Blood and desire

The fluorescent lights overhead buzzed faintly, casting a dull glow over the gray cubicles. Sienna cole sat at her desk, fingers flying over the keyboard as she reviewed the latest financial reports. Her screen was filled with numbers, projections, and corrections-work that wasn't even hers to do.

The report was supposed to be handled by Darren, her so-called supervisor, but-as always-he had dumped it on her last minute, then disappeared. And, as always, Elena had no choice but to fix his mess before the department head saw it.

She sighed, her eyes flicking to the time on the bottom corner of her screen. 11:48 AM. Barely half the day gone, and she already felt exhausted.

A sharp clap echoed through the office.

"seinna" Darren's grating voice sliced through the silence.

She clenched her jaw before looking up. Here we go.

Darren stood at the entrance of the open office space, arms crossed, eyes narrowing as he scanned the room. He always looked like he was hunting for someone to blame.

And that someone was usually her.

Seinna took a deep breath and stood, smoothing down her beige blouse.

"Yes, Darren?"

He stalked toward her, a file in hand, waving it like a weapon.

"This is what you call a finalized report?" He dropped the file onto her desk with a loud smack.

Seinna's stomach twisted. She knew for a fact there were no mistakes.

She had checked twice.

She pressed her lips together. "What's wrong with it?"

Darren sneered. "Oh, I don't know, Sinclair. Maybe the fact that I had to fix your sloppy work before I sent it upstairs? Maybe the fact that if you were actually good at your job, I wouldn't have to keep correcting your mistakes?"

A few heads turned, but no one spoke. No one ever stood up to Darren.

Her hands curled into fists under her desk. "I did everything exactly the way it was supposed to be done. If there was a problem, you could've just told me instead of-"

His voice snapped like a whip. "Instead of what? Watching you screw it up again? Maybe if you weren't so slow, you'd actually get something right for once."

Her blood boiled.

Slow? She was the only reason this department didn't crumble.

But she swallowed the retort burning her tongue. She couldn't afford to lose this job-not when her family was depending on her.

"Understood," she forced out.

Darren smirked, pleased with himself, and turned away.

"Try not to mess up the next one," he called over his shoulder before striding off.

Seinna let out a shaky breath and slumped into her chair. Asshole.

Her phone vibrated against the desk.

She glanced at the screen.