Cash In and Cut Me Loose

...

I was boxing up my belongings when the office door flew open with a bang.

"Lester, you snake! Did you write that whistleblower letter?" Cassandra Lockhart stood in the doorway, her face a storm cloud of fury. "How low can you go? I fire you, and you try to burn my whole world down? Do you know how much of my savings I had to drain to clean up your mess?"

Before I could get a word in, she snatched the frame from my hands and smashed it onto the floor, shattering our only photo.

I stared at the wreckage, my voice flat. "That client signed the contract because of me. I'm just protecting their interests."

Cassandra's laugh was sharp enough to cut steel. "Don't flatter yourself. They came for Andrew's connections, so I used the profits to buy him a car. It's a fair reward for his pull."

"Andrew's connections?" I snorted.

I'd spent half a year kissing their asses before I secured the deal. Yet somehow, the credit landed with Andrew Sutton, an intern who'd barely been there a month.

I opened my mouth to set her straight, but Andrew sauntered in, clutching a box of his belongings. His face was a mask of fake shock. "Lester, you're still here?"

Not in the mood for his smug act, I fired back, "Barging in without knocking? That's the professionalism you bring as a rookie?"

"Cassandra said this is my private office now," he protested. "Why do I need to knock to enter my own space?"

I let out a bitter chuckle. "Private office? You two don't waste time, do you? What's next? That Maybach you got him wasn't enough for your little fling, so you're playing office romance games?"

Cassandra's hand flew faster than I could blink. A red handprint instantly bloomed on my face.

"Keep your filthy mouth shut!" she snapped. "Not everyone's got a mind as twisted as yours. Andrew and I are strictly professional. I back him because he brings profits to the firm, unlike you, who is too busy plotting revenge to own up to your screw-ups. I must've been out of my mind to marry a deadweight like you."

I tongued the inside of my cheek, tasting the coppery tang of betrayal. We had been married for five years, and this wasn't her first time cutting me down.

I knew she, the "Legal Queen" of the city, resented settling for an ordinary guy like me. So, I'd busted my ass, at home and at work, hoping that one day she'd see me as more than a consolation prize.

But the termination slip she issued that morning was a cold wake-up call. Some hearts were just too icy to thaw.

Before I could dwell on it, Andrew whined, "Maybe I should go back to the shared office. If Lester's bitter enough to rat you out, who knows what kind of lies he'll spread around the firm? I'll be a pariah."