Though Caroline sighed and her expression softened into blankness, her stance remained as defensive as ever.

"You're still demoting me, aren't you? I've worked with you for this long and you don't know me well enough to know that I'd only do something like that in desperate times?"

"Don't use the past to excuse something you've done in the present." Elena spoke up. "You've broken his trust. He has every right to fire you and make it so you never get a job anywhere in the field again. You should be begging him to stay, not chiding him."