Chapter 5
Chapter 5:
Two days later.
The breakroom at Douglas Tech was a sterile environment of brushed steel and aggressive fluorescent lighting. Jocelyn stood in front of the coffee machine, staring blankly at the slow drip of dark liquid into her mug.
She shouldn’t be here. She had the money. She had the husband. She had the house.
But she also had a sense of professional duty that bordered on masochism. And Kieran still had the physical keys to the safe where the Henderson merger files were kept. She couldn’t email them — she had to retrieve them and hand them over in person to close the loop.
Two junior analysts walked in, laughing. They didn’t notice her tucked in the corner by the machine.
“Did you see Kieran’s post this morning?” one asked, grabbing a water bottle. “Aspen looks like a queen. That dress cost more than my tuition p>
𝗥𝖾аd 𝘸і𝘁𝗵𝗈𝗎𝘁 іոtеr𝗿u𝗉𝗍𝗂𝗈𝘯𝘴 𝗼ո
“What about Jocelyn?” the other snickered. “Isn’t she still his EA? That’s got to be awkward p>
“She’s practically furniture,” the first one said dismissively. “He was never going to marry her. She’s just — there. Waiting p>
Jocelyn gripped her mug. The ceramic bit into her palm.
Furniture.
She turned to leave, needing air before she screamed. But the machine sputtered. It hissed violently, spitting a jet of scalding steam and hot water sideways.
“Ah!” Jocelyn gasped, dropping the mug.
The hot liquid splashed across her hand. The pain was instant and searing. The mug shattered on the floor.
The two analysts spun around, their faces going pale when they saw her.
“Ms. Wolfe! We didn’t — ”
Jocelyn ignored them. She rushed to the sink and shoved her hand under the cold tap. The skin was already turning an angry, blistering red.
Mandy, the receptionist and the only person in the building Jocelyn could tolerate, rushed in. “Jocelyn! I heard the crash p>
She took one look at the hand and hissed in sympathy, reaching for paper towels and wetting them. “You need to go to urgent care. That looks like a second-degree burn p>
“I’m fine,” Jocelyn said through gritted teeth. The water helped, but the throbbing was deep. “I need to give you something first p>
She pulled a crisp white envelope from her blazer pocket with her good hand.
“Give this to HR. Today p>
Mandy took it, recognizing the weight of the paper immediately. “You’re quitting? Before the Gala? Kieran will flip p>
“Especially before the Gala,” Jocelyn said.
“Where is Jocelyn?” Kieran’s voice boomed from the hallway.
Jocelyn froze. The sound of his voice triggered a physical recoil in her gut. She wasn’t ready. Not yet.
She ducked into the emergency stairwell just as Kieran strode past the breakroom door. Through the narrow gap, she watched him. He looked immaculate — tanned, rested, wearing a suit that cost five thousand dollars. He didn’t look like a man who had just dismantled someone’s life.
“I — I haven’t seen her, sir,” she heard an intern stammer.
“Tell her to bring the merger files to the Gala tonight,” Kieran barked, not breaking stride. “Personally. I don’t want a courier losing them p>
Jocelyn leaned back against the cold concrete wall of the stairwell and closed her eyes.
He wanted her to deliver the files to the party where he was debuting his new fiancée. It was a power move. A final humiliation.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket.
Gaston: Dinner tonight? I know a place that isn’t on the radar.
She stared at the screen. She wanted to say yes. She wanted to disappear into a dark booth with the mysterious man who signed contracts without reading them.
But she had to finish this first.
Jocelyn: Busy. Work emergency.
She didn’t want him to know she was still running errands for her ex. It was pathetic.
She looked at her hand. A large blister was forming across her knuckles, throbbing steadily in time with her heartbeat.
She pushed off the wall. She would go to the Gala. She would hand over the files. And then she would never see Kieran Douglas again.