Page 33 of The Snowball Effect

Brynn cleared her throat. “Do you think it was plagiarized? Written by AI? Or maybe he had an off week?”

Emma couldn’t help but quietly scoff. “More like an off two months.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, everything inside of her froze.

Allegra was a good boss. Honestly, she was areallygood boss. Demanding, worked long hours, sent both Brynn and Emma tasks on the weekends. But all of her past assistants had gone on to have meaningful careers in publishing. She allowed both Emma and Brynn to read every piece that made it to her desk, and she gave them space to critique and give their opinions.

Granted, it wasn’t an editing circle, where everyone’s thoughts mattered and had an equal voice. It was more of a test; at least, that was how Emma viewed it. Allegra would stare at her, direct and intense, as if measuring every word she said. She likely was.

But – until this moment – Emma generally had felt like she’d passed!

However, it was only after the words had left her mouth that she realized: her comment could very well sound like she was doubting Allegra’s judgment where Henry was concerned. And Emma had already been atOllylong enough to know what happened when someone questioned Allegra’s judgment.

She blamed Regan, she thought desperately. Blurting out whatever came to mind; she’d obviously been living with her for too long.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the high lift of Brynn’s eyebrows in surprise at Emma’s sardonic comment as well.

Keeping her composure, Emma sat with her shoulders straight, staring at her boss from across her desk. She could feel the stampeding of her heart in her chest.

Allegra quirked her head to the side as she stared back at Emma, giving her no visual indication of a response. Until –there. The slightest uptick of the side of her mouth as she hummed and dropped her gaze back to her open laptop. “You’requite right about that, Emma. It’s been far too long since Henry’s work has reflected the quality he was hired for.”

She could have melted from relief.

“Brynn, I want you to collect Henry’s work from the last three months. No, four. I want you to sum up any salient points made, then compare the work to samples of his work from the last two years since he was hired. I need a paper trail here. On my desk by tomorrow morning.”

“Absolutely.” Brynn was already tapping on her tablet, undoubtedly pulling up Henry’s submissions.

“Emma,” Allegra said, making Emma snap to attention.

“Yes?”

Allegra stared at her from over the top of her glasses. “You were selected for the Alton Writing Fellowship, correct?”

Emma gaped in surprise. “I was. Yes.”

Her heart continued to pound in her chest, wondering where Allegra was going to go with this topic.

The Alton Writing Fellowship was one of the country's most competitive and coveted literary programs. Thousands of undergraduate and graduate students submitted portfolios, vying to fill one of only fifty spots. And each spot guaranteed a door into the literary world like no other for any aspiring writer. Tutelage and mentorship from well-known writers and editors, networking into the publishing world.

Emma had nearly fallen out of her chair in shock when she’d received her acceptance email four years ago.

Allegra sent her a critical stare. “You’re my assistant. Why are you acting as though I would be unaware of your accomplishments?”

First and foremost, because Emma hadn’t actually completed the fellowship.

She didn’t say that, though.

Instead, as her cheeks burned, she cleared her throat and wracked her mind for the right response. Because she hadn’t been aware that Allegra would have personally reviewed applications for her assistants? Because she wouldn’t have thought Allegra would retain such a small detail from Emma’s resume?

Neither answer sounded great.

“I apologize; I was just not expecting it to be brought up,” she settled on.

God, she didn’t think she’d had such an off day at work since she’d been hired.

She would admit, though, that she’d felt off-kilter since yesterday morning. Waking up first to Regan in her bedroom, quickly followed by the information that Kimberly was in their apartment, had made Emma feel so –off.

That feeling had continued throughout the day, no matter how much she’d tried to shake herself out of it.

---