Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

EMILY’S POV

I arrived fifteen minutes early for the phase two project briefing, as instructed. Not because I was excited to see Jace again, but because I needed to be in control before Jace walked in like he owned gravity.

And as expected, he walked in looking like he’d just stepped off a goddamn runway with that smug smile and perfectly rolled sleeves.

Punctual. Immaculate. And annoyingly smug. With all that, I knew he was going to be in trouble.

“Morning partner!” he called out, pulling out a chair right next to me.

“Save it!” I said flatly as I clicked open my laptop, pulling out the updated project board.

“You’re taking on segmentation, backend analytics, the predictive funnel stimulations, and data source verification.”

Jace tilted his head. “Thought we had templates for that.”

“Well, you’re the one who challenged the demographic data last meeting. Let’s see what you can do.”

He leaned back slightly. So I’m redoing the skeleton of the campaign?”

In silence, I turned to him finally, calm and sharp. “And also, running behavioral analytics for the consumer journey reports.”

“Oh, and data validation across all six channels,” I added.

He blinked. “Anything else? Would you love for me to rewire the building while I’m at it?”

“It depends,” I replied coolly.

“Plus, I want everything in by 2 PM. No excuses. And I want a comparative matrix for all the KPIs we’re targeting month over month.”

“Isn’t that meant to be a job for three?” he protested.

“I don’t think so,” I corrected, leaning forward.

“I’m assigning you one man’s test. Let’s see if your mouth and ego match your skill.”

Surprisingly, Jace narrowed his eyes but said nothing. That silence—-that moment where he wanted to argue but didn’t. It was the first real win I’d had since this nonsense started.

“Understood…Blake,” he mumbled.

I shot a glance over my laptop, glaring at him. “It’s Miss Blake to you.”

“The team Sync is at 2 PM, I want all projections finalized with three resources cited for each assumption,”

He stared at me. For a moment, I thought he might lose his cool. But then he just nodded once and said, “As you wish, Miss Blake.”

Whatever that was, I wasn’t going to let it get under my skin.

The office buzzed with quiet energy a couple of hours later. Fingers clicked across keyboards as I stayed quietly in my corner, reviewing the numbers and pretending not to check the shared drive every ten minutes to see if Jace had uploaded anything.

At 1:47 PM three files dropped into the phase two folder like I’d expected. Each tagged and labeled perfectly, and surprisingly every chart, every margin flawless.

“Shall we begin?” I cut in, calling the attention of the other supporting team members gathered around as well.

“Jace, we're all ears to what you have for us,” I added, settling back into my chair staring at my screen.

“Explain your logic to everyone. Especially the part where you altered the segmentation baseline.” I spat.

“I only adjusted it based on the real data,” he responded, and then perked up to his feet.

I clicked through with a shocked expression seeing that the bastard had nailed it.

And yet I still found a flaw.

“You didn’t cross-map the loyalty variables with the age segment 40-49,” I called out the minute he walked into the boardroom all set for sync at 2 PM.

“Well, I ran a regression test, there was no statistical relevance beyond 1.7%,” he responded, settling back into the chair right across from me.

“And what if 1.7% defines the future spike?” I shot back.

“I mean, I get it, your analysis is clean but short-sighted. Think ahead,”

For a brief moment, he stayed quiet staring back at me. “Or maybe you’re just looking for reasons to make me quit.”

The room went quiet. Heads from the team who’d been here for the briefing turned.

I didn’t blink and I didn’t respond immediately. I just held his gaze, arms crossed.

“If I wanted you gone Jace, I’d have done that already,”

Silence stretched again.

He stared at me. Not angry. Just unreadable.

Then he gave me the faintest smile and nodded. “Noted,”

He didn’t argue again. But I hated how his silence felt like a win.

****************************************

The next day, I was early again.

A habit? Maybe. Control? Definitely.

The office was unusually quiet on entry. My heels echoed down the hallway as I approached the conference room, but I paused mid-step when I heard voices from the break room just off the hallway.

I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Honestly. But I heard my name—-and in seconds I froze.

“She’s something else, man,” a voice came. I leaned forward realizing it was Maxwell from the design team. I recognized his deep chuckle.

“I mean, she’s got everyone sweating like interns,”

Then a familiar voice came, one I hadn’t expected. Jace’s voice.

“She’s good at what she does yeah.”

He paused and then continued. “ But?”

“I mean…” He exhaled, chuckling under his breath.

“She’s not exactly my type,”

“All business, no softness, too calculated. You know the kind,”

Something cold settled in my chest.

‘She’s not my type!’ Those words clung to my skin like melted foil, and all I suddenly wanted to do was shove it down his face and I was sure going to.

Maxwell laughed. “You mean, the type that scares you?”

“Nah,” Jace said.

My pulse instantly slowed down the very instant I overheard them, with my fingers slowly rolling into a fist at the thought of the look on his face when he’d said that.

I wasn’t looking. That was my first mistake.

I turned the corner too fast, my heels clicking against the polished tile of the twelfth-floor hallway. Then—thud.

I collided straight into a wall.

No, not a wall. A man.

Instantly, hands shot out to steady me. Strong and deliberate. I looked up, my lips already stuttering.

Jace…