Read Online Ignite Me (The Annihilate Me Series) by Christina Ross - Free Book Online

it came to the cost of living in
this city.   I had bills to pay, food
to buy.   Even worse, I’d just spent a
significant amount of money on an outfit I couldn’t afford in an effort to
convince her that I was the right person for the job.   Unless I found another position quickly,
she could ruin me financially if she let me go, which made me feel at once
claustrophobic and desperate.   I
closed the door behind me, and when I turned back to look at her, I saw that
she had leaned forward and folded her arms on top of her desk.  
    “If you tried
your best to get back here on time, then why did you spend time trying on a
necklace that isn’t yours and was never meant to touch your skin?” she asked.
    So, there it
was—Sophia had sold me out.   But why?   She’d been so nice
to me, it didn’t make sense.   And
how had Blackwell ever found out about any of it?   Had Sophia called her?   Or had she called Sophia wondering where
I was?   I had to believe that it was
the latter, if only because my first instinct about Sophia was positive and
true.   I couldn’t have been that
wrong about her, could I?
      “You asked me to inspect the necklace,” I
said.
    “Which never in
a million years meant trying it on so you could pretend for a few moments that
you were a princess.”
    And there it
was—that word—princess.   The same word Sophia had used when she’d said: Her new personal
assistant?   I see.   Well, then, you really do deserve the
opportunity to see yourself as a princess, don’t you?   Even if it is only for a moment .   And then there was what I had said
before leaving the store: Thanks for making me feel like a princess,
Sophia.   That hasn’t happened often
in my life.  
    Obviously,
Sophia had relayed what I’d said to Blackwell.   And I had to wonder—had this
entire thing been planned between them in advance?   Had Blackwell wanted to see if I’d
decline Sophia’s offer to put on the necklace?   Did she think I’d get some sort of
perverse thill from putting it on?   With Blackwell just staring at me now and waiting for a response, I knew
I had to think quickly on my feet and be honest with her before she decided to
be done with me completely.
    “Sophia asked
me to try on the necklace to see if it suited me.   I told her that the necklace wasn’t
meant for me, but she nevertheless insisted, so I let her put it on me thinking
that perhaps I might be able to tell if there was something wrong with the way
it laid around my neck.   When you
asked me to inspect the necklace, I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant.”
    “You could have
asked.”
    “I didn’t want
to look like an idiot.”
    She rolled her
eyes at me.   “And look at how well
you’ve succeeded at that. . . .”
    And that made
me bristle.
    “I’m sorry, Ms.
Blackwell, but I’m not an idiot.”
    “You don’t
say?”
    “On the spot, I
had to decide whether trying on the necklace was part of the inspection
process.   After all, you gave me no
specific instructions about what to even look for when it came to inspecting a
piece of jewelry, and since I’ve never been asked to do anything like that, I
had to wing it.   But you are
right—I should have asked you what you expected from me.   And you’re also right when it comes to a
certain comment I made.   I come from
a working-class background, and when I looked at myself in the mirror, that
necklace did make me feel like a princess, as corny as that word
sounds—though it should be noted that Sophia is the one who used it
first.   Not me.”
    “I couldn’t
care less who used it first.   What
all of this comes down to, Madison, is that on your first day on the job, I
gave you two tasks to complete in a reasonable amount of time. . . .”
    “A reasonable
amount of time?” I said.  
    “That’s
right.   Reasonable.   I could have done each within an hour
because trust me on this, girl, I have done so countless of times before.”
    “In the