Love's Bitter Edge (Eva and Leonard)

I could see Mackenzie fuming and practically stomping her feet in frustration through the conference room glass. Still, she didn't dare storm in. She wasn't the real Ms. McLennon, after all. If her cover got blown, her job would be toast. After wrapping up the meeting, I returned to my office only to spot a familiar pastry box. The packaging showed that it was from my favorite bakery. Mackenzie was busy handing out snacks to the team. When she noticed us walking in, she tilted her head up with a smug grin.

"Oh, my brother-Mr. McLennan-stopped by earlier. He got these for everyone to enjoy," she said, so full of herself.

Astrid and I exchanged a look, both equally puzzled.

Jack went out of his way to buy pastries and let Mackenzie hand them out? Was he openly backing her now?

Even Mr. Finnley was quick to pile on.

"Wow, Mackenzie, you've got serious pull! Mr. McLennan himself came by with pastries-what an honor! I thought he was here to inspect us. It scared the hell outta me!" he added, laughing nervously.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

The rest of the team chimed in, fawning over her just as much. Mackenzie soaked it all up, finishing the pastry distribution before tucking the last two portions back into the box. Her gaze landed on Astrid and me.

"Sorry, these are for me to take home. My brother said they're mine. I hope you don't mind?"

Without a word, Astrid pulled out her phone and dialed Jack's number. The call went straight to voicemail. She angrily slammed her phone down and stomped back to her desk.

I checked my phone and found a WhatsApp message from Jack. It was sent about an hour earlier, "I had to head to Manovia for a project. I won't be gone long. I brought your favorite afternoon snacks. Eat more you're too skinny. I'll cook when I'm back." I glanced at Mackenzie, who had the nerve to smirk at me and lift her chin.

"What? You want some of the pastries?" she asked mockingly.

I shook my head. "No, you go ahead and eat up."

She might not get another chance anyway.

Mackenzie's blatant favoritism

toward herself made the rest of the team take her side. Mr. Finnley, in particular, was relentless. It was like he had found an excuse to pick on me non-stop-format errors, slow turnaround times, everything... The guy didn't give me a moment's peace all afternoon.

The cherry on top? He "accidentally" deleted my final design draft.

With zero remorse, he shrugged it off. "The system's buggy. I didn't know it'd be deleted for good." He smiled, though it looked as fake ever. "But since the deadline's looming, guess you'll have to work overtime. Sorry, Rinatta!"

He laughed as he grabbed his coat and sauntered out of the office. Astrid balled her fists, muttering under her breath, "Just wait. When I have the upper hand, he'll regret this."

I didn't say anything. I just sat down and painstakingly redid my design. It wasn't until 8:00 pm that Jack finally called. "Are you home? Did you eat the pastries? Which one's your favorite?" Hearing his voice, Astrid jumped up. She was wide awake now and snatched the phone from me.

"Are you out of your mind, Jack?

all

Why'd you give the snacks to Mackenzie?" she yelled. "Is she Dad's secret love child? Are you lying to me? Now, the whole office thinks she's your sister! She's targeting me and Rinatta, and we didn't even get a crumb of those pastries!"

The office was empty by then, so she didn't bother holding back. Her rant was loud, furious, and relentless.

I quickly took the phone back from her. "Stop it. Look, just don't send pastries anymore, okay?" I sighed. "We're not gonna get any anyway, and it's just giving people more ammo against us."

The line went quiet. I thought I heard him sigh softly before he said, "Eva, I'm sorry. I didn't think it through."