Victoria shifted. Walter flipped through the report to avoid looking at me.
Only Sebastien kept watching, enjoying himself.

“I am sure if we kept looking through the report, there would be more glaring errors from your part.” His voice set my blood on fire. 

“But you can’t just expect us to waste the rest of our night teaching you how to do your job. Honestly, Mara--” He paused, watching for my reaction at the intentional exclusion of my title. “If you don’t feel confident enough to do this job, the noble thing would be to give your spot to someone who is better equipped for it.”

I had expected this. 

Since joining the team five months ago, I’d been met with derision, passive aggressiveness, and outright hostility from the other scientists on the project.

They all believed I hadn’t earned my spot.  

Because I was the boss’s daughter.

“That's rich, coming from you, Sebasteen.” 

I watched as his brow furrowed. His parents had messed up on his birth certificate and misspelled his name, but he claimed that was another way to spell 'Sebastian'; everyone knew it wasn't. 

I was feeling really petty, so I said it twice. 

“Sebasteen, if I recall, didn't you just have to complete three refresher sessions with Dr. Shin?”

The pen in his hand snapped in half as he glowered at me.

“I’m surprised you still have your spot.”

The chair rolled and hit the wall as Sebastien jumped to his feet.

“You bitch, just because your father is—”

The rest was muffled as Victoria quickly covered his mouth.

“That’s enough from both of you.” 

Victoria turned to me, her usually frozen face now glowering as she spoke. 

“We aren’t going to spend the rest of the night pointing fingers and saying things that we'll regret.”

She lifted her hand off of Sebastien’s mouth, and his heavy breathing filled the room.

He was furious. 

And it made me so happy.

Victoria placed herself between the table and Sebastien. As if she were afraid he would leap across it and attack me.

Clearly, Victoria wasn’t aware of how much of a chicken shit Sebastien really was.

“We need to bring the report to Dr. Romero before it gets any later. And since the majority is in agreement that the failure was due to your error,” her gaze softened as she looked at me, almost as if she genuinely felt sorry. “You will be the one giving the debrief.”

Sebastien chuckled and stepped out from behind Victoria. 

I am sure he wanted to see my upset face. 

His next laugh died in his throat when he saw that I was smiling instead.

“I’d be more than happy to go over the debriefing.” I collected the report as I stood up. “This will give me the chance to go over the numbers with him again, and share your thoughts on them as well.”

The three of them looked at each other, realizing that I was now in charge of the narrative.

Shock, panic, and resignation flashed across their faces.

I knew that they would rather face whatever came after than have to face my father one-on-one alone.

I don't blame them. I thought as I walked out of the conference room.