I retreated to a quiet corner of the ballroom, trying to steady my breathing as the humiliation burned through me. Emily. He had called me Emily. After everything we'd built together, I was just another faceless employee to him in public. The champagne in my glass trembled with my hand, and I downed it in one desperate gulp, hoping the alcohol might dull the ache spreading through my chest.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. A text message from Amanda Hayes. My stomach clenched at the sight of her name on my screen.

"Victoria, I'm so sorry about what happened. Marcus was completely out of line. Meet me in the executive restroom on the mezzanine level? I have some feedback about his speech you might want to hear."

I stared at the message, suspicion flickering through me. Amanda Hayes had never shown me anything but thinly veiled contempt. Why the sudden concern? Still, curiosity and a desperate need to understand what was happening with Marcus overrode my caution.

Before I could respond, I glimpsed Amanda across the room, huddled with Chloe Evans and two other women from the sales team in a secluded corner of the lounge. Their heads were bent together, Amanda's perfectly manicured hand gesturing emphatically as she spoke, her voice too low to hear over the music. Something about their posture—predatory, conspiratorial—sent a chill down my spine.

Chloe glanced up, catching my eye for a brief moment before quickly looking away, guilt flashing across her features. Amanda followed her gaze, and when she saw me watching, her expression transformed into a smile so artificial it might have been painted on.

She lifted her phone, pointedly looking at it and then back at me, mouthing "Did you get my message?"

I nodded hesitantly, and she beckoned me with a subtle tilt of her head before turning back to her group. Their conversation resumed with renewed intensity, punctuated by occasional glances in my direction.

Every instinct warned me to walk away. But the need to understand what game Amanda was playing—and how it involved Marcus—propelled me forward. I set down my empty glass and made my way to the mezzanine level, each step feeling like a surrender to forces I couldn't quite name.

The executive restroom was a testament to luxury—marble countertops, fresh orchids in crystal vases, and soft, flattering lighting that made even the most exhausted executive look refreshed. I pushed open the heavy door, half-expecting to find it empty, Amanda's message nothing but a cruel joke.

Instead, I found Amanda, Chloe, and the two other saleswomen waiting for me. They were arranged in a loose semicircle, their postures casual but somehow blocking the path back to the door.

"Victoria!" Amanda's voice dripped with false warmth. "I'm so glad you came. That was quite a scene downstairs."

"It was nothing," I said carefully, watching their faces. "Just a misunderstanding."

Chloe stepped forward, her expression a mask of concern that didn't reach her eyes. "It didn't look like nothing. The way Marcus spoke to you... it was awful."

"We've all noticed how he treats you," one of the other women added, her voice soft with manufactured sympathy. "It's not right."

"He works so hard," I found myself saying automatically, the defense of Marcus as instinctive as breathing. "He's under a lot of pressure."

"Of course he is," Amanda agreed, moving closer. Her perfume—expensive and overwhelming—filled my nostrils. "And you deserve so much better than to be treated like some nameless intern."

She reached out, her fingers brushing my arm in a gesture that might have seemed comforting if not for the cold calculation in her eyes. Behind her, Chloe shifted uncomfortably, her gaze darting between Amanda and me.

"We thought maybe we could help," Amanda continued, her smile sharpening into something predatory. "After all, we women need to stick together in this business, don't we?"

The door clicked shut behind me with a finality that sent a surge of adrenaline through my veins. I was suddenly, acutely aware that I had walked straight into a trap of my own making.

"We thought you might appreciate some privacy," Amanda said, her voice honeyed but her eyes cold as she gestured toward a door I hadn't noticed before. "There's a little storage room just off the service elevator. We can talk there without anyone interrupting."

Warning bells clanged in my mind, but before I could protest, Chloe had opened the door and the other two women were gently but firmly guiding me forward. Their hands on my arms felt less like support and more like restraint.

"I really should get back to the party," I said, trying to pull away, but their grips tightened.

"This will only take a minute," Amanda assured me as the door clicked shut behind us with a finality that sent ice through my veins.

The storage room was dimly lit, shelves of hotel supplies casting long shadows across the concrete floor. The air smelled of industrial cleaner and something else—something predatory. In that moment, the atmosphere shifted palpably.

"You know what I can't figure out?" Amanda's voice had lost all pretense of warmth. "Why Marcus keeps you around at all. You're nothing. Less than nothing."

Before I could respond, hands shoved me backward. My spine collided with metal shelving, the impact knocking the breath from my lungs. Pain radiated across my back as supplies clattered to the floor.

"Hold her," Amanda commanded, and suddenly Chloe and the others were on me, their nails digging into my flesh as they pinned me against the shelves.

"What are you doing?" I gasped, struggling against their grip. "Let me go!"

Amanda's laugh was sharp as broken glass. "Not yet. First, we're going to make sure you understand your place."

Her perfectly manicured nails caught the neckline of my sweater, and with a vicious yank, she tore the cashmere fabric. The sound of ripping material filled the small space as she continued, methodically destroying the garment I'd chosen so carefully that morning.

"Stop!" I cried out, fighting harder now, but the women held me fast. One of them grabbed the hem of my dress, tearing upward until the seams gave way. Cool air hit my exposed skin as they stripped away my dignity piece by piece.

"You think you're special?" Amanda hissed, her face inches from mine. "You think you matter to him? I saw his face when you interrupted. He couldn't even remember your name."

Each word cut deeper than the physical assault. Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

"Richard's been watching you," she continued, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Our VP has quite the appetite for quiet little nobodies like you. And Marcus won't care. He's already given his blessing."

Horror bloomed in my chest at her implication. Richard Thompson's reputation for inappropriate behavior was an open secret, whispered about but never addressed.

"You're lying," I managed, though doubt crept in like poison. After tonight's public dismissal, could I truly be certain what Marcus would or wouldn't allow?

Amanda stepped back, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes. She reached into her clutch and withdrew a small crystal flask filled with dark red liquid.

"A little something to help you relax," she said, unscrewing the cap. The smell of wine wafted toward me, undercut by something chemical and wrong. "Richard likes his women... compliant."

Panic surged through me as she approached, flask in hand. I thrashed against my captors, but their grips only tightened, fingers bruising my arms.

"Open wide," Amanda commanded, her smile savage with delight as she pressed the flask to my lips. "Be a good girl now."

I clamped my mouth shut, turning my head away, but one of the women grabbed my hair, yanking my head back. Amanda's fingers dug into my cheeks, forcing my jaw open as she tilted the flask. The tainted wine spilled into my mouth, bitter and wrong, some of it running down my chin and onto my torn clothes.

"Swallow," she ordered, covering my mouth and nose with her hand until my body's need for oxygen betrayed me.

As the drugged wine slid down my throat, a single thought crystallized through my fear: Marcus. I needed to reach Marcus. Whatever had come between us, surely he wouldn't let this happen.

Would he?