Chapter 60

When Miles and I finally manage to pry ourselves away from each other – and after Miles takes another five minutes to list unsexy things like snowstorms and black ice – we open the door and step out from Lila’s office.

Outside the office, Lila leans against the outside wall of the cubicle pit. As soon as we exit fully, she pushes wordlessly past us and enters the room.

Miles and I glance at each other. I blush.

Lila doesn’t seem to notice anything wrong. She goes to her desk, sits down, and types on her computer.

Hugo stands farther down the hallway, standing near the coffee pot. When he spots Miles and me, he comes over.

“Miles, thank you for today,” he says.

“This was an exchange,” Miles says. “Don’t forget what you promised me.”

“I’ll be in touch soon,” Hugo says.

I look at Miles sideways but he doesn’t meet my gaze this time. I can only speculate they made some arrangements regarding the Whisperers and their knowledge assets.

Hugo’s gaze turns piercing, glancing from Miles’s reddened lips to my own. I immediately press mine hard together, hoping to hide what Miles and I were doing in that office, but I suspect the damage is already done.

“Something else on your mind, Hugo?” Miles asks smugly, a devilish grin curling his lips.

Hugo looks at him sharply. “I would ask you not to lead my employees astray, Miles. Maybe the public bought your ‘pining after the perfect woman’ act, but I know you’ve always been a playboy.”

“It was an act?” I ask, trying to keep the hurt from my voice. I know he wasn’t talking about me when he spoke of unrequited love, but he had been so convincing. I don’t like how easily he lied, if that truly was one. It makes me wonder what else he could be lying about.

Miles’s grin flounders when he sees my expression. “Hugo doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Miles assures me. “And he needs to mind his own business on top of it.

“I just don’t want Esther to fall for your deception,” Hugo says.

“There is no deception between Esther and me,” Miles says. “If you will both excuse me, I feel unwelcomed suddenly. I’ll see myself out.”

“Miles,” I start to say, but he shakes his head at me.

“Not here,” he says and leaves.

With Miles gone, I turn to Hugo once more. He doesn’t give me a chance to speak.

“You should stay away from him,” Hugo says. “Not for any political reason, mind you. Just for the sake of your own heart.”

“I appreciate your concern, Hugo… uh, Mr. Harbinger, but my personal life is not a topic I wish to discuss with you.”

“I understand,” he says, nodding. “Forgive me.”

As he was clearly only looking out for me, it’s not difficult to stretch my forgiveness to him. “It’s fine.”

I start to move past him toward my desk when he calls out to me, stopping me, “Esther. I have one more thing to discuss with you.”

I look back. “Oh?”

“Yes,” he says. “I should have said this first. One moment.” He turns toward the cubicle pit. “May I have everyone’s attention!”

At the sound of Hugo’s raised voice, all other chatter slowly softens. One person continues to click-clack away at their keyboard, but the others, for the most part, stand or look over to Hugo, giving him their focus.

“I imagine it comes as no surprise to any of you that after today’s performance, the board and I have collectively decided to move Esther Graham out of her probationary period. She is now a permanent member of the team.” Hugo gives me that gentle smile of his. “Congratulations, Esther.”

If there was any lingering hard feelings, they for sure vanish now. Instead, I’m filled with a sense of excitement and relief.

“I’m a reporter?” I whisper to Hugo, not quite believing it despite the light clapping happening throughout the room.

“Yes,” Hugo replies. “Lila will continue to be your manager. The assignments she gives you will be more difficult, however. You’ll have some opportunities to see your work on the channel, if things go right.”

I’m not thrilled to continue to work with Lila, especially since I suspect she will persist in stealing my work. But to have the opportunity to keep trying lifts my spirits. Despite Lila’s sabotage, I will find a way to persist and continue with this job.

“Thank you, Mr. Harbinger,” I said, holding out my hand without thinking.

Hugo glances down at it and tenses.

Remembering he doesn’t like to be touched, I immediately retract my hand. I want to apologize but I don’t want to call more attention to him and his preference. So I don’t say a thing about it, continuing on as if it didn’t happen.

“I’ll do my best to prove to you and everyone that I’m worthy of this honor,” I say.

“I know you will,” Hugo replies. “Your work today during the interview is already a step in that direction.”

“Thank you,” I say again, and then to the rest of the room. “Thank you, all!”

Slowly the clapping fades and people return to their work. Hugo holds his hand out, gesturing to my cubicle and I move toward it, more eager now than I’ve been in weeks to get back to work.

Without my looming temp deadline hanging over my head, I can breathe more easily. There’s still pressure to do well and prove myself, but it’s less stressful now. I feel like I have room to pursue the leads worth pursuing and write articles that actually mean something.

First, though, I should finish the work already on my plate. This will give Lila the time she needs to shuffle things around. Hopefully she is shuffling things around. With how loudly Hugo announced it, she must have heard the news even within her office, and that’s assuming Hugo didn’t just tell her beforehand.

For the rest of the day, I bury myself in my work with renewed vigor, breaking down all the leads Lila previously sent me into easy to comprehend synopsis. As I open my email to start sending these completed tasks back to Lila, Amber walks by my desk.

She crossed the hallway and walks straight into Lila’s office. I can’t hear them from where I am, but, when they both sharply glance back at me at the same time, I can reasonably imagine they are talking about me.

Amber looks back to Lila and they continue talking. Every now and then, one or both of them breaks to laugh.

I’m starting to feel like the butt of some cruel joke, and I’m not particularly fond of it. But without evidence they are talking about me, what can I say?

Eventually the joke must be up, because Amber leaves Lila’s office and returns to her own desk.

“Esther!” Lila calls for me.

I send my email and then, standing, head into her office. “Yes, Lila?”

“I have a new assignment for you,” she says.

Okay, maybe I totally misread the signs before. Maybe they weren’t joking about me and I was being too harsh.

A new assignment is so promising that I’m willing to give Lila the benefit of the doubt.

“We have reason to believe one something is happening down at this location.” She writes down a street address and passes it to me.

I recognize the address. It’s in one of the seedier parts of town, far away from the glamor of the capital buildings.

“What kind of something?” I ask.

Lila shrugs. “Head down there and see what you can find.”

That’s hardly a lead. In fact, it feels a lot like nothing.

But she is my editor, so I take the note and head out of the office to what I’m sure is some kind of set up.