Chapter 1Boss calls me at like 2 AM. I pick up half-dead, then this woman's voice comes screeching through—
"AHHHHH!! You homewrecker! You're just some employee—learn some boundaries! Who said you could steal my man?!"
Seriously, lady? You lose sleep over THIS?
And Me? I'm the hottest marketing director in this whole damn city—I'm drowning in work, when the hell would I have time to chase your man?
I'm about to set her straight when—CLICK. She hangs up. Try calling back? Blocked.
Fine, whatever. Back to bed!
Next morning this psycho actually shows up at MY DOOR: "Get out here, you slut! Get out here!"
I stumble out yawning, spot my boss lurking behind her: "Oh wow, look who's here! So devoted to your little princess, huh? She can just do whatever the hell she wants?"
Crazy woman tries to grab my hair. But immediately I smack her down with one slap.
Boss loses his shit: "I don't pay you to beat up my girlfriend!"
I'm just chilling against my doorframe: "Ryan, pretty sure 'punching bag for your psycho girlfriend' wasn't in my job description."
She's clinging to his arm now: "Baby, she hurt me! Fire her right now!"
HAHA. I'd love to see him try—unless he's cool with kissing billions dollars goodbye!
...
I was walking my boss through the final contract terms when our conference room door cracked open.
Brittany, his girlfriend, peeked her head in. The second she clocked me, her whole vibe shifted.
Her eyes were puffy and red, voice all shaky as she whispered: "Ryan... am I totally interrupting your meeting?"
My hand froze over the contract.
Ryan looked totally confused.
He started reaching for her, but Brittany stepped back like he'd slapped her, waterworks in full swing.
"I'm sorry, I don't wanna be that girlfriend who's all paranoid... but... everyone's saying bosses always catch feelings for their work wives, and I'm literally spiraling..."
I kept my mouth shut and closed my MacBook.
Ryan's face went through about five different shades of red: "Babe, you're overthinking this hardcore. We're hammering out contract details. That's it."
"Just... contract stuff?"
Brittany's ugly-crying now.
"I know Jade's this total boss babe and I'm just... I'm useless. I can't help with anything, I just mess everything up."
"But... but does 'work stuff' really need locked doors and secret meetings?"
Ryan was ping-ponging his eyes between sobbing Brittany and me.
Finally landed on me with that look that screamed 'please just go along with this': "Jade, look... could you maybe give us a sec? Let me handle this."
I stood up, grabbing my stuff.
"Sure thing," I said. "But heads up—Wellington's breathing down our necks for the final version. We don't lock this down by 9 AM sharp tomorrow, we're looking at a 15% penalty on the entire deal."
Beat.
"Oh, and Ryan? My job description doesn't include unpaid therapy sessions for your relationship drama."
I walked out, leaving Ryan looking like a deer in headlights and Brittany's crying hitting glass-breaking frequencies.
The office energy was giving major awkward vibes.
Brittany started as our front desk girl two years back—total Instagram baddie type.
Became Ryan's arm candy last year.
Now she's out here acting like she owns the place, throwing shade at literally any woman who breathes near Ryan.
But somehow she's got this whole girl squad backing her up.
After lunch, when I got back, she's posting up at reception, spilling tea with her little crew.
Her voice was doing that fake-sweet thing, all giggles and hair flips.
But her eyes? Pure venom, laser-focused on yours truly.
"Oh, Jade works so hard—it just breaks my heart. Girls really need to take better care of themselves, otherwise when Ryan finds out, he'll blame me for not looking after you properly."
"My Ryan is just too soft-hearted. He always feels guilty about hardworking employees. I've told him so many times—don't be too nice to subordinates, it's easy for people to get the wrong idea."
The office vultures were circling now, feeding off the drama.
I threw on my noise-canceling headphones and dove into contract revisions.
Hour later, I'd combed through every single clause and hit send.
To: ryan.crawford@company.com
After lunch, he had to step out for something urgent.
So all I had to do next was wait for him to come back with the company seal, print the contract, stamp it, and send it to Wellington. And—bingo.
The second my email went through, designer heels clicked up to my desk.
Brittany leaned over, waving Ryan's phone.
"Thanks for being such a workaholic, Jade!"
"My hubby gave me his phone—he doesn't want me getting all insecure and stuff."
"I mean, it's mostly to keep the thirsty girls from sliding into his DMs..."
"OMG, not you though! You're obviously way too professional for that mess."
Her stage whisper carried across the entire open floor plan.
Snorts and snickers erupted from nearby cubicles.
Someone muttered loud: "Damn, girlfriend's got her radar on high alert. Some people really don't know when to back off."
"For real though. Twenty-eight and already director level? Just from spreadsheet skills? Please. We all know what kind of 'overtime' gets you promoted that fast."
I smiled, leaning back in my ergonomic chair.
"Brittany, sweetie, you said 'my hubby.'"
I paused for effect: "Y'all married?"
Brittany's face went full tomato, neck all blotchy as she struggled to form words.
Finally just shot me the most epic death glare before storming off.
Everyone suddenly found their computer screens fascinating.
I went back to my work, but time was not on my side.
Sky went full dark, office cleared out completely, and Ryan's corner office stayed locked up tight.
The company seal I desperately needed? Nowhere to be found.
8 PM rolled around. I called Ryan's cell.
"Hellooo?"
I swallowed my panic: "Hey Brittany, can you put Ryan on? Got some urgent business that can't wait."
This little laugh tinkled through the speaker.
"Aww, Jade hun, still chasing after taken men this late? My baby's already passed out. Long day, you know?"
My grip tightened on the phone: "This contract is worth millions. We miss tomorrow's 9 AM deadline, the penalty will literally bankrupt us."
"Oh nooo, that sounds super stressful! But like, work-life balance, right? I'm not about to wake up my man for some paperwork. You're this amazing career woman—I'm sure you'll figure something out!"
Click.
I immediately hit redial. Straight to that robotic voice: The number you have called is not in service.
Tried again. Same deal.
Completely blocked.
Chapter 2
Switched to Slack, typed out a message to Ryan:
[Ryan—Wellington deal expires 9 AM tomorrow. Penalty would destroy the company. Need you to approve/sign ASAP.]
Red error message popped up: [Message failed. User has restricted communication.]
Are you kidding me right now.
Grabbed the office landline, started hitting up other executives.
VP's phone rang twice before going to voicemail.
Text came through immediately: [Jade, wish I could help but... you know how things are with Ryan and Brittany. Calling him right now would be career suicide, right?]
CFO actually picked up, voice slurred like he'd been hitting happy hour hard:
"Jade, sweetie, don't stress, don't stress. Ryan's got... hiccup... got his hands full with relationship stuff. Brittany's on the warpath. Contract or no contract, domestic drama trumps everything, you feel me? Just... just sleep on it, we'll figure it out tomorrow."
"David," I cut him off: "Tomorrow at 9:01 AM, we'll be figuring out how to explain a ten-million-dollar loss to our investors."
Dead silence. Then this nervous laugh: "I... I'll see what magic I can work."
Radio silence after that.
Last resort—I opened our company Slack workspace.
Posted to #general:
[EMERGENCY ALERT Multi-million Wellington Corp deal expires 9 AM tomorrow. Cannot reach Ryan for approval. Penalty = company bankruptcy. Anyone with direct contact, please assist. This is not a drill.]
Channel went dead.
Few seconds later, Ryan's avatar popped up, but the typing style was pure Brittany:
[@jade.sterling OMG hun, I know you're super passionate about work, but Ryan's literally sick rn and needs his beauty sleep. Posting scary messages this late is giving everyone major anxiety!
Plus... this huge contract thingy... Ryan's never mentioned it to me? Jade, I'm worried someone's trying to scam you! If this deal is fake and the company loses money, that's gonna be on you, and I just can't let my man blame himself for that! ?]*
Every word was a calculated strike.
Before I could even start typing back, gray text appeared:
[You have been removed from this channel by an administrator.]
I actually laughed out loud.
Every phone call that could be made—made. Every message that could be sent—sent.
I'd done everything humanly possible.
Shut down my laptop, grabbed my bag, called an Uber home.
But couldn't sleep all night.
Soon as dawn started creeping through my windows, I was parked on my couch, watching the sky shift from black to gray.
Exhaustion kept hitting me in waves, but I still couldn't let it go.
Ryan had been my mentor, my break.
I'm just small-town scholarship kid who made it through state school on pure grind.
After graduation, I got rejected from literally every company I interviewed with.
Ryan was the only one who took a chance on me, gave me a shot.
Trusted me enough to let me climb the ladder.
Sure, the guy flip-flops sometimes, but he's been a solid boss.
That's when my doorbell went absolutely psycho.
I opened the door—Ryan and Brittany.
Ryan looked like he'd been hit by a truck, hair all over the place, clutching that company seal like his life depended on it.
"Jade! The contract! What's the status? I'll stamp it right now!"
His voice was pure panic as he tried to push past me.
Brittany was hiding behind him, eyes darting everywhere except at me.
All that attitude from last night's phone call? Completely evaporated.
Looking at their hot mess energy, I had to smile.
"Boss."
I stepped sideways, blocking the doorway, voice quiet but ice-cold.
"You're a grown man—maybe learn some boundaries?"
I looked them both up and down, emphasizing every word:
"Showing up at your single female employee's apartment at dawn."
"Pretty inappropriate, don't you think?"
Chapter 3
Ryan forced out this smile that looked more painful than crying.
"Phone totally died! For real! Couldn't turn it on all night, missed everything!"
Brittany was tugging at his shirt, peeking out timidly:
"Director Sterling, please don't blame Ryan, this is all on me... I just saw how stressed he was, thought someone might be scamming him. I'm so stupid, didn't think it through."
I didn't respond, just went to grab the contract.
Ryan immediately snatched the seal, hands literally shaking as he flipped through pages, stamping frantically.
Brittany tried damage control:
"Director Sterling, please don't be mad! I know you're this total powerhouse, but I'm just some basic girl who sees Ryan killing himself for the company and it breaks my heart... I just wanted to help shoulder some of his burden, never thought it would cause you this much trouble."
I looked up at that face, picture-perfect innocence written all over it.
"Caring enough to gamble with a multi-million-dollar deal?"
My voice was barely above a whisper: "Brittany, your 'caring' comes with a pretty steep price tag."
Her face went ghost-white.
We got the contract submitted, but still thirty minutes late.
Wellington's contact was pissed, said the CEO was not happy.
Ryan hung up looking like death warmed over.
He knew damn well I'd fought tooth and nail to win this project from our competitors.
So, didn't take long before he came crawling back my house.
This time he'd dropped the boss act completely, practically begging: "Jade, I know you put everything into this project."
"Brittany meant well but screwed up bad. Think you could maybe smooth things over, explain what happened?"
I stared at him, then asked:
"Explain what exactly? How your girlfriend's personal drama almost bankrupted the company? Or how you, as CEO, enabled her to torch everything?"
He went speechless.
Seeing Ryan squirm, I sighed and finally nodded:
"I'll handle Wellington, but you need to guarantee Brittany stays out of company operations. Period."
He was about to agree when Brittany burst through the door:
"Ryan... don't sacrifice yourself for me!"
"Director Sterling's way too professional to leave you hanging!"
"This is all my fault—I just love you too much."
"Ryan, Mr. Wellington trusts Jade so much, he won't make things difficult for her, right?"
Brittany kept shooting glances my way.
I watched Ryan, waiting for his call.
He sighed, looked at me with that conflicted expression:
"Jade, look... damage is done. Wellington's always respected you, so maybe... could you just handle this one?"
I smiled.
"Ryan, my job description doesn't include cleaning up your girlfriend's messes."
My eyes shifted past him to Brittany's pale face.
Ryan was cornered, finally speaking through gritted teeth: "Jade, I promoted you from intern to director. Don't forget where you came from."
For a second, my blood ran cold.
Fine.
"This is the last time."
I told him.
Told myself too.
