Elaine waited for an answer, but when Marcus stayed quiet, she pressed on, “You saw how everyone looked at me today.
They obviously think I got in through connections.”
“Didn’t you?” Marcus snapped back, clearly losing patience.
“Get in the car.”
“Forget I said anything…” she muttered, lips twitching downward.
She looked a little hurt, but still climbed into the car anyway—like she had a choice.
On the drive back, Elaine kept her mouth shut.
She knew better than to speak now.
Talk less, mess up less.
Like earlier—whether she spoke or not, it didn’t change the fact that she’d ended up in his car, right?
Just as they were nearly home, Marcus brought up something out of nowhere, like it had just popped into his head.
“So, what did you do today?”
That question instantly made her heart skip a beat.
Crap.
She forced herself to play it cool.
“Looked over the files on Secretary Karlene’s computer.
Stuff like contracts and proposals.”
“And besides that?”
His tone was calm, but a bit too calm.
Elaine instinctively avoided eye contact, feeling the heat of his stare weigh on her.
After a brief pause, Marcus added, “None of the company computers have any games installed.
The internet’s restricted too.
You couldn’t have downloaded anything, even if you tried.”
Elaine, of course, knew that much already.
Which was why she had used her own sneaky methods to get games onto the computer—and even went to the trouble of hiding them.
Was he onto her already?
No way, she had to think fast.
After a moment of scrambling for a believable excuse, she just went with the simplest possible: “I just clicked around and…
found them by accident.”
Even as the words left her mouth, she knew Marcus wouldn’t buy it.
She was ready to argue it out if she had to—but surprisingly, he didn’t press.
Instead, he abruptly changed the subject.
“Stick with the team for now, learn the ropes.
Later, you’ll come work directly for me.”
Elaine blinked.
“What do you mean?
Be your assistant?”
“You already have Assistant Henry and…
that other one, don’t you?”
“Isabella,” she corrected, feeling a bit rude having called Isabella “that other one.”
From what she remembered of Audrey’s experiences, Marcus treated Isabella differently—definitely better than he treated her, at least.
The classic stereotype: the boss’s pretty secretary.
Elaine got the picture.
Still, that particular “pretty secretary” was getting on her nerves.
Whether it was Audrey’s memory rubbing off on her or her own impression, either way, Elaine really didn’t like Isabella.
Everything Isabella had done to Audrey?
Oh, she’d definitely be returning the favor—with interest.
Starting today, unless Isabella was begging her on her knees, she was in for a ride.
“She can be reassigned.” Marcus paused briefly before responding, calm but firm.
Just then, the car stopped in front of the house.
Elaine didn’t rush to get out—she was still turning his words over in her mind.
Was he really letting go of Isabella?
Why?
Got bored of her already?
Looking for a new toy?
The thought made her shiver.
Marcus had no idea what she was thinking about.
Just as he was about to tell her to get out of the car, her phone rang.
It was Professor Clark.
She got out first and began digging through her memory files.
“Professor Clark?” she mumbled to herself while flipping through everything she could recall.