"We owe Ms. Cobb an explanation for what happened today, Ms. Nash. We can't have one bad apple ruin our reputation with Cobb Group!" Walton said, neatly tossing the problem back to Lynette.

With people whispering all around us, and for fear of upsetting Mable and costing the company a major client, Lynette just wanted to cut the damage short.

She rubbed her temples and said, "Enough. Riley, regardless of whether this was a misunderstanding, you're the reason Ms. Nash is upset is an undeniable fact.

"You'll hand over your work on Scennia Group today and report to HR tomorrow. You're being demoted to entry level with a pay cut and starting over from the bottom."

Now that Walton was completely cleared of responsibility, he let out a long, silent breath of relief before leaning into my ear and whispering, "See that? I'm a veteran of the company, and if I say you take the fall, you'll do it. Don't even think about anyone backing you up.

"You're just unlucky today, kid. You had to run into someone like Ms. Cobb."

In the face of his provocation, I didn't panic and instead let out a short laugh.

I'd been working on Scennia Group for half a year and hustled the partnership out of my childhood friend, Eason Fletcher. I'd spent weeks complaining to him about my shitty commissions and begging him until he finally signed the deal just to shut me up.

If they wanted to swap me out, they'd better hope the company was ready to lose more than one partnership.

"Ms. Cobb… Does this work for you?" Lynette asked, nervously clasping her hands as she looked at Mable.

Walton scrambled to pick up his wine glass with a fawning, flattering smile plastered across his face. "Ms. Cobb, I apologize for my earlier overreaction. I'm just too blunt and overprotective of my team, so let me take a few shots as a peace offering."

He downed the wine with a performative flourish while Lynette chimed in, "Exactly, Ms. Cobb. Please don't let one immature employee ruin the relationship between our two companies."

My ears were starting to itch from all the garbage they were spewing. Since they were intent on dragging my name through the mud, I simply took my seat, picked up my cutlery, and popped a piece of fruit into my mouth.

"Riley!" Walton snapped when he saw me eat and gave me a rough shove on the shoulder.

"Where are your manners? Get up and apologize to Ms. Cobb right now!"

He turned back to Mable with a forced grin. "Please don't mind him, Ms. Cobb. Riley's from a small town and doesn't know how things work in the city.

"He's probably just desperate for money, which is why he wanted to try these underhanded shortcuts. After all, a man who has nothing is more likely to take the wrong path and live off some rich woman."

Sitting at the head of the table, Mable listened to Walton's repeated jabs of "desperate for money" and "live off some rich woman". Her fingers, which had been idly tracing the rim of her teacup, suddenly stilled.

"Mr. Frazier, you seem to know quite a lot about your employee's family history," she slowly said in a calm, unreadable voice.

Assuming there could be a turn of events, Waltom eagerly nodded, "Of course, I do! When he joined, he mentioned he was from the mountains.

"Kids who come from nothing usually struggle in the big city. They see the glitz and glamor of life here and think they can cut corners to climb to the top.

"I mean… Why else is he the one female clients always ask for during drinks? Where there's smoke, there's fire, so if he really was as professional as he claims, he wouldn't be attracting all this unwanted attention, would he?

"Ms. Cobb, as his direct supervisor, I'll take my share of the blame for his poor conduct and opportunistic behavior. But I can assure you that all the projects we work on together will be clean and professional, free of all this nonsense."

"Poor conduct and opportunistic behavior? Mr. Frazier, are you talking about Riley?" Mable repeated the words, the smile on her lips turning colder by the second.

"Exactly," Riley said with a sigh and feigned a regretful look. "It's embarrassing to air this dirty laundry, but I wouldn't dare hide it from you, Ms. Cobb."

There was a deafening slam as Mable set her wine glass down with a heavy, jarring crack. She leaned back in her seat and stared at Walton as if she were looking at a dead man.

"You're spreading rumors about my brother selling himself to get ahead, Mr. Frazier. Is this the kind of culture your company prides itself on?"