I opened my mouth and then closed it once more. What could I say? Janet had caught me in her trap. I was being made a scapegoat for the other executives’ failures and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

All of my life I have been a horrible liar. If I denied having a personal relationship with Cameron Wolff, they’d both know I wasn’t telling the truth. Besides, Janet was the type of woman who prided herself on being prepared. She probably had some embarrassing iPhone recording or picture in case I tried to deny anything. No, denying the truth would only make the situation worse.

If I admitted my guilt, not only would I lose my job, but I’d never work in advertising again. Once word got out of what I did with a client, my reputation would be ruined. Companies would consider me too much of a liability to place me on their payroll. I needed this job far too much to do anything as foolish as to admit to having sex with a client.

So, I did the only thing I could think of in this situation—I remained silent.

After a long, tense moment, Mr. Chase returned to his seat and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath.

“I feel the same way,” Janet said as she waved her hand in my direction. “This girl has sullied the prestigious name of Williams and Chase Advertising. We’re lucky Mr. Wolff hasn’t dropped us for another company.”

“Enough, Janet,” Mr. Chase said, lowering his hand. “I think I’ve heard enough.” He let out a long breath before continuing. “This entire conversation is exhausting.”

Janet glowed with triumph. It made me want to slap that slick smile off her face.

He took a long time before speaking once more, looking at me with cold calculation now. “I don’t want or need to hear all of the sordid details of your indiscretion. I do want whatever has been going on between you and Mr. Wolff to stop. Now. I will not have your hormones interfering with this multi-million-dollar campaign.”

“It has already been terminated, sir,” I said.

“Are you sure? Because if I see or hear of any more indiscretions—”

“Absolutely.” I lifted my chin. “I know how important the Wolff account is to the company.”

“I’m not sure you do. If you did, then none of this would have ever happened.”

Janet cleared her throat, directing Mr. Chase’s attention to her. “If you don’t mind me saying, Mr. Chase, the girl is only an intern. She was in way over her head.”

He stared at me for a long moment before speaking. “I know, which is why I’m going to go against my better judgement and not fire you on the spot.”

“What?” Janet asked.

I widened my eyes in surprise. “You mean I’m not going to be fired?”

“No, not yet, anyway. You will be moving out of your office and back into the cubicle farm at the end of the hall, however.” He glanced at Janet. “I know that you have had your eye on that office space for a while.”

Janet’s smirked as she inclined her head. “You are too kind, Mr. Chase.”

“Perhaps. We shall see, won’t we?” He turned back toward me. “I’m willing to give you one more chance.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You will be working for Janet now. After you give her all of the relevant files, you will assist her in whatever ways she sees fit.”

Tears stung my eyes as I nodded. “Of course, sir.” Ugh. It would have been better if he had just fired me on the spot. Working for Janet was going to be horrible. From day one Janet had been put out with the fact that I had gotten a prestigious account and she didn’t. I knew that she was going to use her new-found power to punish me for trying to take what she felt was rightfully hers.

Mr. Chase nodded. “Good. We are in agreement, then.”

“Absolutely, sir.” Janet turned toward me. “After you move your things out of my office, please send me those reports.”

“Yes,” Mr. Chase agreed. “Mr. Wolff has already called this morning to arrange a meeting at three o’clock this afternoon. He expects to hear some of the new campaign ideas at that time.”

“Three o’clock?” Janet’s smile faltered. “That’s not enough time.”

“You’ll have the entire team at your disposal,” Mr. Chase said. “They are to drop whatever they are doing and help you.”

“Yes, sir.” Janet motioned me out into the hall. As soon as the office door closed, I tried to hurry to the ladies’ room so I could have a few minutes to recover from the humiliating ordeal. Janet was having none of that, however. She grabbed my elbow and steered me in the direction of my former office.

“I want you to call every executive from the old team and tell them to meet me in the conference room on the fifth floor within the hour. We have a lot of ground to cover before this afternoon.”

Averting my gaze, I blinked back tears and nodded.

“And I want those files on Mr. Wolff and a fresh pot of coffee waiting for the team when they arrive.” She let go of my elbow.

“Would you like me to take notes during the meeting?” I asked.

“Oh heavens, no. You’ll have no time to attend this meeting. You’ll be too busy moving your things out of my office.”

“But Mr. Chase said—”

“Mr. Chase said to do whatever I told you to do, and I’m telling you that I don’t want to see any of your pink, flowery shit in my office by the time this meeting is over. Do I make myself clear?”

Pink, flowery shit? I didn’t think that my new curtains or fresh orchids were so offensive. Stunned, I nod. “Yes,” I croaked out.

“Good.” Janet straightened and lifted her chin. “You poor thing. You really did get in your head, didn’t you?” Janet’s features softened. “Now you’re what—twenty-two? You’re just getting started and you’ve already hit the peak of your career. There’s nowhere to go, but down.” When I didn’t respond, she shrugged. “But, who knows? If you play your cards right, perhaps when it’s all over you can write an article whining about how tough and mean the advertising business is and submit it to the Huffington Post. Isn’t that what you millennials do these days?”

Stunned, I stared at my new boss as she turned and strutted off down the hall like a preening peacock. It seemed as if my life had sunk to an all-new low. I didn’t think things could possibly get any worse—but then in a few, short hours, it did.