Dark Kings (Feathers and Fate #1) - Sadie Moss Page 0,1

hires over in the far corner of the large, open office.

“Okay, sir,” I say quietly, “I’m going to help you. Just don’t tell anyone I did, all right? There is a way out of your contract.”

Keeping my voice low, I lay out the steps he can take to void his contract with the company. It’s a loophole in their contract that they’re legally not allowed to close, so instead, they just bury it—making it pretty much impossible for the average person to find it.

The man doesn’t speak at all as I talk him through the steps, and when I finish, there’s a moment of silence before he says, “Thank you. I’m… I’m sorry about all those things I called you. I didn’t mean it.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry about your daughter. Is she going to be all right?”

“I hope so.”

There’s a raw quality to his voice that makes my heart ache for him. I wish I could do more to help him than just freeing up a little extra cash flow for him and his family. But at least I did something.

“What’s your name again?” the guy asks. I told him when I first picked up the call, but that was twenty minutes-worth of yelling ago, so I’m not surprised he’s forgotten it.

“Trinity.” I glance up again to check for Dave, but I don’t see him flirting with the new girl anymore. Whew. Maybe he wandered back into his office to play video games. “But most people call me Trin.”

“Well, Trin. Thank you.” I can hear the warmth in the man’s voice, and I wonder how long it’s been since someone was nice to him. Since someone just cut him a little much-needed slack. “I wish I could leave you a great performance review, but… I’m guessing that wouldn’t really help.”

I laugh quietly. “No, not really. That’s okay though. Just don’t tell anyone what I did. And take care of your kiddo.”

“I will. Thank you.”

The line goes quiet, and I pull off my headset, resting it on the little desk in my cubicle. Despite the fact that I just spent close to half an hour getting yelled at, I feel great. I feel amazing. Helping people is the best feeling in the world, and even though I can’t do it nearly as well from Earth as I did from Upstairs, I still get a little charge every time I do.

And what do you know? My itch is gone!

Fluffing out my kinky dark hair, I lean back in my chair to make sure no one in the cubicles nearby heard me. I don’t want one of them to tattle on me.

“Have a nice little chat, Trinity?”

“Ahh!”

I almost fall backward off the rickety office chair as I look up to see Dave standing right behind me.

Oh, crap!

That’s where he went—not back to his office at all. Which probably means he just heard my entire conversation.

“Uh…”

Okay, I’m not great at covering my butt when I get in trouble. That may have something to do with why I haven’t been able to keep a job for longer than six months in the past thirty years.

“You know, Trin,” Dave drawls, crossing his arms over his chest. He’s a skinny, ferret-faced little man who carries himself as if he’s a six-foot-tall bodybuilder. “I was going over a recent influx of early cancellations we’ve had, and to my great surprise, it turned out that all of those early cancellations had spoken to the exact same customer service rep when they called. Any guesses who that was?”

“Uh…”

I’m not dumb, I swear. I’m just not big on lying, so there’s not a lot I can say here besides giving a full confession. And that won’t help my case.

But what was I supposed to do? Just stand by helplessly as that poor man was taken advantage of by this company? Should I just stay silent and follow the rules no matter what?

That’s what Upstairs wanted me to do. And it’s exactly what I didn’t do. Which is why I’ve been banished to Earth for the past thirty years.

And also why I’m about to get fired.

Chapter Two

Trinity

Yup. I’m totally about to get the boot.

I can see it in Dave’s expression—the too-eager gleam in his eyes and nasty curve of his lips. But I don’t really feel like getting yelled at for the second time in less than an hour, especially when there’ll be no chance of turning this interaction into a positive one like I did with the guy on the phone.