My Murderer Bought My FakeChapter 3

The second I sat back down in the ballroom, my phone started vibrating furiously.

Gemma was blowing up the company Slack channel.

@here Attention everyone. All physical prizes MUST be registered at the Operations desk before you leave the venue.

Employees with unregistered prizes are not permitted to exit. Please cooperate.

We are currently waiting on exactly ONE employee to register. Please come to the desk immediately so we can wrap up.

People at the tables around me were already packing up their coats. They turned to look at me, irritation plain on their faces.

"Harper, are you the holdup?"

"Just go sign the paper, come on. We want to go home."

Before I could deflect, a couple of coworkers practically herded me over to the Operations desk.

Gemma sat behind it, the registration ledger spread out in front of her. She looked up at me, her chin tilted in smug triumph.

I stood there, motionless.

Next to the desk stood Kelsey, a loudmouth from the marketing team who was tight with Gemma. She had a habit of making my life difficult.

"Look at her," Kelsey projected her voice so everyone could hear. "Wins the grand prize and suddenly she thinks she's royalty."

Kelsey had been glaring daggers at me all night; she was deeply, toxically jealous of the bag. "Some people get the luckiest break of their lives and just want to play hard to get. If you don't want it, Harper, I'll take it! God knows I wouldn't act like a snob about it."

A few people chuckled, eager for the drama.

I let my face flush, pretending her words had pushed me over the edge. I shoved the heavy orange box right into Kelsey's chest.

"Fine! Take it! You act like I’m begging to keep it!"

Kelsey let out a startled gasp, instinctively wrapping her arms around the box. Her shock instantly melted into wild ecstasy. She hugged it tight, as if terrified I would snatch it back.

She whipped around to Gemma. "Gemma! Quick, put it under my name! Harper voluntarily surrendered it to me! Ha! Some people just can't handle nice things."

But Gemma’s face had drained of color. Her voice cracked, shrill and panicked. "No!"

Kelsey froze, her triumphant smile faltering. "…What do you mean, no?"

I mirrored Kelsey’s confusion. "Yeah, Gemma. I’m willingly giving it to her. Aren't you two close anyway? Just make an exception for her."

Gemma shot me a look of pure, unadulterated hatred. She choked on her words for a second before snapping, "No means no! I am following protocol! The prize must be registered under the original winner’s name. It has to be Harper!"

Kelsey looked like a kid who just watched her balloon float away.

Her face turned violently red, and she pointed a manicured finger right in Gemma’s face.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Gemma?! Protocol? Since when do you care about protocol unless it's to kiss executive ass? Don't pull this bureaucratic bullshit with me! I'm keeping this bag!"