Alex went to college on a scholarship from Lily's dad. As his girlfriend, I'd always been grateful for that.
So when he used his position to hire Lily, I looked the other way.
To avoid suspicion, he assigned her to my team. I didn't refuse—I mentored her wholeheartedly.
And now, apparently, that was "targeting" her.
"If she can't turn it in, I'll mark her internship evaluation as 'unqualified.'"
I was going by the book.
Alex looked at me with utter disappointment.
"Serena, people aren't made of iron. Everyone gets sick."
"Remember when you first started working? You had a stomachache and were too scared to ask for time off."
"Or is it because you got rained on once, now you want to rip away Lily's umbrella too?"
I ignored him and walked out.
But he called after me.
"Serena—I have to say, management sometimes has pretty good taste."
"Between you and me…" Alex paused.
"Someone as clueless as you really isn't cut out to be a leader."
I stopped walking.
A while back, he and I had teamed up to land a major project. Rumors were flying around the company that one of us would get promoted.