Chapter 2

The sterile smell of antiseptic clung to the air in the hospital waiting room. I stared at the peeling paint on the wall, my hands clenched so tight my knuckles were white.

A few days after the competition, Michael had suffered a severe panic attack, triggered by the stress of our dwindling finances. He was stable now, but the doctor was firm. He needed to be back in his specialized therapy program, and he needed his medication adjusted. All of it cost money we no longer had.

My small savings were gone. I was forced to do the one thing I swore I would never do again.

I had to go back to them.

The architectural firm of Hayes & Sterling was a monument of glass and steel, a place that once felt like home. Now, it felt like a tomb. As I walked through the automatic doors, the receptionist looked up, her eyes widening in recognition and pity.

"Sarah? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see Daniel," I said, my voice flat. "I need to pick up my final paycheck."

"Oh. I... I'll see if he's available." She fumbled with her phone, clearly uncomfortable.

Before she could make the call, their voices echoed from the main conference room. The door swung open and out they walked, Daniel Hayes and Emily Chen, laughing, surrounded by senior partners. They were celebrating. Of course, they were. Their "win" had landed the firm a massive new city contract.

Emily saw me first. Her smile tightened into a malicious sneer.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," she said, her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "Come back to beg for your job, Sarah?"

The partners shifted awkwardly. Daniel' s gaze fell on me, his expression unreadable.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his tone cold and distant.

I ignored Emily' s barb, focusing only on Daniel. My pride was a luxury I couldn't afford right now. Michael' s face flashed in my mind.

"I need my final check, Daniel," I said quietly. "And I need an advance. It' s an emergency. My brother..."

"Your brother?" Emily cut in, stepping forward. "Still making excuses for your failures? Some people just can't handle the pressure. It's a shame, really. You had so much potential."

Her words were meant to sting, and they did. The humiliation burned in my cheeks. I forced myself to hold Daniel's gaze, appealing to the man who was once my mentor, the man who had once praised my work.

"Please, Daniel. It's important." I hated the pleading tone in my voice, but I was desperate. "Just a few thousand. For his medical bills. I'll pay it back."

Daniel' s face remained a cold mask. He seemed to deliberate for a moment, his eyes searching mine for something. For a split second, I thought I saw a flicker of the old Daniel, a hint of compassion.

But then Emily laid a perfectly manicured hand on his arm.

"Darling, be careful," she murmured, her voice a sweet poison. "She's been acting so strangely. Who knows what she' s really after. After all, she was just caught trying to sabotage her own project."

Her eyes darted towards my worn satchel. "What's in the bag? Still carrying around company property?"

Before I could react, Emily snatched my bag. With a dramatic gasp, she upended it, spilling its contents across the polished marble floor. My wallet, keys, a half-eaten granola bar, and my sketchbook.

The sketchbook fell open to a page of rough drafts, ideas I had been sketching out for freelance work. But to a casual observer, they could have looked like blueprints.

"Look!" Emily cried, pointing a triumphant finger. "She's stealing designs! She's trying to sell the firm's intellectual property!"

It was a blatant, outrageous lie. The partners gasped. The security guards, alerted by the commotion, started moving towards me.

I looked at Daniel, my heart pounding. "Daniel, no. That's not true. You know it's not. They're just ideas, my own ideas."

But his face had hardened into stone. The suspicion that had been churning in him since the competition now solidified into conviction. My strange behavior, my desperation, Emily' s perfectly timed accusation-it all clicked into a neat, damning picture for him.

"I knew something was wrong with you," he said, his voice low and laced with venom. "To think I ever trusted you."

"Daniel, please," I begged, tears welling in my eyes. "Think about Michael. Please."

He didn't even flinch. He looked at the guards.

"Get her out of here," he commanded. "And make sure she never sets foot in this building again."

Two large guards grabbed my arms. I struggled, but it was useless. They were dragging me towards the door, my sketchbook and belongings still scattered on the floor.

"Daniel!" I screamed, my voice raw with desperation and betrayal. "You can't do this!"

He just stood there, watching, his face a mask of cold fury. He didn't move a muscle. Emily clung to his arm, a victorious, cruel smile playing on her lips. He let her pull him away, turning his back on me as the guards roughly shoved me out of the building and onto the hard pavement of the street. The glass doors slid shut behind me, sealing my fate.