Chapter 0246


    Abby


    “Your sous chef… I saw him trying to bribe the judges earlier.”


    Daniel’s wordsnd on me like a lead weight. Karl? Bribing the judges? He wouldn’t do something like


    that. When would he have even had the time? Why wouldn’t he have told me?


    My gaze locks with Daniel’s, and disbelief tightens around my chest as though some invisible hand is


    gripping my heart, squeezing tighter and tighter.


    “What do you mean by that?” I demand, my voice trembling despite my desperate attempts to keep


    myself steady, to maintain control in a situation that’s making me feel like the world is tilting on its axis.


    Daniel’s wry chuckle bounces off of the walls of the breakroom. His voice sounds like a taunt as he


    takes a step closer, narrowing his eyes. “Come on, Abby. Don’t act like you don’t know. You put him up


    to it, didn’t you?” he asks. “Your performance during round two was so awful, surely you thought you


    could bribe the judges into keeping you on the show.”


    My eyes are so wide they feel like they’ll pop out of my head. “Never,” I hiss. “I would never do any


    such thing, and neither would he. You’re full of it, Daniel. Absolutely full of it.”


    But Daniel just chuckles again. “Then exin this to me: why, during the break, did I see your sous


    chef…” he leans in, his breath foul with the scent of coffee and arrogance, “going into the judges’


    room? He looked pretty cozy too, tucking a wad of cash into his pocket.”


    I recoil away from him, my heart racing, a mix of anger and dread coursing through my veins. “You’re a


    liar,” I say, my voice sharp. “You’re just trying to throw me off. First you sabotage me, and what now?


    You’ll use me of bribery on live television?”


    But even as I speak, Daniel’s smug expression doesn’t falter for even a moment, and a sickening


    realization dawns on me that he might not be making up lies.


    “Don’t believe me?” he asks, straightening. “Why don’t you ask him yourself, then?”


    With that, Daniel jerks his head toward the door to the breakroom, which I’ve had my back to


    throughout this whole godforsaken conversation. My heart feels like it stops, like the room has been


    sucked out of air.


    I whirl around, and the room tilts, time stopping in its tracks.


    Without a word, I grab his arm, the muscle beneath his shirt taut and unyielding, and I drag him away


    from the breakroom, away from the prying eyes and listening walls. I drag him down the hall until I find


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    a supply closet, then open the door and shove him in before I follow suit. New ch?pter avаble o?


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    “Is it true?” My voicees out like a choked whisper. The question hangs between us for a long time,


    the silence stretching on for what feels like an eternity.