Page 6 of The Secretary Volume II

My skill set?

No, I have skills.I just don’t use them here.

Here, my most developed talents include:

? Saying “I completely understand!”to irate strangers while dead inside.

? Selling fear to retirees while my own future circles the drain.

? Avoiding Marjorie at all costs.

But once, I was someone who did things that mattered.

Now?I’m just Diane.Hawking mortality for commission.

My stomach tightens.

Something about this doesn’t feel random.

Marjorie clears her throat loudly.“Diane, the phone.”

But I don’t pick it up.

I don’t move at all.

Because my phone just vibrated again.

A third notification.

Not an email.A calendar invite.

I click on it, expecting a glitch, spam, a mistake.

But it’s not.

It’s real.

Meeting Title: Interview – Shergar Corporation

Time: Tomorrow, 9:00 AM

Marjorie smacks her gum and throws one hand on her hip, looking at me like I’m one bad decision away from getting fired.

I say fuck it and hit“Accept.”

3

Helper 99

She’d already made the mistake once.But then, so had he.And ‘round and ‘round we go.This is what they pay me for, so who am I to complain?

Still, it never fails to amuse me how people think their lives are private.A few clicks here, a little infiltration there, and I can thread myself through the entire tapestry of their secrets without leaving so much as a stray fiber.I’ve been studying her for weeks now—long before her resume even crossed my desk.She’s good at playing the part of someone who’s barely scraping by, which, to be fair, she is.That desperation?It’s his favorite kind of bait.

Even so, I don’t see the spark he claims to see in her.She’s one rental payment away from a cardboard box, so I suppose that’s reason enough for him to be intrigued.She’ll cling to whatever lifeline he dangles.Personally, I find that predictability dull, butheseems to get off on it.He likes to watch them dance on that tightrope ofmaybe-I-can-succeed, maybe-I-should-run.

To me, it seems like a cat pawing at prey that’s already dead.As in, what’s the point?

And yet, I can’t decide yet if this one poses a threat or an opportunity.Either way, I’m keeping a close watch.Same as usual.

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