22. Little Lies
Little Lies
I t had been a couple of weeks since they’d started reaching out to clients, and after wrapping up a particularly productive call, Kellan stretched with a satisfied sigh. “Okay, I gotta say, we’re killing it. Clients actually like us. Who knew?”
Cassie smirked. “I knew.”
Alex let out a quiet chuckle. “Yeah, I’m not surprised.”
Kellan pointed between them. “Look at this. Actual camaraderie. Warms my heart.”
Cassie shot them a look, but she couldn’t deny it. Things had changed. They had become a team in a way she hadn’t expected, but it felt… good.
Kellan leaned back in their chair, tapping a pen against the table. “So, what do we think? Are we ready for a follow-up meeting with Leah?”
Cassie hesitated, considering. They had made real progress. The client response had been strong, and they had the numbers to back up their pitch. But before she could answer, Alex spoke first.
“I think Cassie should make that call,” they said, turning toward her. “She knows these clients best.”
Cassie blinked.
It wasn’t just that Alex had deferred to her… it was the ease with which they did it, no hesitation, no ego. Just trust. Another unexpected ego boost, one she hadn’t realized she wanted.
She cleared her throat, pushing past the strange flutter in her chest. “Kellan, can you set up a meeting with Leah for Monday or Tuesday next week? I want us to go over our report and presentation one more time before we share it with Leah.”
Kellan saluted. “On it.”
Cassie closed her laptop and exhaled. For the first time in a long time, she felt like they were actually on the same page. And maybe, just maybe, it would last.
***
Cassie leaned back in her chair, tapping her pen absently against her desk. The meeting with Leah was in a little more than an hour, and while she felt confident in their work, something else tugged at her.
She probably owed Leah an apology.
It wasn’t just about the past few weeks, it was the past few months.
Cassie had been... difficult. Short-tempered, defensive, barely hiding her resentment toward Alex.
And while Alex had been the direct target, the whole office had felt the ripple effects.
Morale had dipped, tension had been thick in the air, and Leah, who had always been fair and supportive, had borne the brunt of Cassie’s coldness more than once.
Cassie sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. Yeah, she needed to make this right.
Her stomach growled, breaking through her thoughts.
A reminder that once again she had skipped breakfast. A memory surfaced, unbidden: grabbing lunch with Leah at their usual spot, laughing over crab rolls, and gossiping about client drama.
It had been ages since they’d done that.
Maybe apologizing over the world’s best crab roll would make it easier.
Decision made, she grabbed her wallet and sunglasses, pushing back from her desk. If she hurried, she could catch Leah before the meeting. She headed for the stairwell, already planning what she would say.
Reaching the top of the steps, Cassie froze just outside the stairwell.
Raised voices rumbled down the hallway. She recognized them instantly: Leah and Eddie Hughes.
She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but the intensity of their conversation rooted her in place.
Pressing her back against the cool wall, she strained to hold her breath.
“She should’ve gotten the Senior Director position,” Leah said, her voice firm.
Cassie’s heart lurched.
“You think I don’t know that?” Eddie shot back, exasperated. “What was I supposed to do… I couldn’t just ignore Robert.”
A chill slid down Cassie’s spine—her breath caught. The pieces snapped together, sharp and unforgiving. She knew the truth now, unequivocally. Straight from Eddie’s mouth… Alex’s dad had made the call on their behalf.
They hadn’t just benefited from Cassie getting passed over.
They had to have known. Had to have been involved from the beginning.
Cassie’s stomach twisted. Heat flushed through her, a sick mix of embarrassment and fury.
How could she have been so stupid? She had started to trust them.
She had started to like them again. Her pulse pounded in her ears, drowning out whatever came next. She couldn’t stand to hear more.
She turned and took the stairs back down two at a time, jaw clenched, vision blurring at the edges. She had let herself believe things were changing. That Alex wasn’t the villain she had made them out to be. That she could trust them. But she had been wrong.
Again.
***
Cassie sat at the conference table, her fingers curled tightly around her pen. Across from her, Alex and Kellan were already seated, waiting. Leah hadn’t arrived yet, which was probably for the best. Cassie needed a second to breathe.
She didn’t trust herself to look at Alex. Not yet.
“So,” Kellan said, oblivious to the storm brewing beneath Cassie’s skin. “Nervous?”
“No,” Cassie said, maybe too fast.
Alex shifted beside them, glancing at her. “You okay?”
The sound of their voice sent a fresh spike of anger through her, but she forced a nod. “Fine.”
The door opened before Alex could say anything else, and Leah strode in, setting a folder on the table. “Sorry I’m late,” she said briskly. “Let’s get to it. You three have been making waves, and I want to hear everything. ”
Cassie straightened, gripping the moment like a lifeline. Just focus on the work.
She launched straight into updates before Alex could speak, covering not only her points but also the ones they had discussed Alex presenting. Kellan shot her a quick glance but stayed quiet.
Alex hesitated, clearly caught off guard, but they let her go on, their brows pulling together slightly. They chalked it up to nerves, now that the project Cassie had been pushing for years, fighting for, was finally turning into something real.
Leah nodded along, clearly pleased. “This is impressive. The amount of interest you’ve generated is exactly what we needed. It’s undeniable that your approach is working.”
Cassie should have felt proud. She had felt proud… before. But now, the praise rang hollow.
Leah exhaled and leaned forward. “That said, as I’ve discussed with all of you previously, we had hoped that lining up most of our smaller clients would be enough. But after my latest conversations with Eddie…” She sighed. “He wants more.”
Cassie’s grip on her pen tightened.
Alex sat up straighter. “How much more?”
“He wants at least one big client,” Leah said simply. “Something undeniable. Something that forces his hand.”
The room fell silent.
Cassie’s jaw locked. Of course. It wasn’t enough. It was never enough.
Alex nodded, thoughtful. “Okay. Then that’s what we do. We land a big client.”
Cassie let out a short, humorless laugh.
Alex’s head snapped toward her, frowning. “What? ”
Cassie finally turned to them, her heart hammering against her ribs. “It’s just funny.”
Alex blinked. “What is?”
Cassie shook her head. “That you’re so determined to prove we deserve this. Like we haven’t already earned it.”
The room was silent for a beat.
Leah’s expression sharpened, like she sensed the shift in the air. Kellan, for once, didn’t have a joke to lighten the mood.
Alex frowned. “Of course, you’ve earned it.”
Cassie let out a slow breath. She had two choices: she could bury this and pretend she didn’t know what she had overheard, or she could throw it all on the table and watch the fallout. Her hands curled into fists beneath the table. She wasn’t sure which one she wanted more.
Leah glanced between them, lips pressed together in a thin line. “Is there something I should know?”
Cassie hesitated. Every instinct screamed at her to lash out, to demand answers, to force Alex to admit what they’d done. But she bit it back. Not here. Not like this.
“No,” she said finally, her voice flat. “We’ll bring in the client.”
Leah studied her a beat longer, then nodded. “Good. Keep me updated.”
She stood, gathering her folder. “I’ve got back-to-backs all afternoon, but I’ll check in by the end of the week. Don’t lose momentum now. You’re close.”
When the door clicked shut behind her, the silence left behind was suffocating.
Kellan cleared their throat. “That went… pretty well, right?”
Cassie pushed back her chair and stood. “I’ve got work to do.”
She didn’t wait for their responses as she strode out of the conference room.
** *
It was late when Kellan knocked on Cassie’s office door, a cautious look on their face. Most of the floor had cleared out for the night, leaving a hush that made the sound of their knuckles on wood feel too loud.
Cassie didn’t look up from her laptop. The blue light cast a faint glow over her face, accentuating the deep shadows under her eyes. “Yeah?”
“You got a minute?” Kellan asked, voice soft.
She hesitated, then shrugged without glancing up. “Sure.”
Kellan stepped inside and nudged the door shut behind them, the click sounding final in the quiet room. They crossed the space and hovered by the chair across from her desk. “You wanna tell me what that was earlier?”
“What was what?” Cassie replied, tapping something into her keyboard like she could still pretend it hadn’t happened.
Kellan raised an eyebrow. “Cass, come on. You hijacked the whole meeting. You barely looked at Alex. It was like you were trying to ice them out.”
She sighed, the kind that came from somewhere deep. Frustrated and brittle. Finally leaning back in her chair, she rubbed the back of her neck. “I overheard something.”
Kellan’s brows knit together. “Okay…”
“Leah and Eddie,” she said, her voice tight. “I was on my way to Leah’s office to see if she wanted to get lunch before our meeting. She wasn’t expecting me…they didn’t know I was nearby. I heard my name, so I stopped.”
Kellan pulled the chair out and sat down, concern flickering across their face. “What were they saying?”
“They were arguing. About me. Leah was furious. Said Eddie made a mistake choosing Alex over me.” Her voice cracked, just slightly, but she pushed through. “She told him that I had been ready, that I’d earned it, and that bringing Alex in wasn’t just unfair… it was orchestrated.”
Kellan’s eyes widened. “Orchestrated how?”
Cassie swallowed, her jaw clenched. “I heard Eddie admit to Leah that he knew I deserved the job, but that he ‘couldn’t just ignore Robert.’ Seems pretty straightforward… Robert called Eddie; Alex got the job.”
Kellan sat back, stunned. “Wait… and you think Alex knew ?”
Cassie stood abruptly, the chair creaking behind her.
She crossed to the glass wall, arms folded tight across her chest as she stared out at the night sky.
“I don’t know. I want to say no. I want to believe they didn’t.
But I can’t stop asking myself, why now?
Why this job? They show up out of nowhere, just in time to slide into the role I was killing myself for. ”
“Cass…”
“And you saw them in that meeting. They didn’t say a word. Didn’t defend me. Didn’t fight for the truth. They just sat there.” Her voice sharpened. “Like they knew it was all stacked in their favor from the start.”
Kellan watched her carefully. “That doesn’t sound like Alex. You’ve seen how hard they work. How much they care.”
Cassie turned to face them. Her eyes were glassy but dry, her expression hard.
“You think I don’t want to believe that?
You think I haven’t been trying to give them the benefit of the doubt this entire time?
” Her voice cracked again. “I like them, Kell. I didn’t want this to be true.
But I can’t shake it. I’ve been trying to outrun this feeling for weeks. ”
Kellan didn’t respond right away. They just sat there, giving her the space to say the things she clearly hadn’t said aloud to anyone else.
Cassie pulled in a breath. “This client… if I land them, it changes everything. It’s not just a win for the agency. It’s a message. That I should’ve gotten that title. That I didn’t need a handout, or a connection, or a parent pulling strings.”
She looked down at her desk, then back out at the lights beyond the glass. “I’ve got bills piling up. The house is falling apart. And I’m tired, Kell. I’m so tired of scraping by while everyone else gets handed the things I’ve earned.”
Kellan’s expression softened, their voice quiet. “You’re not wrong for wanting recognition. For wanting stability. But don’t lose yourself trying to prove a point to people who already should’ve seen your worth.”
Cassie’s shoulders sank just slightly, but she squared them again a moment later. Her reflection in the glass looked tired, yes…but resolute.
“I go after the client,” she said. “Quietly. On my own.