Anastasia felt Vincent’s calculating stare but didn’t let it faze her. She’d deal with whatever he threw at her when the time came. Let’s see who’d be laughing in the end.

Vincent continued his performance. “Just these past few days, Anastasia has called three team meetings. You can really see how seriously she’s taking this project.”

None of the team members spoke up. They weren’t about to expose themselves.

That’s when Mila stepped forward. “Actually, Vincent, that’s not quite right.”

Mila launched into this sob story about how hard she’d tried to be part of Anastasia’s team, but her other work kept making her late to meetings. According to her version, Anastasia had canceled two meetings for “personal reasons” just because Mila wasn’t there, then used some bogus “three strikes” rule to kick her off the team entirely.

She choked up as she spoke, her eyes getting all red like she was the victim of some horrible injustice. She turned away to wipe fake tears from her eyes. “I really did try my best. I even gathered all this research for the project.”

Mila pulled out a folder she’d prepared as “evidence.”

If Griffin didn’t realize what Mila was trying to pull, he’d have to be an idiot.

“Oh really?” he said, reaching for the folder.

Just as his hand was about to touch it, he jerked it back. Mila couldn’t react fast enough, and the folder crashed to the floor.

“Sorry, let me pick that up right away,” Mila stammered.

“Don’t bother. I have zero interest in looking at materials prepared by someone who throws their colleagues under the bus,” Griffin said coldly.

Mila went rigid, looking up at Griffin in horror. “Mr. Orlando, I don’t understand…”

He turned to Cassian. “Cassian, I had no idea your company had such toxic employees. Seriously? Trying to screw over Anastasia? Do they have a death wish?”

Griffin thought he’d handled that pretty well.

Cassian’s response was typically blunt: “Then fire her.”

Mila stood frozen for a moment, then tried to approach Cassian, but his assistant blocked her path.

“Mr. Rhodes, this is all a misunderstanding! I’m innocent!” Mila blubbered, her makeup running down her face like a raccoon.

Nobody cared.

“So you’re saying I’m the one who’s wrong?” Griffin’s voice was deadly quiet.

Mila realized she’d screwed up, but she was backed into a corner now. “Mr. Orlando, I know you and Anastasia…”

Shit!

Vincent shot Mila a murderous look. Had this idiot completely lost her mind? If Mila spelled out their implications, it would only piss Griffin off more, and then their entire department would be screwed. As department manager, Vincent would be first on the chopping block.

“Mila! How long are you going to keep making a fool of yourself?” Vincent bellowed. “You slacked off, missed meetings, and now you’re trying to frame your colleague. This is unacceptable!”

“Pack your shit and get out. Now!”

Mila struggled and tried to say more, but Narissa grabbed her arm and dragged her away.

“Narissa…”

SLAP!

Mila’s head snapped to the side, leaving her completely stunned.

She held her cheek, staring at Narissa in disbelief. “Narissa…”

“Do you have any idea what you almost did to us?” Narissa hissed. “Griffin Orlando is one of Mr. Rhodes’ best friends – they’re practically brothers! You just tried to expose him in front of everyone. What do you think would happen? If he got pissed off enough, he’d take down all of us.”

Mila realized that the “all of us” Narissa was talking about no longer included her, so why should she give a damn?

Narissa seemed to read her mind. “Don’t be stupid. As long as Vincent’s still here, he can help you. But if he gets fired, he’ll be powerless to do anything for you.”

“When that happens, who’s gonna have your back?”

That logic completely won Mila over, and she stopped making a scene.

Narissa secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She’d managed to shut up that moron for now. By the time Mila figured out she’d been played, no one would believe anything she said anyway.