“—You just used me!” The voice breaks into a scream. “—What a bastard you are, Max!”
“Ivy, let’s have no hysteria,” he cuts it to the quick. “—You knew what I was like.”
“I knew,” I sob bitterly. “—But you did everything to make me believe… ***No relationships at work! Hating the entire male kind of race, I followed this rule strictly until I met Major Maryanin. I believed this operator had a heart—then I found out he’d simply bet on me with his colleagues to get me fired. But the trouble is, it’s not just love that keeps me in the department.”