Chapter 351 Olive Branches

Ella

The light filtered into the offices as I walked into the open floor plan, and I felt like I was walking into a den of wolves. My coworkers had that shifty, guilty look on their faces that I had become all too familiar with recently. I already knew why.

From the corners of my eyes, I noticed heads quickly swivel back to their desks, computer screens blinking to life as if they had been hard at work all along. But the reality was all too clear: they had been watching. The entire office, it seemed, had been huddled around the window, trying to catch a glimpse of my conversation with Logan.

A weight settled in my stomach. This had been precisely what I had hoped to avoid. It wasn’t just the topic of whispers, I had become the spectacle of the morning. Hell, I had become the spectacle of the year. I had had enough.

“Really?” I said, unable to keep the irritation out of my voice. I planted my hands on my hips, trying to convey both authority and exasperation. “You all don’t have anything better to do?”

The room remained awkwardly silent. Their shared guilt was written all over their faces.

I exhaled, grounding myself, before deciding to tackle the elephant in the room head-on. “Yes,” I began, “I am seeing Logan Barrett. And yes, he is… Well, he is who he is. But that doesn’t mean this place should turn into a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie, with everyone peeking around corners and whispering behind hands.”

A few heads ducked, others averted their eyes, but I wasn’t finished. “It’s none of your business. And frankly, you all should be ashamed of yourselves. Acting like a bunch of gossipy teenagers.”

By the end of my little speech, the atmosphere was thick with embarrassment. Pleased with the silence that followed, I made my way to my office.

like a victory,

with Mr. Henderson and Bryan Fleming, one of the

began, I could feel the tension in the room. Bryan, with his graying hair and pinstripe suits, had made it abundantly clear since I started at the firm that he saw me as a green, inexperienced rookie who, in his esteemed opinion, had yet to earn her stripes. His gaze was stern, scrutinizing every word I uttered, every point

were synonymous with incompetence, “your lack of experience in the field is painfully obvious. I wonder how you manage to

our most significant clients,” I reminded him firmly, defending my capabilities. My voice was steady, but inside,

playing on his lips. “Isn’t he your boyfriend?

to mere favors from a ‘boyfriend’. My cheeks burned, and I

look. “Her accomplishments speak for themselves, and it is unbecoming to belittle our

shifted in his seat, his smugness replaced by

Henderson continued, “and we

swallowing his words, the subtle tightening of his jaw revealing his suppressed resentment. The

Mr. Henderson. My gratitude bubbled to the surface, eclipsing my lingering

so slightly. “I won’t always be there to stick up for you,

overshadowed my individual merits. It left a sour taste in my mouth, the realization that my ‘boyfriend’s’

as I walked out of the conference room, the feeling of being undervalued gnawing at my

enough,” Ema said, her voice tinged with annoyance. “I’ll

to hold in a scoff.

office had me realizing

of my nose. “Knew

getting antsy for something to eat. With a sigh, I grabbed my wallet and headed to the

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