The Day Silence Spoke novel Chapter 120

Her hands shaking, she opened the message. Zadok had written: [What is the issue? Feel free to tell me. If it’s not convenient to discuss over the phone, we can meet in person.]

Her breath caught in her throat, and the phone slipped from her fingers, clattering to the floor of the car. She closed her eyes as the cold wind from the open window whipped against her face.

“Miss, we’re here.”

The driver’s voice pulled her back to reality. She picked up her phone and got out of the car, walking into the office building like a ghost. She clocked in and sat down at her desk. On her work computer, there was a message from Ziven with her tasks for the day.

“New girl, make twenty copies of this file. We need it for the meeting.” A stack of papers was dropped in front of her.

Latisha looked up to see a woman with curly hair. Her name tag read: Secretarial Department—Rosalie Caldwell.

The person who used to sit here was Yesenia, and the others had all been oppressed by her. Now that the seat was occupied by someone else, their resentment remained, redirected from Yesenia to Latisha.

Latisha stared at the file for a moment before standing up to take it to the printer. Rosalie crossed her arms, watching her go. A colleague leaned in and whispered, “Rosalie, she doesn’t seem to know anything, but she still got a job here. Maybe you should take it easy.”

The implication was clear: this new girl could be the next Yesenia.

Rosalie scoffed. “Didn’t you hear what happened yesterday?”

“What happened?”

“That Latisha girl was helping Yesenia move her things and accidentally dropped them. They got into an argument, and Mr. Lambert was so worried he rushed down without even finishing his meeting. Latisha got a serious talking-to. Didn’t you notice she didn’t even come in yesterday afternoon?”

A blush of embarrassment crept up her cheeks. She clutched the papers, at a complete loss. She couldn't even use a copy machine. Working here was just a source of humiliation.

Santino took the file from her hands. “Let me show you. You place the document along this line. This button here is for duplex copying, and this is where you enter the number of copies you need.” He demonstrated for her. “When the counter hits zero, you open the lid, flip the paper over, and copy the other side.”

He pressed the start button, and a perfect copy slid out of the machine. Latisha quickly collected it. That was the first of twenty pages.

“You try,” Santino said, stepping aside to let her take over.

Latisha nodded and placed the second page on the scanner.

Neither of them noticed that Clifford had stopped in the hallway behind them, his eyes fixed on the two of them.