Chapter 5 - The Intern’s Delusion
By Thursday morning, the brutal reality of the situation had finally begun to settle over the city like a suffocating blanket of humidity.
I was sitting at my sleek, mahogany desk, reviewing the final structural drafts for the Chicago merger, when my desk phone softly chimed.
It was the head of building security downstairs in the main lobby.
“Ms. Davis, I apologize for the interruption, but there is a young woman down here demanding to see you,” the security chief said, his voice laced with professional hesitation.
“She says her name is Chloe Jenkins, and she is currently causing quite a scene near the elevator banks.”
I paused, my pen hovering over the heavily redacted financial documents spread across my desk.
I could have simply told security to escort her out of the building and ban her from the premises permanently.
That would have been the easiest, cleanest way to handle the lingering mess that Mark had dragged into my professional life.
But a small, sharp part of me was genuinely curious to see exactly what this girl thought she could achieve by showing up at my fortress.
“Send her up to the reception area on my floor, but have a guard escort her,” I instructed calmly, setting my pen down.
“I will meet her by the glass partition, but she is not to be allowed past the main security doors under any circumstances.”
I took a moment to smooth the nonexistent wrinkles from my tailored charcoal blazer, checked my reflection in the darkened computer monitor, and walked out of my office.
When I reached the expansive, sunlit reception area, Chloe was already standing there, flanked by a massive security guard.
She looked absolutely horrific, completely stripped of the smug, entitled aura she had worn so proudly on the train just a week ago.
Her expensive-looking beige sweater was deeply wrinkled, her blonde hair was pulled into a messy, uneven knot, and her mascara had heavily smudged under her bloodshot eyes.
The moment she saw me approaching the thick glass partition, she lunged forward, her hands pressing desperately against the transparent barrier.
“Sarah, please, you have to talk to me!” she practically screamed, her voice cracking with sheer, unfiltered panic.
“You have to call the Human Resources department and tell them that I didn’t want to steal your first-class seat!”
I crossed my arms over my chest, planting my feet firmly on the polished marble floor, and looked at her with absolute, unwavering indifference.
“You are currently trespassing in a secure corporate facility, Chloe,” I stated quietly, my voice carrying easily across the silent reception area.
“I highly suggest you lower your voice before I have you arrested for harassment.”
She flinched violently, tears spilling over her eyelashes and cutting through the pale makeup on her cheeks.
“Mark forced me to do it, Sarah, you have to believe me!” she sobbed, clutching her expensive designer purse like a lifeline.
“He physically pushed you into my reserved, paid-for seat?” I asked, arching a single, perfectly sculpted eyebrow in deep skepticism.
Chloe shook her head frantically, her breath hitching in her chest as she tried to form a coherent sentence.
“No, but he heavily manipulated me, he told me that it was completely fine and that you wouldn't care at all!”
“He promised me that if I went along with him on this trip, he would secure me a permanent, high-paying executive position at the firm immediately after I graduated!”
I let out a slow, deeply exhausted sigh, marveling at the absolute audacity and profound stupidity of the situation.
“So, let me make sure I understand this correctly,” I began, my tone dripping with icy condescension.
“You knowingly participated in an inappropriate relationship with an engaged senior director, in exchange for a guaranteed job offer?”
Chloe’s face drained of all color, and she took a stumbling step backward, realizing exactly how her confession sounded out loud.
“I didn’t... we didn’t sleep together... I mean, he told me that things were practically over between you two anyway!” she stammered defensively.
“He specifically said that he was the one paying for your lavish lifestyle, and that he was completely exhausted from carrying your financial burdens!”
For a fraction of a second, I simply stared at her, genuinely struggling to process the monumental scale of Mark’s lies.
Then, a sudden, sharp bark of laughter escaped my throat, echoing loudly against the marble walls of the reception area.
It was so genuinely amused, so loud, that even the stoic security guard turned his head to look at me in mild surprise.
“He actually told you that he paid for my lifestyle?” I asked, wiping a small tear of genuine, unadulterated amusement from the corner of my eye.
“Chloe, I am a Senior Regional Director, and I make exactly triple what Mark Evans brings home in a fiscal year.”
“I am the sole legal owner of the million-dollar Brooklyn townhouse that he currently sleeps in.”
“I personally paid off the massive credit card debt he accrued buying the engagement ring that he gave me.”
I stepped closer to the glass partition, lowering my voice so that only she could hear the absolute, devastating truth.
“He doesn’t have any money, Chloe, and he certainly doesn't have any real power at this firm.”
“He has been suspended without pay, the company is preparing to fire him for cause, and I served him with a legal eviction notice yesterday afternoon.”
Chloe’s jaw actually dropped open, her eyes widening in absolute, horrifying realization as her entire fabricated world collapsed around her.
“He... he’s broke?” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the air conditioning.
“Completely and utterly broke,” I smiled, displaying all of my teeth in a predatory, merciless grin.
“You didn’t manage to steal a wealthy, powerful prize from me, Chloe.”
“You simply reached into the gutter and picked up my discarded garbage.”
I turned on my heel, my stilettos clicking sharply against the floor, and walked back toward the secure, double doors of the executive wing.
“Escort her out of the building,” I called back to the security guard without turning around.
May you like
“And if she ever sets foot on this property again, bypass me entirely and just call the police.”
I left her standing there in the cold, sterile lobby, completely shattered by the reality of the man she had destroyed her own future for.
