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.

felt like a victory, my head

meeting with Mr. Henderson and Bryan Fleming, one of the

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

lack of experience in the field is painfully

high-profile cases, including the ones with Logan Barrett, one of our

his lips. “Isn’t he your boyfriend? It seems like a pretty

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

an asset to this firm,” he said sternly, fixing Bryan with a sharp look. “Her accomplishments speak for themselves, and

seat, his smugness replaced by discomfort under

lawyer,” Mr. Henderson continued, “and we expect everyone to treat her with the

his suppressed resentment. The meeting continued, but the air remained charged, every exchanged glance a

ended and Bryan slinked away, I found myself alone with Mr. Henderson. My gratitude bubbled to the surface, eclipsing my lingering annoyance. “Thank you, Mr. Henderson, for standing up for

there to stick up for

merits. It left a sour taste in my mouth, the realization that my ‘boyfriend’s’ reputation might be the only thing warranting respect from

out of the conference room, the feeling of being undervalued gnawing at my spirit. “Isn’t the fact

her voice tinged with annoyance. “I’ll

scoff. “Yeah.

my office had me realizing that I had forgotten to pack my

I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose.

from the eventful morning, and even Ema was getting antsy for something to eat. With a

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