"When you handed over those boxes, the way your hand tilted—every single person in this room saw exactly what you did."
His expression froze for a heartbeat before that practiced warmth slid back into place.
"Ivy, it's just a phone. I'll buy you ten. Twenty. There's no need to make a scene with a new secretary. People will say I'm playing favorites. They'll say you're throwing your weight around."
Playing favorites. Throwing my weight around.
My whole body trembled. Five years of swallowed grievances and buried rage erupted all at once.
I yanked out my phone, pulled up the year-end bonus notification I'd just received, and shoved the screen in his face.
"Mr. Gilbert, if the raffle was luck, then what about this? Is my bonus luck too?"
The number glared back at us:
$2.50.
The room exploded.
"Two dollars and fifty cents? She's the Vice President—the second-in-command—and her bonus is $2.50?"
"That's insane. I'm just a regular employee and I got five thousand!"
"You don't know? I heard Tania's been here three months and got twenty thousand!"
Twenty thousand.
My head snapped toward Neal. My pupils contracted.