Chapter 3

The AC barely kicked back on when Dad called.

He asked me to grab core data from marketing.

Said the board needed it for their afternoon meeting—insisted I handle it personally, no mistakes.

I grabbed a USB, copied the files from the marketing director, and headed to the copy room.

I'd just finished stapling the reports when the door swung open.

Jake strolled in, sipping coffee.

His eyes lit up when he saw the shredder humming next to the printer.

"Why's this thing so loud? Ruining my game."

He reached for the stop button.

I instinctively pulled the freshly printed reports aside—the shredder was too close, and I didn't trust him not to knock them in.

Jake's hand hit air, and he stumbled forward.

Coffee went flying.

The scalding brown liquid arced through the air—landing directly on my freshly printed confidential reports.

The thick stack of A4s soaked up the coffee instantly, ink smearing into an unreadable mess.

I stared at the ruined documents, my calm facade cracking.

I looked up, eyes locking on Jake.

He didn't look remorseful—just annoyed I'd moved the papers and made him miss the button.

My voice turned to ice.

"You gonna fix this?"

Jake had probably never been talked to like that by an employee.

He froze.

Then his face turned red with anger.

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"

"You know who I am?"

He puffed out his chest, looking indignant.

"I'm Chloe Miller's husband!"

I stared at him, feeling numb—almost amused.

"Oh?"

"So Chloe Miller's husband gets to ruin company documents? Disrupt work because his game got interrupted?"

My words clearly rattled him.

He blew a gasket, pointing his finger at my face.

"Damn right I can!"

"Chloe owns this company—so I own it! I can do whatever I want!"

His voice screeched—like nails on a chalkboard.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Some new hire lecturing me?"

Coworkers gathered at the commotion.

They saw the mess and held their breath.

A couple of admin ladies tugged my sleeve, urging me silently to apologize.

I stood my ground.

Just stared at him.

Jake hated losing face in front of the team.

He pulled out his phone, smirking coldly.

"Tough guy, huh? Think you can push me around?"

"I'll call Chloe—she'll remind you who's boss here."

He fired up FaceTime.

It rang once and connected.

He held the phone up, waiting for Chloe to rescue him.