Page 24 of Auctioned to My Bratva Boss

"No way! But Kate was a senior employee. She shouldn't have been fired so suddenly."

"Our boss never bothers with this kind of small stuff."

"If you ask me, Quinn probably did report her. She's definitely got some secret with Matvey..."

Enough. Matvey's name had appeared in my life way too many times in a short period.

What relationship could we have? We had a transaction, nothing more. And at the company, he'd never cross any lines with me.

These people's eyes had been on me God knows how many times already.

"Come on, someone like her... how could Mr. Bykov possibly be interested?" A voice just as sharp and petty as Kate's reached my ears.

Oh, Miranda. I knew it was her. Before Kate got fired, they were practically inseparable.

She clicked over in her heels and stopped in front of my desk.

"Anyone with half a brain knows someone as ordinary as her—the kind who'd disappear in a crowd—could never have anything to do with Mr. Bykov."

She blew on her coffee, then set the cup on my desk, looking at me with all the time in the world.

Got it. So could she please stop putting steaming liquid next to my sketches? This was dangerous. I tried to push her cup away, but she suddenly picked it up.

"Riley, you don't actually think Mr. Bykov has any interest in you, do you?" She let out a few weird laughs. "You probably don't know—the women around him are countless."

Honestly? I'd guessed as much. Matvey was the kind of man who fulfilled every woman's fantasy. Handsome, loaded, gentlemanly yet wild... Who wouldn't fall for that?

"So?" I looked up at her. "What does that have to do with you or me?"

"Riley, I'm just trying to be nice and warn you." Her arrogance matched Kate's perfectly. "The women around Mr. Bykov are gorgeous—models, actresses, you name it. All tall, slender, elegant."

"And you? Ugly ducklings don't become swans, you know?" She leaned down near my ear. "Look at that bloated body of yours. It's not good enough for anyone."

A lump formed in my throat. It hurt.

Miranda wasn't exactly wrong. Matvey and I came from different worlds—different universes, even. Our transaction was an accident. After two months, we'd go back to being employer and employee.

"Miranda, I think you should shut up." I swallowed the bitterness and shot back. "Mr. Bykov just said the company isn't a beauty pageant."

"You're putting yourself right in his crosshairs."

"Is that so?" She curved her lips, glancing at me.

Then searing pain spread across my body. She'd actually dumped that still-hot coffee on me!

"Ah!" I jumped up. "Miranda! You—"

Coffee ran down my uniform, hot and sticky like a nightmare.

"Oh—so sorry." Her tone held zero apology. "But if your foot hadn't tripped me, I wouldn't have lost my balance."

"Riley, you're so clumsy. You're the one who should be fired."

So now she was standing up for Kate? She should take it up with Matvey.

But clearly everyone here agreed with her. Either they were barely containing their laughter watching the show, or they were completely indifferent.

The cold wave of reality extinguished the heat in my veins. No one would help me. I realized exactly what kind of workplace I was in. Endure? Submit? Fight back? Nothing I did seemed to matter.