Chapter 3: The Woman on Monday's Interview Panel
Ava read the name three times.
*Victoria Hayes.*
The ballroom lights shimmered across her phone screen, blurring the letters before her eyes.
Victoria.
Four years earlier, Victoria had been Ava's closest professional rival at a marketing agency in Atlanta. They had started within months of each other, shared lunch breaks, exchanged job listings, and spent late nights preparing presentations for clients who barely remembered their names.
Then Victoria received a promotion Ava believed should have been hers.
The friendship ended in a single afternoon.
Ava accused Victoria of taking credit for her work. Victoria denied it. Their manager investigated, found that both women had contributed to the project, and promoted Victoria because of her stronger client results.
Ava never accepted the decision.
She left the agency two months later, telling anyone who would listen that the company rewarded dishonesty.
She had not spoken to Victoria since.
And now Victoria was sitting on the same interview panel as Marcus Reed.
“Ava?””
Daniel's voice pulled her back into the ballroom.
She locked her phone.
“What?””
“You've been staring at that screen for almost a minute.””
“It's nothing.””
Daniel studied her face.
“You look like you've seen a ghost.””
“I'm just tired.””
He glanced toward the dance floor, where guests were gathering around the newlyweds.
“We can leave early if you want.””
Ava shook her head immediately.
“No. This is our wedding.””
Daniel's expression softened.
“Then let's enjoy it.””
He held out his hand, and she took it.
The band began their first dance song. Daniel drew her gently toward him, placing one hand at her waist while the other held hers.
For the first few seconds, Ava concentrated on the familiar details of his face.
His warm smile.
The small crease beside his left eye.
The way he looked at her as though marrying her had been the easiest decision in his life.
She loved Daniel.
At least, she believed she did.
But love was not the same as peace, and lately she had become skilled at pretending that one could replace the other.
“Daniel,” she whispered.
“Hmm?””
“Have you ever made a decision you regretted?””
He smiled faintly.
“Like ordering the salmon at that restaurant in Buckhead?””
She almost laughed.
“I'm serious.””
Daniel's smile disappeared.
He looked at her more carefully.
“Sure. Everybody has.””
“What if you made a decision because you were afraid?””
“Afraid of what?””
“Of being left behind.””
Daniel was silent for a moment.
Then he brushed a loose strand of hair near her temple back into place.
“Then I'd hope I was brave enough to admit it.””
The answer struck harder than she expected.
She looked away.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Is this about Marcus?””
Ava stiffened.
“Why would it be about Marcus?””
“Because you've been watching him all night.””
“I have not.””
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“Ava, I work with the man. I know what he looks like when someone is trying not to stare at him.””
She forced a laugh.
“That's ridiculous.””
“Okay.””
He didn't argue, but she could tell he wasn't convinced.
The song ended, and applause spread across the room. Daniel kissed her forehead before guiding her toward the table reserved for the wedding party.
Ava sat beside him and tried to focus on dinner.
The food arrived beneath polished silver covers. Guests raised glasses and offered congratulations. Daniel's mother told a story about him losing his shoes at summer camp, and the table erupted in laughter.
Ava smiled at the appropriate moments.
But every few minutes, her eyes returned to the entrance.
Marcus had disappeared.
She wondered whether he had left without saying goodbye.
She wondered whether he was already thinking about Monday.
And she wondered whether Victoria knew they had once dated.
The last question frightened her most.
At 9:47 p.m., Ava excused herself and slipped into the hallway outside the ballroom. The music became muffled behind the heavy doors.
She stood beside a tall arrangement of white lilies and opened her email again.
The interview was scheduled for Monday at ten in the morning.
She had spent weeks preparing for it.
She had researched the company's partnerships division, practiced answers to leadership questions, and rewritten her résumé until every sentence sounded polished.
She knew she was qualified.
That was the part she clung to.
Whatever had happened with Marcus, she could still walk into that room and demonstrate her abilities. She could answer the questions, discuss her experience, and let her work speak for itself.
She didn't need him to like her.
She only needed him to be fair.
Her phone buzzed again.
This time, it was a message from an unknown number.
We need to talk before Monday.
Ava stared at it.
Another message arrived.
It's Victoria.
Her thumb hovered above the screen.
For several seconds, she considered deleting the messages and returning to the reception.
Then a third appeared.
I know you saw my name on the panel.
Ava's heart began to pound.
She typed a response.
*Ava:* Why are you on my interview panel?
The reply came almost immediately.
*Victoria:* Because I'm the hiring director for the division.
Ava closed her eyes.
Of course.
She had applied for a position that reported into Victoria's department.
She had been so focused on the company, the salary, and the career opportunity that she hadn't looked closely enough at the organizational chart.
Her fingers moved across the screen.
*Ava:* Is this personal?
Three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
*Victoria:* That's exactly what I want to discuss.
Ava looked toward the ballroom doors.
She could hear Daniel laughing inside. The sound was warm and familiar, and for a moment she wanted nothing more than to return to him and forget the last hour.
But the message on her phone refused to let her.
*Ava:* I don't understand what you want from me.
Victoria's answer took longer this time.
*Victoria:* I want you to stop assuming everyone who disagrees with you is trying to destroy your life.
Ava felt anger flare beneath her embarrassment.
*Ava:* I never destroyed yours.
The response arrived seconds later.
*Victoria:* No. You just told our entire team I falsified the results of our biggest client campaign. You made that accusation in front of management, then left before they finished investigating.
Ava remembered the meeting.
She remembered standing beside the conference table with her arms folded, insisting that Victoria had manipulated the numbers.
She remembered Victoria's face—not angry, but stunned.
She remembered leaving the building convinced that everyone else had failed to recognize the truth.
She had never considered that her certainty might have been the problem.
*Ava:* I believed what I said.
*Victoria:* I know.
That answer unsettled her.
Ava expected an insult. A threat. A promise that Monday would be unpleasant.
Instead, Victoria sent another message.
*Victoria:* I have no interest in punishing you. But I won't recommend someone for a senior role if they can't take responsibility for their own decisions.
Ava leaned against the wall.
For the first time that evening, she felt genuinely frightened—not because she might lose the job, but because she was beginning to see a pattern she had spent years refusing to examine.
Marcus had been too ambitious, she had told herself.
Victoria had been dishonest.
Her former managers had been unfair.
Every time a door closed, Ava had found someone else to blame.
She had never asked whether she was the one holding the handle.
A door opened behind her.
She turned.
Marcus stood several feet away, his gift box still in his left hand. His jacket was unbuttoned now, and the warm light from the ballroom caught the edge of his neatly trimmed beard.
“I was looking for the exit,” he said.
“I didn't mean to interrupt.””
Ava quickly locked her phone.
“You're leaving?””
“It's getting late.””
She looked at the box.
“You never gave us the gift.””
Marcus glanced down, almost as though he had forgotten he was carrying it.
“Daniel was busy with the photographs. I'll leave it with the wedding coordinator.””
“You don't have to go.””
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Marcus studied her.
“Is there something you wanted to say?””
Ava swallowed.
She could have apologized.
She could have told him she was sorry for the things she had said beside the cocktail table. She could have acknowledged that she had judged him without knowing anything about his life.
Instead, fear took control.
“About Monday,” she began.
“I hope you won't let our history affect the interview.””
Marcus's expression changed very slightly.
Not anger.
Disappointment.
“I was planning to evaluate you on your qualifications.””
“Good.””
“Your qualifications, your judgment, and how you handle responsibility.””
Ava's stomach tightened.
“Of course.””
He looked at her for a moment longer.
“Why would you think otherwise?””
She had no answer.
Marcus nodded once, as though her silence told him enough.
“Good night, Ava.””
He started toward the exit.
“Marcus, wait.””
He stopped but didn't turn immediately.
She stepped closer.
“Do you hate me?””
The question sounded smaller than she intended.
Marcus slowly faced her.
For the first time that night, he looked less like the powerful executive Daniel admired and more like the young man who had once sat across from her at a kitchen table, sharing cheap takeout while they planned their future.
“No,” he said.
Ava's eyes stung.
“Then why does it feel like you've already decided who I am?””
Marcus was quiet for a moment.
“Because I'm not the person who gets to decide that, Ava.””
He glanced toward the ballroom.
“That's up to you.””
Then he walked away.
Ava remained in the hallway, listening to his footsteps fade beneath the distant music.
She could still return to the reception. She could still smile for photographs, cut the wedding cake, and dance with her husband until midnight.
But something had shifted.
For years, she had believed that success would prove she had made the right choices.
Now, standing in a hallway with her wedding ring catching the light, she wondered whether she had spent so much time trying to escape the woman she used to be that she had never noticed she was becoming someone she didn't recognize.
Her phone vibrated again.
Victoria had sent one final message.
There's something else you need to know before Monday.
Ava stared at the screen.
A second message followed.
Marcus asked me to review your application independently. But I found something in your employment history that neither of us expected.
Ava's fingers went cold.
*Victoria:* Your former agency didn't just record the dispute we had. They documented another incident—one involving a client presentation you led after I left the team.
Ava read the message once.
Then again.
She remembered the presentation.
She remembered the client who had complained, the missing data in the final report, and the frantic meeting that followed.
She remembered what she had told her manager.
But she had never expected anyone at Reed Meridian to know about it.
Another message appeared.
I think you should see the original report before you walk into that interview.
Ava looked through the ballroom doors.
Daniel was waiting at their table, smiling as a waiter placed the wedding cake before him.
She looked down at the phone again.
Monday was no longer just an interview.
May you like
It was the first time in years that Ava might have to face the truth without being able to talk her way around it.
And somewhere in Atlanta, inside a company she had never imagined Marcus would own, a document was waiting to tell her exactly how much of her past she had misunderstood.
