Page 25 of Ansel

11

DING, DONG! THE WITCH IS DEAD!

NEHA

Iwasn’t sure if it was the whiskey warming my chest, the electric buzz of a packed Clover Club on a Friday night, or the satisfaction of seeing Vanessa finally get what she deserved—but for the first time in months, I felt good. Really good. And for once, I didn’t have to force it.

Charlie, Ansel, and I had grabbed a booth in the back, where the music wasn’t too loud. Ansel had just finished giving me a play-by-play of Vanessa’s public humiliation at the executive meeting. I had enjoyed every single second of it.

“You should’ve seen her face.” Charlie swirled his whiskey, the ice clanking against the sides. “It was like watching someoneveryslowly realize that they had stepped in wet cement.”

I smirked. “And then HR just sent her off with security? She had no final words? No dramatic exit speech?”

Ansel shook his head. “Just stunned silence and a walk of shame.”

I let out a satisfied sigh. “Poetic justice.”

Charlie lifted his glass. “To justice.”

I clinked my glass against his, then against Ansel’s, before taking a slow sip of my drink.

For weeks, I had felt powerless—discarded. But now I felt like I’d done something for myself, and I hadn’t done it alone. Charlie, Jimmy, Joanna—hell, even Eleanor—had all stood behind me.

Eleanor even called me, asking if I’d come back to Sterling. She apologized for how Vanessa had created a situation with rumors and innuendo to make my life miserable. I told her I didn’t think coming back was an option. I was looking forward to working elsewhere, learning new things, and making new work friends. Sterling had taught me a lot, but as far as my career was concerned, it was in the past. Also, after learning how Vanessa behaved, I didn’t know if I wanted to work in a place where such toxicity had thrived for years before it was removed.

Professionally I was done with Sterling. But from a personal perspective, well….

I glanced at Ansel, who was watching me over the rim of his glass. He hadn’t needed to ask for my help—he could’ve easily handled this on his own—but he’d come to me anyway, so that I could feel vindicated. I appreciated that. I liked that he’d put me first, for once. Hell, I liked it almost as much as I liked us working together as a team again.

Before I could dwell on that further, giving myself an ulcer, Ansel’s phone buzzed on the table. He glanced at the screen and murmured, “It’s Eleanor. I need to take this.” He stood, walking toward the exit for some quiet.

The moment he was out of earshot, Charlie turned to me. "He wants you back, you know that, don’t you?

I stiffened and set my glass down. “I already told Eleanor I wouldn’t come back to Sterling, so he needs to find another assistant.”

He scoffed. “You’re too good to be someone’s assistant, Neha. And you damn well know that.”

I was caught off guard by his bluntness. “Thanks, I guess?”

Charlie rested his forearms on the table. “Ansel knows it, too.”

I sucked in a breath and let it out in frustration. “Sure, he does.”

“Well, then explain why he went out of his way to get me to get you a meet with Leon Carter.”

My eyes widened. I knew Leon Carter. He ran a boutique M&A consulting firm specializing in healthcare—one of the rare names in the industry known for his ethics. His firm focused on startups developing technologies to combat diseases most prevalent among underprivileged communities worldwide. I had talked about him to Ansel several times as someone who I wanted to be just like when I grew up.

Charlie continued, aware that I was all eyes and ears now. “Leon is in my network, we went to Purdue together. Anyway, I told him about you and he said he’s looking for someone with your skill set.”

I stared at him, confused. “Myskill set? You mean as an assistant?”

He gave me a knowing look. “Don’t play dumb. You weren’tjust an assistant, Neha. You handled financial models, prepared presentations, and caught mistakes before they reached the executive level. You have the brains for this and just the right temperament to work with Carter.”

I swallowed. “Work with him?”

“Yeah, this is a senior analyst role that reports directly to him.”

And any time now, Tom Hiddleston was going to walk into the bar and kiss me. Right? I mean if Leon Carter was going to hire me, why couldn’t Loki and I have a fling?

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