mr. Hayes.”

Jack’s glass hit the table hard.

He leaned back in his chair, staring at her like she had already signed her own death sentence.

“So you’re telling me,” he said quietly, “that my sister is trying to sleep her way to a promotion?”

“And this is your company’s standard of judgment?”