Ava arrived at the office the next morning to whispers. The kind that stopped when she walked by, only to pick up again the moment her heels clicked out of earshot.
She kept her chin high, ignoring the stares, the way people’s eyes darted between her and their phones. It didn’t take much imagination to guess what they were reading.
By the time she reached her desk, her inbox was flooded. Some were messages of thinly veiled curiosity, others attempts at “support,” but most were silence disguised as professionalism. Colleagues she had laughed with in break rooms now avoided her gaze.
And then there was the email marked urgent: Meeting with Executive Board – 11 a.m. Attendance Required.
Her stomach twisted. She didn’t need to ask who had arranged it.
At precisely eleven, she walked into
