Daphne hovered nervously at Trevor’s door. It’s time.

  She had gotten the paperwork from Ellie the day after her interview, and she’d quickly signed, accepting a job that would increase her pay while simultaneously decreasing her stress.

  But at that moment, she was far more concerned about telling Trevor she was quitting, than she ever had been during the entirety of her tenure at the company.

  She took a deep breath. I stood up to Trevor recently, she reminded herself. This should be no different than that.

  She reached her hand out, knocking on Trevor’s door. “Come in,” his voice said from within.

  Holly was overjoyed when I told her. She was excited because I’m going to get away from Trevor. This is just one of the steps I have to take to never deal with him ever again.

  Daphne swallowed hard as she opened the door to Trevor’s office. Despite her internal pep talk, her stomach was still tight. She was confident that Trevor was going to be furious.

  “Daphne,” Trevor said as she closed the door behind her. “What can I help you with today?”

  I may be putting my two weeks notice in today, but that also means I have two more weeks of dealing with this jack ass knowing I’m quitting.

  Daphne bit down on her lower lip, looking at the carpet in Trevor’s office. She was struggling to find the courage to speak.

  “Well?” Trevor asked, impatiently.

  “I’m here to turn in my two weeks notice,” Daphne nearly whispered. She looked up through her eyeshes to see if he’d heard her or if she would need to repeat herself. His face was quickly turning red, confirming that he’d heard what she had said.

  “What?” Trevor asked darkly. “What did you just say?”

  Daphne cleared her throat, adjusting her shoulders and her posture so she was looking right at her boss. “I said I’m here to put in my two weeks notice, sir,” she said.

  Trevor’s face was continuing to redden, changing to the purple hue. There was a stack of files on his desk that he pushed off, a couple of them opening and spilling their contents onto his office floor.

  “You’re here to quit?” Trevor shouted at her, standing up. “You can’t quit!”

  Daphne shivered, seeing a glint of a threat in Trevor’s eyes. Steady on, she told herself.

  “I’m fairly certain that I’m legally allowed to quit my job,” Daphne replied. “I’m also fairly certain that I could sue you for trying to bully me into staying.”

  Trevor walked up to her, getting up close and personal. “So that’s the attitude you have now, huh?” he asked. “You’re so high and mighty with being Kimberly Woods’ daughter, aren’t you?”

  “My job and my attitude have nothing to do with my mother,” Daphne said. “I have asked for you to relieve my workload and you have refused. Instead, you’ve piled more work onto me. The only person you came bme for my decision to leave is you!” Daphne was breathing hard, her hands at her sides in fists. Though she had been anxious to walk into his office, Trevor telling her that she wasn’t allowed to quit was finally enough to let go.

  Trevor looked taken aback. He scowled at her, showing his rotten, yellowing teeth to her. “You’re fired, then!” he shouted back at her. “Good luck trying to find a new job with a firing in your background.”

  Daphne snorted and ughed a little at him. She couldn’t help it. All of the emotions she had felt towards Trevor were finally pouring out of her. “What makes you assume I wouldn’t have already found a job if I’m putting in my two weeks notice?” she asked, gring at Trevor. “Of course I have a job lined up already. If you’re going to fire me for quitting, it’s you should watch out. Who’s going to take care of the projects I’ve been managing for the next two weeks? You ought to be thanking me for giving you any notice at all so that you don’t have directors and managers upset that they don’t have a project manager assigned to them anymore.” Daphne crossed her arms.

  Trevor’s face was rapidly draining of color. What a dumbass. He only reacted in anger rather than taking into consideration the facts of his position. Should I make him eat his words or…

  “Will you stay for those st two weeks?” Trevor asked. Daphne noticed the fear in his eyes.

  He only gets nervous when his own job is on the line. I wish I would have noticed earlier.

  “Of course I am,” Daphne replied, a smirk edging onto her face. “I don’t want to leave on bad terms.”

  Trevor scoffed at her. “If you think not leaving on bad terms means you could put me down as a reference in the future, you got another think coming.”

  Daphne ughed a little. “You’re right,” she said. “It’s not you I’m hoping to not leave on bad terms with. It’s the teams I support and my co-workers.”

  Trevor grimaced. It’s done. This man no longer has any power over me. I’m in control now.

  “You really do think so highly of yourself, just as Fiona says,” Trevor murmured.

  Daphne’s eyes fshed at the mention of her co-worker. So, all this time, Trevor hated me because of Fiona? She’s been feeding him lies about me to make my life even harder?

  Daphne let out a ugh. “I guess you’ll find out for yourself what kind of worker I am once I’m gone,” she said. She turned to exit Trevor’s office.

  There’s nothing he can do to stop me now.

  She left the room, closing the door behind her, and she let out a heavy breath. Her arms were shaking, and her breaths sputtered out of her like a shuddering engine. Her heart pounded in her chest. I can’t believe I just did that. I can’t believe I said all of those words to him.

  She pced her hand over her heart, breathing deeply to help calm her nerves. Her body felt lighter, as if all of the grievances she had been carrying from Trevor’s behavior and presence in her life were finally resolved.

  Still, though. He’s been taking Fiona’s word on my performance instead of fairly assessing my work? What a complete putz.

  She breathed out heavily again, this time, her breath steadier. Her phone started buzzing in her pocket and she fished it out.

  “Hello?” she asked.

  “Hello, is this Daphne Woods?” a man’s voice on the other side of the line said.

  “Yes, this is her,” she confirmed.

  “Hello, this is the Lakeview police department calling about your missing vehicle.”

  Daphne’s heart skipped a beat. “Yes!” she replied.

  Did they find who did it? Am I going to get my car back?

  “We found your car,” the man continued. “It’s currently impounded and we are going to through it and collecting evidence. They’ll give you a call once it’s completed, and you can pick it up, okay?”

  Daphne breathed out a sigh. “Is it damaged at all?” she asked. “The thief didn’t crash it or anything, right?”

  The officer paused, and Daphne’s heart dropped. “No, it is still in great working condition,” the officer stated. “We had to impound it because when we found the car, the driver had filled the trunk with drugs, and there were drugs all over the back seat of the vehicle.”

  Daphne’s eyes widened. “Drugs?” she asked.

  “Yes, Ms. Woods, that’s correct. The department will be vacuuming it out, but I highly recommend getting it professionally cleaned once you pick it up.”

  Daphne swallowed hard. So whoever stole my car just took it on a joyride then.

  “Thanks for letting me know,” Daphne replied. “Did you also find the thief then?”

  “We sure did,” the officer replied. “And you were correct with who it was…It was indeed your older brother, Cypress Woods. I was actually calling to ask you if you’d like to press charges against him.”

  Cy…does drugs? How long has this been going on? Does Mother know about it?

  Daphne gulped. Speaking of Mother…I bet she won’t want me to press charges against Cy for this…I imagine she’s probably going to try to bckmail me into dropping the charges if I try. Daphne rubbed her forehead with her fingers. Good thing I refused her for help, all of the times she offered it. There’s no rug for her to pull out from underneath me.

  “Is there any chance I can get back to you on that?” Daphne asked. “I have a feeling things are going to be…complicated…since it’s my older brother.”

  The officer chuckled a little on the other side of the line. “That was the sense I got, too, as soon as your Mother showed up to bail out your brother.”

  Daphne’s stomach twisted hard, threatening her breakfast. Of course, Mom would bail out her favorite son. I would expect nothing less from Kimberly Woods.

  “Thanks for the heads up,” Daphne murmured. “When will you need to know by?”

  “We usually ask to know within a week, but given that next Thursday is Thanksgiving…”

  Daphne’s heart dropped. Shit. I completely forgot about Thanksgiving. She chewed on her tongue, wishing that weeks ago she hadn’t been so proactive and telling her mother that she would be there for the family Thanksgiving this year.

  “How about you have your decision to us by Friday the twenty-fifth?” the officer asked.

  “Alright,” Daphne agreed. “I will call you back by then.”

  “Sounds great,” the officer said. “Have a great day, Ms. Woods.”

  “You, too,” Daphne replied. She heard the call end as she brought her cell phone down from her face.

  What do I do? The right thing to do is to press charges. I don’t even know why Cy would steal my car in the first pce, and he and I have never gotten along…standing up for myself is the right thing to do… But what will happen with my mother?

  Her eyes trailed off to see Asher at his desk and cubicle. He had yet to turn in his two weeks, so he was looking over in the direction of Daphne, probably trying to see if she was done.

  “What?” he mouthed at her.

  She just shook her head. She opened her texts and sent one to him that just said, Later.

  He sent her a thumbs up in response.

  I supposed I can always ask Asher. It sounds like he’s had to py politics in his own family, so maybe he will have some insights.

  She pursued her lips and walked back to her desk, dreading Thanksgiving more than she ever had before.