She Ate My Lunch for Free Every Day—Until Six Tins of Luxury Caviar Arrived Chapter 05

Her shock lasted only a moment.

Then her usual attitude returned.

“So what if it belongs to a client? It’s still food.”

Derek did not respond. He took the intake form, read several lines, and tightened his jaw.

“Maya, don’t make this any bigger than it needs to be.”

Renee was already calling the general manager.

I returned to the conference room, paused the shoot, and explained that there was a problem with the

product. The photographer closed the camera plan and came out with me to wait.

At twelve forty, Vivian Shaw from Tidewell Fine Foods arrived.

She did not lose her temper. She put on gloves, checked each inventory number, and asked her colleague to

pull up the delivery record.

The six tins were lined up on a white table. The spoon marks and bread crumbs were impossible to hide.

Vivian looked at Kelsey.

“Did you open all of these?”

Kelsey nodded once, then quickly shook her head.

“I only took two bites.”

Vivian pushed the two empty tins forward.

“These were two bites?”

Kelsey’s throat worked. Then the tears started again.

“I didn’t know. I thought they belonged to Maya.”

“And that would make them yours to take?”

Kelsey cried louder, but Vivian had already turned to Derek.

“Each tin contains 4.4 ounces. Our cost was $1,250 apiece. Six tins come to $7,500. I’ll provide the purchase contract, payment records, and lot documentation for verification.”

Derek’s hand trembled around the intake form.

Kelsey’s mouth fell open, and even her tears stopped.

“$1,250? I’ve seen caviar online for thirty bucks. You’re trying to scam me.”

Vivian did not waste time arguing about what Kelsey had seen online.

She opened the purchase order and placed each item number beside the corresponding number on the tins.

“If you dispute the price, it can be verified. The other four tins may not be empty, but you stirred them with a spoon that had been in your mouth and mixed in other food. We cannot send them to the client who ordered

them.

“We’ll preserve the contents and document the loss according to procedure. No one is asking you to pay an

amount we made up.”

Kelsey stared at the total.

The ruined shipment cost more than two months of her salary.

At last, the breezy promise to buy me lunch vanished from her face.

She suddenly spun around and pointed at me.

“It was her. She knew I loved food, and she put her name on it on purpose.

“She’s hated me since the other day. This was a setup to make me pay.”

Every eye turned toward me.

I found the photo of the sealed bin and enlarged the label.

“Employee responsible, Maya Carter. What does the next line say?”

Kelsey said nothing.

“Do not open without authorization.”

I pulled up Derek’s acknowledgment in the project channel and the message I had sent Renee before entering

the meeting.

“I never gave you a key, and I never invited you to taste anything.”

Kelsey twisted her sleeve between her fingers.

“Then why did you put it where you usually keep your lunch?”

“Because that shelf can hold things. That doesn’t mean you can take them.”

Renee documented both of our statements. She told everyone not to delete messages or disturb the scene

while she reviewed the security footage.

Derek suddenly spoke.

“This is an internal office matter. We don’t need to investigate every tiny detail.”

Vivian looked at him.

“Your employee destroyed my merchandise. How is that suddenly an internal matter?”