Chapter 1To test my husband's work abilities, Dad arranged for me to conduct a surprise inspection of the company he manages.
The moment I walked in, some blonde bimbo in a barely-there dress was staring at the industrial paper shredder like she'd discovered fire.
"OMG, this machine is like, so cool! It eats paper!"
Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed a contract off someone's desk and started feeding it in.
A coworker dove across three desks: "WREN, NO! That's a millions-account!"
Too late. SHRED SHRED SHRED.
"Oopsie! My bad!" She giggled, then immediately knocked over her venti frappuccino all over the main server.
Sparks flew. The lights died. Twenty computers crashed simultaneously.
The entire office sat in stunned, furious silence.
I grabbed a shell-shocked intern: "What mentally unstable person hired this walking disaster?"
He whispered back in terror: "That's Mrs. Morrison—the boss's wife. She... she technically owns half this company."
Mrs. Morrison?
I speed-dialed Dad right there: "Cancel the test! Give Jaxon one hour to pack his shit and get out—him and his precious little ornament!"
He wants to cosplay CEO while babysitting his pet disaster? Not on MY family's payroll!
...
Dad sent me to the company to evaluate Jaxon.
He said it was routine inspection, told me not to stress about it—just think of it as getting familiar with the business early.
I figured it was just going through the motions.
So I told the receptionist I was an auditor from corporate, and she respectfully swiped me through with her keycard.
But the second I entered the office area, I spotted this woman.
She was dressed super innocent—white sundress from Target and everything—crouched in front of the paper shredder, looking totally fascinated.
"OMG, this machine is like, totally insane. Can it literally shred anything?"
Without thinking, she grabbed a document from the desk next to her.
The cover was stamped in red letters: "MERGER CONTRACT."
She didn't even hesitate—just started shoving the contract toward the shredder.
A guy with glasses nearby went absolutely pale.
He basically threw himself at her, nearly tackling her to snatch the contract away.
"Holy shit, Wren! Weren't you supposed to be gaming in the office?"
His voice was shaking with terror.
"What are you doing out here? This contract goes to print this afternoon!"
The woman got bumped by him but wasn't mad at all—just giggled and waved her empty Dunkin' cup around.
"Gaming got boring. I'm literally dying of thirst."
The coworker let out a relieved breath, clutching that contract like his life depended on it.
He lowered his voice, practically begging:
"Then please, go grab some water and drink it back in the office, okay? Doesn't Jaxon's office have its own Keurig?"
The woman pouted.
"That coffee tastes nasty. I want some of that good stuff from the break room."
She totally ignored his about-to-cry expression and headed toward the kitchenette.
Watching this whole trainwreck, my temples were pounding.
I grabbed a young-looking intern nearby.
"Who is she?"
The intern glanced at me, then quickly looked back at the woman's retreating figure, eyes full of dread.
He put his finger to his lips.
"Shh, keep it down."
He leaned close to my ear, voice barely a whisper.
"That's our boss Jaxon's wife, Wren."
My heart dropped, and suddenly all of Jaxon's weird behavior lately made perfect sense.
The intern kept talking.
"Word is she actually owns this company, so she's like, the real queen bee around here."
"You just start? You'll get used to it."
He sighed, his face showing the kind of bone-deep exhaustion that only comes from being put through hell.
"Usually she just hangs in Jaxon's corner office, gaming and binge-watching Netflix. Doesn't really mess with us."
"Jaxon must be out at client meetings today, so nobody's babysitting her. That's why she's out here wrecking everything."
Listening to him, my head was buzzing.
She's the boss's wife.
Then what the hell am I?
The intern noticed my expression and looked concerned.
"You good? You look kinda rough."
I shook my head and forced a smile:
"I'm fine, just... wow."
"Can't believe the company has people like that. Real eye-opener."
The intern shrugged with a bitter laugh.
"You get used to it. At least she doesn't actually do anything major. We all just deal and pray she gets bored and goes back to her office."
I stayed quiet.
Doesn't do anything major?
That contract she almost shredded? That would've tanked a billion-dollar deal.
Who's gonna eat those losses?
I watched Wren bounce out of the kitchenette, literally skipping and humming some Taylor Swift song.
I pulled out my phone, about to call Dad.
But then I thought better of it and put it away.
Just leaving now would let Jaxon off way too easy.
Dad sent me here to evaluate his abilities.
Looks like his abilities AND his character are completely fucked.
I wanted to see just how far this company had gone down the drain under his management.
I straightened my blazer and walked to reception.
"Hi, I'm Brielle from corporate, here for project auditing."
"Could you set me up with a temporary workstation? Somewhere quiet would be perfect."
"Also, today's inspection is confidential—I'd prefer Mr. Jaxon doesn't know I was here."
The receptionist nodded respectfully.
I found a corner desk and sat down, keeping an eye on Wren from across the room.
She was studying the fire alarm with her fresh Starbucks, looking like she was seriously considering whether to yank that thing.
Chapter 2
Jaxon was MIA all morning.
Wren must've gotten bored gaming in the executive suite.
She wandered back out like she owned the place.
First she'd mess with someone's design mockups they'd been working on all morning.
Then she'd randomly hit keys on people's computers, screwing up their spreadsheets.
Everyone was pissed but couldn't say shit—they'd just freeze when she got close, then frantically fix whatever she broke after she moved on.
Then she drifted over to the water cooler.
Probably thirsty again, she grabbed a paper cup to fill up.
Whether she's just clumsy AF or doing it on purpose, I couldn't tell.
Her hand jerked.
A full cup of water went flying in a perfect arc, splashing all over the wall next to the cooler.
Right where the main electrical panel was.
There was this loud "POP!" with sparks shooting everywhere.
Every light in the office died.
All the computer monitors went black at once.
A few seconds later, the whole place erupted with screams and "WHAT THE FUCK!"
"My code! I've been coding all morning! It's not saved!"
"My Photoshop files! The client's been blowing up my phone and I was almost done!"
"My quarterly reports! They're due at 2! I'm so screwed!"
The IT manager came flying out of his office.
He saw Wren standing there looking all innocent after causing this disaster, and his face went dark.
His mouth opened and closed, fists clenched, but he swallowed whatever he was about to say.
Wren actually spoke first, voice all whiny and victimized.
"Ugh, what's happening?"
"This electrical stuff is like, total garbage. A tiny bit of water and it breaks? Why does our company buy such cheap crap?"
The nerve of this chick blaming everyone else was honestly next level.
The facilities manager came rushing over.
He looked at the smoking, fried electrical panel, then at Wren.
Immediately switched to this pathetic ass-kissing mode.
"Wren, you're not hurt, are you? Did the sparks scare you?"
"This totally isn't your fault—the wiring's probably old. We'll get it fixed ASAP, install a new waterproof system!"
"You go chill in the office, we'll handle all this."
Wren pouted, looking unsatisfied, but didn't push it. She headed back to Jaxon's corner office.
The facilities guy finally wiped the sweat off his forehead and started barking orders at IT.
When he walked past my temporary desk, I stopped him.
"Does this kind of thing happen a lot?"
The manager looked at me, recognized I was from corporate, and his expression went bitter.
He pulled me into the stairwell and lowered his voice.
"You're the auditor, right? I probably shouldn't be running my mouth, but after today..."
He sighed heavily.
"Real talk, she's Jaxon's princess. We can't touch her."
"Today Jaxon's in Chicago for client meetings, so nobody can babysit her."
"When Jaxon's around, at least he keeps her locked in his office playing mobile games..."
His face showed pure defeat.
"Last month, she had another 'oopsie'—knocked over her Frappuccino."
"It went straight into our main server."
"All our data got corrupted. IT pulled all-nighters for a week trying to recover everything. A whole week of everyone's work, completely trashed!"
"What happened then?" I asked.
"Jaxon blamed IT for 'inadequate safety protocols' and docked everyone's quarterly bonuses."
"Said it would 'teach us responsibility.'"
My stomach kept dropping.
So, this is Jaxon's leadership style?
Let some airhead wreck the company while hardworking people pay for her stupidity.
Jaxon, you're really something special.
Just then, the executive office door opened.
Wren poked her head out and called to the dark office.
"Ugh, I'm so bored! When's the WiFi coming back?... Oh no! My phone's at like 10%!... Are there any snacks in the break room?"
Nobody answered.
The entire office was dead silent, thick with frustration.
Chapter 3
IT had just gotten everything back online when Dad called.
He needed me to pull some sensitive marketing data.
Said the files were needed for this afternoon's board meeting at our Manhattan headquarters, and I had to handle it personally—zero margin for error.
I grabbed a USB drive, downloaded the data from the marketing director's computer, and headed to the copy room.
I'd just finished printing everything and was organizing it with binder clips when the copy room door swung open.
Wren bounced in with a bubble tea from the place downstairs.
Hell, she immediately spotted the heavy-duty stapler next to me and her eyes lit up.
"Ooh, lemme borrow that real quick—my Hot Cheetos bag totally ripped."
She reached over like it was hers.
I instinctively pulled the confidential documents and stapler away from her grabby hands.
These files contained seriously classified intel.
She whiffed completely, stumbled forward from the momentum, and tripped over the printer cord.
Her boba tea went airborne.
The brown liquid sailed in a perfect arc and splashed all over my freshly printed documents.
A thick stack of corporate secrets instantly turned into a soggy, illegible mess.
Staring at the destroyed files, I couldn't keep playing observer anymore.
I looked up and locked eyes with her.
Yet she had zero guilt on her face—actually looked pissed that I hadn't shared the stapler.
My voice was ice cold.
"You gonna take responsibility for trashing these documents?"
Wren had probably never been called out by a company employee before.
She blinked, confused.
Then her face flushed red with anger.
"Excuse me? How dare you talk to me like that?"
"Do you have any idea who I am?"
She straightened up, acting all high and mighty:
"I'm Jaxon's wife!"
Looking at her, I felt absolutely nothing—almost wanted to laugh.
"Cool."
I replied flatly.
"Does being Jaxon's wife give you license to destroy company property? To completely ignore workplace policies?"
My pushback clearly threatened her little power trip.
She lost her shit, pointing right in my face:
"Um, yeah, it totally does!"
"This whole company belongs to Jaxon, which means it's mine! I can do whatever the hell I want!"
Her voice went full Karen mode, all screechy and entitled.
"Who even are you? Some random new girl trying to school me?"
Other employees came running when they heard yelling.
Seeing this confrontation, they looked terrified.
A few admin assistants kept tugging at my sleeve, silently begging me to apologize and back down.
I didn't budge.
I just stared her down.
When I wouldn't cave, Wren felt humiliated in front of everyone.
She whipped out her phone with this smug, vindictive smile.
"Okay, wanna act tough? Think I can't handle some nobody?"
"I'm FaceTiming Jaxon right now to show you exactly who runs this place!"
She hit video call immediately.
The call connected within seconds.
She flipped the phone toward herself, ready to have her "husband" come to her rescue.
