Page 14 of Devil's Iris

I distracted her.

If I hadn’t held her gaze, she might have been able to prevent that disaster. The guilt gnaws at me as I lengthen my strides, following my mystery woman and the furious man into a hallway. He grabs her arm roughly and drags her through a doorway, too angry to bother closing the door.

I position myself just outside, close enough to hear every word.

“What the fuck is your problem?! I told you not to fuck up!” he explodes, saliva flying from his mouth, his face a deep shade of red.

“I’m–I’m sorry, Fred.” Her voice is small, defeated, and she’s keeping her head down like a scolded child. “I didn’t see the man moving towards me and?—”

“Youshouldhave seen him! You should have been paying attention! That’s your fucking job!” His voice gets louder, more vicious. “I knew I shouldn’t have recruited you for this.”

My hands clench into fists at my sides. The urge to walk in there and shut his mouth permanently is overwhelming.

He runs a frustrated hand through his hair. “Go change out of that wet uniform and go home.”

“Go home? But the event isn’t over yet. I can still?—”

“You think I’m going to let you go back out there?” He scoffs in disgust. “Go the fuck home. And don’t worry about your pay. You worked for two hours; you’ll get the two hours pay.”

“But Fred, I?—”

“That’s enough. I need to get back out there and take your place. I’m not having this argument with you right now, Leni.”

Leni.

She stares at him quietly for a moment, her shoulders shaking like she might start crying—but she doesn’t. She just lifts her head and turns around. I duck behind the door, hoping she doesn’t turn right and see me.

She turns left, body stiff as she disappears into another doorway down the hall. Once I’m sure she’s not coming back out, I adjust the lapels of my suit and step into the room. “This is how you treat your employees?” My voice is calm, belying my anger but laced with authority.

He spins around, surprise flickering across his face before recognition kicks in as he takes in my clothes. He straightens,suddenly remembering his manners. “You shouldn’t be here, sir.” Ah, he must have seen me with Julian earlier.

I glance around the room casually. “This is exactly where I should be. It looks like you need a refresher course on New York’s labor laws.”

“What are you talking about?” He squints at me, confusion mixing with growing alarm.

“Verbal abuse, creating a hostile work environment, harassment.” I tick off each violation on my fingers. “These could all land you in a nasty little mess with the Department of Labor.”

“Harassment? I didn’t touch her. Isn’t that going too far?” He finally stops playing innocent, realizing I could cause serious problems for him.

“You screamed at her in front of a guest,Fred,” I stress his name, tapping my chest before he can argue they were alone. “That counts as harassment—and my name carries significant weight.” I hand him my card as I speak.

He gulps audibly. “She–she spilled those drinks. I needed to put her in her place so she can–”

“Doesn’t matter. Harassment is harassment, and I’m sure if I look into your books, I’ll find plenty of things you’re not keeping in compliance with. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

A muscle twitches in his cheek. “Why are you doing this?”

Good fucking question.

WhyamI threatening some catering manager I’ve never met over a waitress I barely know? I don’t have the answer—and I don’t want to dig too deep for one, either. So I just turn around, satisfied that he’ll think twice before speaking to any of his employees like that again.

I leave him standing there, probably wondering what the hell just happened, and make my way to the room my mystery woman disappeared into. No, Leni—her name is Leni. Is that short for something?

The door reads ‘Powder Room’ with a women’s restroom sign next to it, so I just lean against the wall, waiting for her to come out like some goddamn stalker.

“I said no!” Leni’s loud, panicked voice has my spine pulling away from the wall.

An indecipherable male voice replies, too low for me to make out the words, but I don’t need to hear his part of the conversation. Her tone tells me everything.