Val’s eyes blazed with anger as she glared at me.
“Grace… you did that on purpose.”
I spread my hands innocently. “But you were having a seizure, right? Everyone saw it–I was just performing first aid.”
The others all nodded, barely holding back their laughter.
It was perfect.
Seeing Val humiliated like that, they’d have gladly paid for the meal themselves.
- 8.
Val wasn’t going anywhere until she paid.
“I’m just worried you’ll have another ‘episode,” I said calmly.
Finally, she caved. “Fine, I’ll pay! Just let me go.”
The server handed her the bill.
“Your total is two thousand five hundred eighty dollars.”
Her eyes widened. “What? That can’t be right. lan’t it split? And wasn’t it half off?”
I shrugged. “All those pricey Items you ordered–none of us touched them, so that’s all on you. The rest, we shared.
The server walted expectantly, and she finally relented, though she put up quite a show about it.
When I made a move to call the police, she panicked and quickly paid up before fleeing.
I used the money she’d owed everyone to cover their meals and had the server bring out fresh dishes for us.
By the way, I own this restaurant. So with Val gone, dinner’s on me!”
The room erupted in cheers. “Grace, you’re the best!”
When I arrived at the office Monday me
Val’s eyes were full of hate as she looked at me.
I just smiled and said, “Good morning, Val. Have a nice weekend?”
She shot m
e and
rmed off.
At lunch, Director Collins came down with
tin hand. “Grace, we have an important client coming Thursday. You’ll be in charge of hosting
Knowing how important this client was, I went to the best market in town after work and stocked up on the freshest seasonal fruit and some
and snacks.
Thursday morning, I got a call from Jamie.
“Hurry over here–something’s wrong.”
I rushed in to find that everything I’d set up had disappeared. Even the flowers I’d carefully arranged were gone.
“What happened?” I asked the team.
Everyone shrugged, saying it was already like this when they arrived.
Director Collins shot me a reproachful look.
Jamie jumped in, “Director, I saw her set everything up yesterday.”
Collins checked her watch, her tone cold. “The client arrives in an hour. I don’t want excuses; I want results.”
Off to the side, Val was smirking, her face gleeful as she shot me a smug look.
I took a deep breath, knowing Val was behind it but lacking any proof. The office’s security cameras hadn’t worked in ages.
