EMILY'S POV
Inside my office, I sat at my desk staring blankly at my computer screen without seeing anything on it. The words blurred together into meaningless shapes as my mind kept replaying the scene from earlier over and over again.
The man I'd slept with. Not once but twice. The man I'd argued with in meetings, the man I'd corrected and assigned tasks to like he was just another junior analyst. The man whose hands had been on my waist just yesterday, whose lips had been on mine, whose fingers had made me come apart in a hotel bathroom. That man was the CEO of the entire company.
The CEO.
Jace Callahan.
How had I not known? How had no one known? And more importantly, what the hell was going to happen now?
My stomach churned with a mixture of humiliation and dread. I couldn't even bring myself to leave my office since the scene in the main workspace this morning. Every time I thought about walking out there and facing all those employees who'd witnessed everything, I wanted to crawl under my desk and disappear.
I felt like such a fool. The biggest fool in the entire building.
I'd been having an affair with someone I thought was my subordinate. I'd violated every professional boundary, broken every rule about workplace relationships. How could I possibly keep my job after this? Jace would fire me for sure. He'd have to. There was no way the company could overlook something like this, no way I could continue working here after what happened.
A knock on my door made me jump slightly. Before I could respond, it opened and Diane walked in carrying a small cup of ice cream from the cafeteria downstairs. She set it on my desk gently, giving me a sympathetic look.
I stared at the ice cream like it was a ghost, not moving to touch it.
"Emily," Diane said softly, pulling up a chair. "You need to eat something. You've been locked in here for hours."
I didn't respond, just continued staring at nothing.
"Jace no…. Mr. Jace requested to see you in his office," Diane continued carefully. "He sent word down about twenty minutes ago."
"I'm not going," I said flatly.
"Emily…"
"I'm not going, Di," I repeated, my voice firmer now. "I'd rather find work at another company than walk into that office and face him right now."
Diane sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Look, I get it. This whole situation is completely insane and you're processing a lot. But you need to hold onto your job right now like a lifeline. Don't make any rash decisions when you're upset."
She stood up, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze before heading toward the door. "Just think about it, okay? Whatever happened between you two, you're still one of the best analysts this company has. Don't throw that away."
The door closed behind her with a soft click, leaving me alone again with my thoughts and the melting ice cream I had no intention of eating.
I tried to focus on work, pulling up spreadsheets and reports that needed my attention, but the numbers swam in front of my eyes. My hands shook slightly as I typed and I had to backspace and retype the same sentence three times before giving up entirely.
About thirty minutes later, another knock came. This time it was an employee from another department, looking nervous as he poked his head through my door.
"Miss Blake?" he said hesitantly. "Mr. Callahan requested that the project you've been working on be submitted to his office immediately."
My heart sank. Of course he did. He probably wanted to review my work and find reasons to let me go. Professional grounds would be cleaner than admitting we'd slept together.
"Fine," I said quietly, saving the file and transferring it to a USB drive with shaking hands. "Tell him I'll bring it up myself."
He looked relieved and disappeared quickly, probably not wanting to be caught in whatever drama was unfolding between the CEO and me.
I sat there for another few minutes, trying to gather whatever courage I had left. Finally, I stood up, smoothed down my skirt, grabbed the USB drive, and forced myself to walk out of my office.
The elevator ride to the top floor felt like it lasted an eternity. My reflection in the polished metal doors showed a woman who looked tired and defeated, dark circles under her eyes despite the concealer, her posture tense and defensive.
When the doors opened, I stepped into the executive floor where everything was quieter, more luxurious. Thick carpeting absorbed the sound of my heels as I walked down the hallway toward the corner office that I now knew belonged to Jace.
His assistant's desk was empty, probably at lunch. I knocked once on the heavy wooden door and heard his voice from inside.
"Come in."
I pushed the door open and stepped into an office that was easily three times the size of mine, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city skyline. Jace sat behind a massive mahogany desk, his jacket hung over the back of his chair and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
He looked up when I entered and something flashed across his face that might have been relief or apprehension. His eyes tracked my movements as I crossed the room stiffly and placed the USB drive on his desk with a hand that trembled slightly.
"The project files you requested," I said formally, my voice barely above a whisper.
I turned to leave immediately, not trusting myself to stay in the same room with him for another second without either screaming or crying or both.
"Emily, wait," Jace said, standing up from his desk. "I can explain."
I froze with my hand on the door handle, my spine going rigid. Slowly, I turned back to face him, keeping my expression carefully blank even though my heart was racing.
"Explain what?" I asked coldly.
He ran a hand through his hair, messing up the perfect styling from earlier. "I never meant for any of this to happen. The night at the bar, I didn't know who you were. And then when I walked into that boardroom and saw you, I should have said something right then. I should have told you the truth."
"You're right," I said, my voice harder now as anger started to bubble up through the numbness. "You should have. But instead, you let me make a complete fool of myself. You let me train you, correct you, assign you work like you were just another junior analyst. You let me sleep with you again, knowing exactly who you were and exactly what kind of position that put me in."
"Emily…."
"I already feel like a fool, Jace," I cut him off, my voice cracking slightly despite my best efforts to stay composed. "Having you explain yourself now will just make me feel like a fool twice."