"Hey, you. Who said you could wander around during work hours?"

The people behind me stared in horror at the intern badge dangling from Cindy's lanyard, baffled that she had the audacity to talk down to their boss.

"Debbie Henson, I'm talking to you!"

Cindy had a small entourage of her own, mostly interns who'd never laid eyes on me before. But they seemed to know she was the "manager's girlfriend," and that was enough for them to fall in line.

"Miss Pruitt is speaking to you." A boy with a face full of acne lifted his chin high. "Are you deaf or blind? Do you have any idea who she is?"

My assistant slammed a hand on the nearest desk. "Do you have any idea who Ms. Henson is?"

"Like I care?" Their faces still carried the softness of youth, but the words coming out of their mouths were vile. "Who knows whose bed she climbed into to land some low-level management gig. Miss Pruitt is Manager Sanchez's girlfriend!"

"Are you people so clueless you don't even know who Manager Sanchez is?"

"Let me spell it out for you. Other than the chairman himself, Mr. Sanchez's word is law at Henson Sterling!"

Cindy sauntered up and stopped right in front of me, triumph written all over her face. "Debbie Henson, you're fired."

"Security! Get this woman out of here!"

I turned to my assistant. "Recruitment was your responsibility, wasn't it?"

The assistant lowered her head, sweat beading at her temples. "Mr. Sanchez took over the hiring process after that."

I pointed at Cindy and her little crew. "Fire every last one of them. Bring in replacements."

"Who do you think you are?" Acne Boy sneered. "We're under Miss Pruitt's protection. You don't have the authority to—"

"Oh no. HR just notified me I've been terminated."

"Me too!"

Acne Boy stared at his final paycheck notification, wailing. "Miss Pruitt, what's going on? How did I get fired?"

Cindy had received her own termination notice. Brendan arrived at that exact moment, and she threw herself into her performance, tears streaming down her face like rain on cherry blossoms. "Brendan, I got fired!"

Without bothering to hear a single explanation, Brendan tore into me. "Debbie, do you have to go after Cindy at every turn?"

"There's a limit to how unreasonable you can be. This is a company, not your personal playground!"