Sandra’s povThe kitchen’s heat hit me like a physical wall, a familiar blanket of sizzling fats, searing meat, and shouting. It usually felt like home, but it didn’t feel that way anymore. Now it felt like a crime scene, and I was in the middle of it. Gosh, I felt so stupid for allowing myself to be used by that bitch Charlotte. I looked across the large kitchen and saw her—Eloise. She looked… powerful and in control—everything I was about to undermine.‘Just get another major crime from Charlotte,’ I told myself, the words from my own internal point of view feeling foreign like it wasn’t me. ‘Then you give Edward everything. Then you’re the hero. Not the villain.’I moved through the organized chaos on autopilot, grabbing a tasting spoon, checking a sauce. My hands were shaking. Charlotte’s voice was a looped recording in my head. ’A little salt in the meals. It’s not exactly rocket science.’The meal was right there. In a metal pot, pale and perfect. Eloise’s signature dish. One d
Edward’s povI shook my head. “What about the other cameras?” I jerked out a last hope. “The one at the other end of that hall? The camera at the staff entrance? There’s no way they could’ve gotten all of them.”Dave shook his head as he nodded. “That’s what else is messed up. The camera at the end of that hall has been on repeat freeze for over a week, but we’re too short-staffed to do anything. Same with the one in here so I can see who wiped it out.”“Why didn’t you tell me about the cameras?” Now I was losing my mind.“I complained to the board but they said no one was stealing from a hotel.”Now I was about to lose it.“Convenient,” Eloise whispered. I turned to her. “Don’t beat yourself about this. The person who did this will be caught. Okay? We’ll find them.”Dave nodded in his seat like I was talking to him, looking like he wished he could disappear. “I’ll, uh… I’ll keep trying here a bit longer. Maybe see if there’s any additional worklogs, see if they might’ve overlooked a
Edward’s povShe sighed and looked away from me. “It’s just business, Edward. People get jealous. They want what you have. It’s not exactly an original concept.”Her calm was maddening. Couldn’t she see this wasn’t some stupid case of jealousy? “That’s not the point, Eloise. It was all ready to go. It’s so convenient how the board called a meeting right after your show and accused you of this madness. We should just go to security.” I took another few steps before stopping in front of her and grabbing her arm, hard enough for her to have no choice but to follow me. “Please,” I said quietly. “Please, Eloise, let’s just go back and see what happened after that part of you being in the kitchen ended. Outside the kitchen, there must be some footage. It will show us who entered there and caused that chaos.”Finally, she looked up at me, an expression in her eyes like anguish. It took a while before she nodded.“Okay,” she said flatly.I smiled and led the way as we walked out of the room
Edward’s povEvery head turned to me. Twelve of them. The old boards, the vultures, sitting around the polished mahogany coffin of a table. Carlson was half out of his chair, his long index finger thrust across the polished wood as if he were yelling at someone. And at the far end, sitting alone on her side as though she occupied a defendant’s bench was Eloise. Her face was white against her black hair; her shoulders squared, her hands clutched together and clasped so tight they whitened at the knuckles.Nobody moved for a second. It was guilt and shock captured perfectly in time.Carlson was the first to get his shit together, fixing his tie. “Edward. You’re here early. Well, it’s just an… an internal thing.”“What the hell is this?” I cut him off, my voice low but it seemed to vibrate through the whole room. I didn’t move from the doorway. “What is this nonsense? A meeting about a major incident in my company and I wasn’t invited?”Old man Gable cleared his throat, a dry, rattling
Sandra’s pov“This… this whatever you think this is, or was… You need to stop it. It’s not good for the kitchen. It’s not good for the team.”Even all the insults that Charlotte had thrown my way were nothing when compared to what she was doing to me right now. I felt hurt.“So you should probably go,” she said, her voice firm again, back to being Chef. “We can talk about whatever this is tomorrow. And one more thing, keep things professional next time. Please don’t stalk me to my house. It’s creepy.”I nodded, because what else could I do? Argue with her? Plead? Show her how true it was? Just more unprofessionalism. Just another sign of how sick I was.“Okay,” I said, tasting that word. “Okay. I’ll… see you then.”I turned to the exit and fumbled for the door handle, my eyes were blurry. I didn’t look back. I couldn’t. I pulled the door open and walked out into a sterile hall lit in the cool night air. The door clicked softly behind me. I slowly walked out of the building and went
Sandra’s povI drove that night to Eloise’s apartment as I needed to talk to her.I needed to tell her what that bitch Charlotte was planning. At least she would listen to me. The problem was that Eloise had always wanted to keep her place of residence secret but I had found the address and now I was going to her place.I had a huge headache thinking of the conversation I would have with her but I kept my cool.I parked in the street and got out as I admired how calm this place was. It must have cost a fortune to live in a place like this but she was a high-grade chef. She could afford it.My walk from the car to the apartment and then through the halls was horrifying as all I could think about was the way I would have to face her yelling at me. Yet I tried to calm myself that maybe she would forgive me after seeing all that Charlotte had done to her.I pushed the doorbell, heard the dull chime echo inside. For a second, nothing. Then the sound from a TV died and there were footsteps