Chapter 3

A week later, I had barely reached the office entrance when Ethan stopped me.

He grabbed my arm. "Where were you last night? You didn't answer your phone."

I looked down at his hand gripping mine. "I haven't been back in a week. You're just now noticing?"

He faltered for a moment. "Things have been crazy with the project. I've been sleeping at the office. I didn't realize."

"Right. At the office. Or at Director Lawson's place?"

His expression hardened. "Mia, do you even hear yourself?"

He pulled me aside and lowered his voice. "Diana and I are just playing the game. Isn't all of this for our future?"

I laughed, though nothing was funny.

"Playing the game?"

I yanked my arm free.

"Signing for her packages all year, never coming home at night, making her warm milk every morning?"

He opened his mouth. After about two seconds of silence, his tone turned cold.

"You're so naive."

"The real world doesn't work the way you think. I didn't get where I am by being emotional."

He turned and headed for the elevator, glancing back to add, "Cool off. We'll talk tonight."

"There's nothing to talk about!"

At ten o'clock, an email blast came through.

The subject line: S City Branch Operations Proposal Selected as Annual Best.

Author: S City Branch Deputy Director, Diana Lawson.

Project: Haven Senior Care Operations.

Colleagues swarmed Diana's desk, congratulating her with cheers and applause.

I sat in my corner and opened the attachment.

The core framework, the data models, all of it was mine.

Not a single word had been changed.

She had only swapped out the cover page.

I took the printout to Diana's office.

The door was open. She and Ethan were sitting together at the computer, their heads close, laughing about something.

I dropped the papers on the desk.

"Director Lawson, I wrote this proposal. Why does it have your name on it?"

Diana looked me over and let out a short laugh.

"Mia, your draft did give me some inspiration."

"But do you really think something an intern put together could be used as-is?"

She crossed her legs and tapped the papers on her desk.

"I revised it extensively. The structure, the logic, the feasibility. Go back and look at it carefully."

I stared at her, my knuckles white.

Ethan stood up and stepped in front of Diana.

"Come with me."

Out in the hallway, he looked at me the way you'd look at a child who doesn't know any better.

"Diana's right. Your proposal was too amateurish."

"When a leader uses your ideas, you should feel honored."

"Honored?"

I repeated the word. Every syllable grated.

"She didn't change a single word, and her name is the only one on it. I'm not even listed as a co-author. And you want me to feel honored?"

He sighed. "That's just how it works. You contributed the idea. The people in charge will remember that."

"You can't make a fuss over every little thing."

I looked at him. I had looked at this face for four years, and suddenly it felt like a stranger's.

"Ethan."

"Junior year. Your roommate's paper was stolen and published under a senior's name."

"You wrote the complaint yourself, spent an entire week going back and forth with the dean's office, and fought until his name was restored."

"Have you forgotten all of that?"

His expression wavered for a split second before the indifference settled back in.

"That was college. Things are different now."

He looked at me, his voice turning cool.

"If you can't play by the rules here, then leave."

I stared at him for a long time.

"You've changed."

I paused.

"No. I never really knew you at all."

I turned and walked out. At the entrance, my phone rang.

One word on the screen: Mom.

I picked up.

A second or two of silence on the other end. Then Mom's voice came through, slightly hoarse.

"Mia, your father had a heart attack."

"He's in the ER right now."