Bluff?

"Wh...at is that?" Maya asked in alarm and pointed at Vanessa's phone when she heard her voice.

'Trust me when I say I've got things under control. I'm just going to breeze in and out of the office. That's what you get when you're in a relationship with someone as important as that...*a little pause* Don't worry about me. I'll be careful as always. I need to go in now. I'll call you when I'm done.'

Vanessa turned toward Maya after hearing her question. "That? You don't know what that is?" Vanessa asked with a smirk when the sound recorder stopped playing.

"What is going on here?" Mr. James asked, unsure of the game both Maya and Vanessa were playing.

"Since you both seem confused, and you don't know what is going on, I will spell it out... This is Maya's voice, and I put it to you that you gave her this job simply because she is warming your bed." Vanessa said, making Maya gasp in horror, her eyes almost falling out of their sockets.

"You bitch! How can you falsely accuse me because I got the job and you didn't?" Maya shrieked angrily.

"That's preposterous! I have no idea what you're talking about. Why do you think I'm the one she was referring to on that phone call? Get out of my office this instant!" Mr. James ordered with a stony expression, but Vanessa didn't flinch. Rather she enjoyed seeing them all riled up and unnerved.

"Yes! Get out! You have no evidence to support your allegation, so get out right now, you backstabbing bitch! Here I was, thinking I had found a friend, but you turned out to be a snake!" Maya hissed angrily.

"Friend?" Vanessa asked with a snort as she turned to look at Maya, "I never considered you my friend. I can never be friends with someone who thinks they'd get whatever they want by climbing into beds. I only played along with you to confirm all I overheard you say in the restroom that morning. Next time you want to wash your dirty linens, do so from the comfort of your home and not in such a public place where anyone else could have overheard you. So stupid!" Vanessa hissed irritably.

"And do you really think I don't have any evidence? Are you sure about that?" Vanessa asked Maya with a taunting smile before turning to Mr. James, "I'll suggest you think very carefully before asking me out of your office because the next office I'm going to be stopping by would be the CEO's office, and trust me, it wouldn't be looking funny especially for you, as I heard he's a very shrewd man who likes professionalism and competence. And next time you want to mess around by having an affair, have the common sense to do so with someone intelligent." She told Mr. James, who was at a loss on what to do before turning around to leave.

Mr. James panickly stared at Maya, who looked shock stricken.

"Wait!" He reluctantly called before Vanessa could turn the knob. Vanessa turned around and looked at him with a slightly raised brow.

"How do I know you really have any evidence?" Mr. James asked uncertainly.

Vanessa's lips curled upward as she replied, "You can never know. You just have to find out."

"She doesn't have any evidence. Let her go!" Maya snapped when she observed James was falling for Vanessa's tricks.

Vanessa shot them a pathetic look and sighed.

"You both are just as dumb. If I didn't have any evidence, I just go one." Vanessa said with a smile before flashing them her phone again, which showed she was recording the current conversation. The picture she had of them was going to be her last card. There was no need to reveal it too soon.

"Shit! What do you want? Why are you doing this?" Mr. James asked as tiny beads of sweat began to coat his brows. He could finally tell Vanessa was serious.

"I want my job," Vanessa stated. "She doesn't deserve it, so she has to go." She added while Mr. James looked at her like she had gone crazy. That was an outrageous demand.

"What are you talking about? You know that isn't possible!" He half yelled at her and then stopped himself when he saw how cold her eyes turned. "I'll try to find you another position within the company." He tried negotiating.

"If I had wanted another job, I wouldn't have spent sleepless nights under horrible conditions designing and reading to get the interview. It's her position I want. That was what I was interviewed for, and that's what I'll settle for. It's either that or I'm going to expose you." Vanessa threatened. From the severity of her words and the fierceness of her voice, Mr. James seemed to be slightly lost on what to do.

"Let her go! We haven't done anything. Whatever she recorded doesn't prove anything." Maya told him harshly when she noticed the uneasiness in him. There was no way she would lose her job to Vanessa, especially not after she had invited all her friends to her celebratory party on the weekend. Absolutely no way!

Mr. James looked from Maya to Vanessa in confusion. Could he take Maya's word for it and call Vanessa's bluff?

"Doesn't prove anything? We will just have to see about that." Vanessa said with a smirk, "I was going to give you both a chance to do things quietly, but now, I've changed my mind." Vanessa said before walking out of the office and violently slamming the door on her way out.

She didn't expect them to stall, especially not Mr. James, who had more to lose than Maya, but whether or not they swiftly complied and gave in to her demands, she wasn't leaving until she got her job.

After being humiliated by loan sharks causing a scene at her place of work or wherever they found publicly and privately convenient, Vanessa would say that she had gotten enough practice to enable her to go solo on her first big ruckus. Humiliation wasn't something anybody would be so big on, but after being visited far too many times than she'd like to remember, she must say she has been equipped with a full headgear that another round of it would do nothing to her but glide through with ease, Vanessa thought as she headed for the reception desk located at the lobby of the company.

If they weren't going to give her the job after she asked 'nicely,' then she was just going to do it the other way —the thug way. Like her, she was sure Maya and Mr. James had never been treated to a front-seat role of getting humiliated. Well, she is just going to give them their own first experience.

This should be fun.