My Great Escape Led Me to You (Emily Blair) novel Chapter 905

Cynthia Rivera had actually woken up early that morning. She’d seen Hilaria Vargas’s call come through, but didn’t answer—after all, she was officially on leave.

When Tristan Davis called, Cynthia was in the middle of unpacking a mountain of online orders. The items were all little odds and ends, some delicate enough that she had to be careful not to mess them up. She was so busy, she barely had a free hand.

Her phone lit up with Tristan’s name. Cynthia’s eyes brightened; she set the package down with care, her heart fluttering. “Tristan, what’s up?”

“Why aren’t you at work?” Tristan’s tone was sharp.

She barely registered the question, still fiddling with one of the wigs she’d ordered. “I took a day off.”

“Who did you request leave from? Why didn’t Hilaria or I know about this?”

He sounded irritated. Cynthia frowned. “Why are you getting so worked up? I told Steven. Isn’t that enough?”

Tristan pushed his keyboard aside. “You’re Hilaria’s assistant. Everything goes through her, including time off. That’s standard procedure. You know that, don’t you?”

Cynthia rolled her eyes, exasperated. “Alright, fine, I get it. Don’t bite my head off. Next time I’ll tell her, okay?”

Tristan pressed on. “Why are you taking time off?”

“I told you before, remember? There’s a convention I want to go to. It starts tomorrow, and I need today to get ready.”

“Did you forget you’re still employed here?” Tristan’s voice was cold. “We have an approval process for leave, and your reason wouldn’t have been accepted. You’re an adult, Cynthia. You have responsibilities now. If you’re working here, you need to act like it.”

Cynthia’s hands froze mid-motion, her irritation growing. “This is important to me too! Why can’t I take a day off? I’ll be back at work next week, I promise—it won’t interfere with anything. And anyway, I already talked to Steven and he said it was fine.”

She felt genuinely wronged. She’d explained everything to Steven the night before, and he’d agreed. Why was Tristan coming down so hard on her? Just because she’d skipped the official process—was that really worth all this?

Tristan pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. “You’re an adult. You should know better. I don’t want to repeat myself—don’t let this happen again.”

“Fine, fine. Next time I’ll follow the rules. Just stop yelling at me.”

By Saturday morning, Emily Blair had already arrived backstage at the convention.

The event hadn’t officially started, but the cosplayers invited by the organizers were already backstage, dressed up as characters from various games. The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement.

Emily made a round of the different booths, then returned to the staff area backstage.

She’d only been there a short while when Elizabeth Wilson walked in, phone in hand.

“Hey, I have to admit, the marketing team outdid themselves this time. I just spotted several guys who are absolute knockouts—tall, athletic, some of them with perfect six-packs. I took some photos. Want to see?”

Elizabeth shoved her phone in Emily’s face. “Look, this one’s definitely the best looking of the bunch.”

Emily pushed the phone away, giving Elizabeth a cold look. “Did you say something to Tristan yesterday?”

Elizabeth didn’t look the least bit guilty. In fact, she grinned, eyes alight with curiosity. “Did he get mad? What did he say—did he interrogate you?”