It hit the breakroom tile like a thrown rock, split clean down the middle, and the sound carried the sharp finality of something breaking that could never truly be glued together again while hot coffee spread across the floor in a brown arc that steamed against the cold tile.
Victor Langley barely flinched.
He had Alyssa Hart pinned in the narrow space between the counter and the refrigerator, his forearm planted above her shoulder like a barrier, and although he technically was not touching her in a way he could not deny later, his body hovered too close and his confident smile suggested he enjoyed the imbalance of power.
Alyssa’s eyes found mine across the room and the look was not dramatic, yet it was unmistakably raw and pleading like someone reaching for air beneath deep water.
“Need something?” Victor asked without turning his head, his voice carrying a mild irritation that implied I had stepped outside the boundaries he believed belonged to him.
I stepped forward anyway and quietly moved my body between him and Alyssa just enough to force him to step aside while saying calmly, “Actually, yes, I need you to stop cornering women in this office.”
The room fell silent as the refrigerator motor hummed and a distant printer coughed somewhere down the hallway.
Alyssa slipped past me quickly while clutching her folder like a shield and hurried toward the door with tense shoulders.
Victor slowly turned toward me with a carefully measured expression before letting a smug grin appear on his face.
“Excuse me?” he said with exaggerated disbelief.
“You heard me clearly,” I answered while maintaining steady eye contact and keeping my voice level despite the pounding in my chest.
Victor glanced around the breakroom to check for witnesses before leaning slightly closer and lowering his voice.
“Listen, Morgan Hayes, I do not know what problem you think you have with me.”
“San Diego,” I replied quietly.
The color drained from his face so quickly that it looked almost unreal and his mouth opened as if words had escaped him.
“The balcony outside the hotel lounge,” I continued calmly. “Emily from marketing. The elevator with Dana from accounting. The hallway outside conference rooms late at night.”
Victor swallowed hard while staring at me.
“You are bluffing,” he muttered.
“The board meeting starts in thirty minutes,” I said evenly while holding his gaze. “I have requested time to speak.”