Chapter 38: We Are In Trouble
Sienna’s fingers trembled slightly as she pushed the file toward Mia, silently asking her to look.
Mia took it with unsteady hands.
For a few moments, the room fell into complete silence again, broken only by the faint sound of paper shifting.
Then, Mia looked up. Her face was pale, her brows drawn together in confusion so deep it almost looked painful.
"I... I can see in this record that Anna sent me an email..." her voice came out slow, uncertain, as if she didn’t fully believe what she was reading. "But I didn’t find any—"
"Miss Mia," the HR staff interrupted, "You deleted the email. We found it in the deleted folder."
"What?"
The single word slipped out of Mia’s lips, barely louder than a breath, yet it echoed sharply in the room.
"I deleted it?" she repeated, her voice trembling now, disbelief and confusion blending into something fragile as her teary eyes looked at the HR staff.
"Yes," the staff confirmed without hesitation. "You deleted it."
Mia shook her head faintly, as if trying to wake herself from a bad dream. "No! No! That’s not possible... I would never do that. Why would I do that?"
"Well," the HR manager added, his tone still composed, almost sympathetic, "we don’t know what your reason is. Whether it was accidental or intentional... that’s something we cannot voice. But the fact remains, the email was found in your deleted folder."
Every word hit Mia like a hammer. She opened her mouth to refute, but no words came out, even though she wanted to say something.
Sienna sat there, unmoving, her mind no longer racing, but stopped working.
Everything was there...
Every piece of evidence pointed in one direction. And none of it pointed away from Mia.
Her chest tightened, her breathing shallow as a cold realization settled deep within her. ’Oh my god...’ Her fingers slowly tightened. ’This is...’
Sienna felt it clearly this time, the fear she had been trying so hard to push away finally rising to the surface and wrapping itself tightly around her chest.
’We are... in trouble,’ she admitted to herself, her thoughts trembling. ’Seriously in trouble...’
Beside her, Mia was still speaking, her voice unsteady yet stubborn, trying to argue, trying to defend herself against the calm but unyielding responses from the HR staff.
Angie’s soft voice slipped in now and then, sounding gentle, reasonable... and somehow making everything worse.
Sienna no longer had the energy to follow their exchange.
Her mind had already moved elsewhere, desperately searching for a way out of this situation, as if there had to be a hidden door somewhere in this suffocating room. A mistake, a loophole, or something that could save them. But of course, nothing came.
And just as her thoughts began to spiral deeper into frustration and fear, a soft vibration suddenly buzzed in her suit pocket.
The unexpected sensation startled her.
For a brief moment, it felt like the universe had decided to give her a tiny break from the chaos.
Carefully, without drawing attention, Sienna slipped her hand into her suit pocket and pulled out her phone.
Her movements were small, controlled, almost secretive, as if she were afraid even the air would notice.
Then her eyes fell on the screen.
And just like that, her entire body stiffened.
She saw a message from Benjamin Foster, her General Manager.
Her heart skipped a beat, then began to beat faster.
There was something about seeing his name at a moment like this that made her uneasy.
With a slight hesitation, she opened the message.
And the moment she read it, she felt her entire self freeze.
"All you have to do is become my woman, and everything will be fine."
For a second, everything around her faded into blurred silence.
Her fingers tightened around her phone, gripping it so hard that her knuckles turned pale.
A surge of emotions rushed through her—shock, anger, disbelief—mixed together in a way that made it hard to think clearly.
’What... did he just say...? Become his woman? He is insane! Crazy! Sick!’
Her lips pressed into a thin line, her jaw tightening as she tried to hold everything in.
She could feel the heat rising inside her, threatening to break through her carefully maintained composure.
But it only lasted for a few seconds.
Because reality came rushing back the moment someone called her name.
"Miss Sienna, you need to read this..."
The voice pulled her back into the room.
Sienna blinked, as if waking up from a daze. Slowly, she lifted her head.
The HR manager was looking directly at her now, his expression calm, unreadable, as he pushed a file toward her across the table.
For a moment, Sienna just stared at it.
"What is it?" she asked, her voice softer than usual, a hint of confusion in her tone.
Before the HR manager could respond, Angie’s voice cut in smoothly.
"What are you doing, Sienna!?" she said, her tone light but edged with something sharp. "Why weren’t you paying attention during such an important meeting? Or have you already decided you don’t want to work here anymore?"
Sienna’s hand tightened instantly. The urge to slam her fist against the table, or worse, directly into Angie’s perfect face, rose so suddenly that it almost startled her.
’You... shameless woman...’
Her eyes flickered briefly toward Angie, catching the faint curve of satisfaction at the corner of her lips.
Sienna knew Angie was behind this. Every piece of it. But knowing and proving were two very different things. And right now, she has nothing.
So instead of reacting, Sienna forced herself to look away, swallowing the anger that felt like it was burning the back of her throat.
’Not now...’ she told herself firmly. ’Losing my self-control now won’t do any good or help me with anything.’
She took a slow breath to steady herself and shifted her attention back to the HR manager.
"This is," he began calmly, tapping the file in front of her, "...what the company is offering to you and Miss Mia... to close this matter."