I Bought the exiled king (by Natalie Winter) novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Valencia

My eyes went wide as saucers as the Director held the file in front of me. At the bottom of the pages, I could see only one signature.

Just one.

Mine.

I fumbled.

“I am not sure”

The director turned to another page and read through a report.

“The Silver Key project was under you?”

Not really.

But I nodded any way.

“This says that the client wanted to press charges against the Bureau for wrongful accusations and defamation.”

He had to give me some details instead of saying such vague stuff.

“Is that the Monroe vs Brightwood case, sir?”

Frank Marshall gave me a pointed look.

“Am I supposed to tell you what mistakes you made in which case? Did you not even read through the chargesheet made against you?”

I could see his temper rising.

“Sir, the new office head was appointed recently and she wanted the office to look prim and proper so I was doing that.”

But Frank Marshall pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose hard on it.

“Are you an office boy or a junior associate who has studied law and gotten in as a fresher out of hundreds of candidates that interviewed for this role?”

Humiliation burned up my cheeks, but I managed to stand my ground and answered.

“Yes Sir, I mean Director”

“Then why do you have to ask me what case has what discrepancies? Who even selected you for this role if you are this ignorant about the mishaps?”

The director pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and shook his head gravely.

“I had heard such good things about you that you have been working dedicatedly for five years in the Bureau and that you were even being considered for a promotion, but what do I see? An incompetent pathetic girl who spends all her day wasting time on the phone or something.”

That hurt.

He knew nothing about me, yet he was firing shots at me.

“With all due respect Director, I have been here for five years but their office heads changed. Maybe the Bureau should look at what’s wrong at the higher level.”

Chapter 24

He gave me a very scathing look and roared.

“Shut up! How dare you question the working mechanism of the Bureau? Your insolence reeks from your responses and I can now see why you peac rose from the lowermost position in the Bureau to a higher one when everybody else in your batch got a promotion.”

Okay, that stung.

I had practically lived and slept in the Bureau, working on files that were not even assigned to me and to have it all thrown back at my face in such a way made tears prickle in the back of my eyes.

I didn’t even bother looking at lan.

He had been the one to console me when I returned home, groaning and grumbling about the hectic work schedule, but right now, I was being torn to shreds and he was yet to move a muscle.

It looked like he was here to watch the shit show and enjoy seeing me getting humiliated for whatever selfish reasons he had.

“I have not taken a single holiday in these five years, not one. You can check my records. Not even a sick leave.”

Director Marshall brushed it away.

“You came here for the free coffee, lunch and AC because you were too lazy to cook your own meals.”

What?

I stared at him with a horrified expression as he continued to say the most random things he could about me and shut me down every time I tried to offer an explanation.

Two hours later, I was tired of it all.

I just wanted to go home and lie down on the bed.

The Bureau and the job could go

to hell.

I had given them five years of my life, and this is how they were treating me.

I didn’t even bother saying anything or objecting to the next several mistakes that were being blamed on me.

I heard it all silently and only waited for Director Marshall to deliver the final blow of firing me.

“Keeping in mind the grave mistakes committed by you, I find the punishment of firing you not in line with the nature of your crimes.”

Crimes?

Hlooked up at him.

Was he labelling me a criminal?

“Based on the files and the reports, the Bureau has not only lost thousands of dollars but its reputation took a hit, its sovereignty was questioned and the faith of both humans and werewolves in the Bureau shaken. I have come to the conclusion that you need to be hanged to death for your crimes.”

I could not believe my ears.

They wanted to kill me? For all the rubbish he stated, were my crimes?

I felt myself freeze and for a few seconds, I couldn’t quite understand what was happening.

“Do you have anything to say in your favor, Miss Graham?”

Chapter 24

He asked.

But I was too stunned to speak.

“Miss Valencia Graham?” Director Marshall repeated, and I thought I heard him from a distance.

“I ask you for the last time, do you accept the charges and the punishment levied on you?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but then I heard a voice different from the Director’s.

It was smooth and made my insides flutter.

“Are you forgetting, Director Marshall, that you also have

ask

High Inquisitor the same question?”

Director Marshall blinked slowly, as if realizing for the first time that a third was also in the room.

I looked up at lan, who was looking at the Director with an expectant expression

Director Marshall smacked his lips and then nodded to himself.

“Uh, yeah, well then, just answer the question.”

as

if he was

waiting for an answer.

And that was the first time in the few hours that lan turned his gaze on me and spoke to me directly.

“Miss Rosie Graham, can you tell me what is the process from getting a file assigned to getting a case closed?”

Rosie.

He bloody knew my name yet called me Rosie.

My skin prickled with irritation.

“My name is Valencia Graham, Sir.”

“High Inquisitor,” He corrected me with a flat voice.

He might as well have declared he had never seen me before because the silence had been giving me futile hopes that he was just playing some game.

But that cold and emotionless voice cut deeper through my

heart!

“Noted”

He didn’t react to it, but kept his gaze fixated on me and I tried not to glare at him.

This was the man who I had kissed, embraced, and moaned when he finger fucked me.

He might as well have been a complete stranger.

“Answer the High Inquisitor” Director Marshall’s shrill voice reached my ears, but I kept my gaze pinned on lan.

“Sir, the process laid down by the Bureau states that every file goes through the Senior Associate, the supervisor and the Office head before the case is closed.”

lan turned to the Director and asked, “Don’t you find it funny that all these papers have just one signature on it then? Just hers? I mean, it looks like she was the sole decision maker in all these cases when in reality a mere junior associate doesn’t have any such rights unless the Bureau went ballistic

12:58 Sat, 23 Aug PA

Chapter 25