4

Sage’s POV

By the end of my first week at Thorne Enterprises, I’d learned three important things:

One: Kael Thorne was a perfectionist who expected everyone around him to be psychic.

Two: I was apparently very good at pretending I wasn’t three months pregnant and terrified.

Three: My morning sickness had terrible timing. Friday morning, I was in the middle of formatting the Sterling Enterprises report when the nausea hit like a freight train.

I’d been doing so well all week, carefully avoiding the break room when someone microwaved fish, keeping crackers in my desk drawer, drinking ginger tea instead of coffee.

But apparently, my body had decided that 9:47 AM on Friday was the perfect time to rebel.

I stood up so fast my chair rolled backward and hit the wall.

The sudden movement made everything worse. My hand flew to my mouth.

“Miss Draven?” Margaret looked up from her desk near the elevators. “Are you alright?”

I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak, and ran for the bathroom.

I barely made it to a stall before losing the granola bar I’d managed to eat for breakfast.

When the heaving finally stopped, I slumped against the cool tile wall, breathing hard.

This was not sustainable. Eventually, someone was going to notice. Eventually, Kael was going to notice.

The bathroom door opened. “Sage?”

Margaret’s voice. Great.

“I’m fine,” I called out, my voice echoing off the tiles.

“Just… food poisoning.”

“Food poisoning from the granola bar I watched you eat an hour ago?”

Damn. She was observant.

I flushed, rinsed my mouth at the sink, and emerged from the stall to find Margaret leaning against the counter, arms crossed.

Her expression wasn’t judgmental, just… knowing.

“How far along?” she asked quietly.

My heart stopped. “What?”

“I’ve had three kids, Sage. I know morning sickness when I see it.” She pulled a pack of mints from her pocket and handed them to me.

“So. How far along?”

There was no point lying. “Three months.”

“Does Kael know?”

“No.”

“Planning to tell him?”

“Eventually.” I took a mint, grateful for something to get rid of the taste in my mouth.

“When I figure out how to tell my boss I’m pregnant with his baby without getting fired.”

Margaret’s eyebrows shot up. “His baby?”

Shit. I hadn’t meant to say that part out loud.

“I… we… It was before I worked here. One night. Two months before he hired me.” The words tumbled out in a rush.

“He doesn’t know. I was going to tell him but then he offered me this job and I really needed it and now I don’t know how to bring it up without it being completely awkward and—”

“Breathe,” Margaret said firmly. “Just breathe.”

I sucked in air, trying to calm down.

“Okay,” Margaret said slowly. “Okay. This is… complicated.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Does he know you’re the woman from—” She stopped.

“He told me he met someone. Months ago. Said he couldn’t stop thinking about her but didn’t know how to find her. That was you?”

“He was looking for me?”

“Until you showed up for that interview.”

Margaret’s expression shifted from surprised to understanding. “That’s why he hired you. He found you.”

My stomach did a weird flip that had nothing to do with morning sickness.

“He was looking for me?”

“For weeks. He even had Marcus try to track you down, but you’d paid cash at the bar and didn’t leave a last name.” She shook her head.

“When you walked into that interview, he must have thought it was fate.”

I thought about how cold he’d been all week.

How professional and distant. “He has a funny way of showing it.”

“That’s just Kael. He doesn’t know how to handle emotions, so he pretends they don’t exist.” Margaret checked her watch.

“You should probably get back. He’ll want that Sterling report soon.”

“Right. The report.” I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Pale, but not terrible. “Do I look—”

“You look fine. Pale, but he’ll assume you’re just nervous about the report.” She paused at the door.

“Sage? You need to tell him. Soon. Before you start showing.”

“I know.”

“And for what it’s worth? I think he’ll surprise you.”

After she left, I stared at my reflection a moment longer.

Tell him. Soon. Before you start showing. But how?

“Hey, boss, remember that one-night stand two months ago? Surprise, I’m pregnant!” didn’t seem like the right approach.

I splashed cold water on my face, popped another mint, and headed back to my desk.

The Sterling report wasn’t going to finish itself.

—

At 11:30, my desk phone rang. Kael’s extension.

“Miss Draven. My office. Bring the Sterling report.”

My heart sank. It wasn’t quite finished. I’d been planning to polish it over lunch and deliver it at two.

But “almost finished” wouldn’t cut it with Kael Thorne.

I printed what I had—nine pages of comprehensive research on Sterling Enterprises, their financials, their board members, recent press coverage, and potential weaknesses Kael could exploit in negotiations and headed for his office.

He was on the phone when I entered, speaking rapid Mandarin.

He gestured for me to sit without interrupting his conversation.

I sat, trying not to fidget, listening to him speak a language I didn’t understand with perfect fluency.

It was annoyingly attractive.

Finally, he ended the call and turned his attention to me.

Those gray eyes were unreadable as always.

“The Sterling report.”

I handed it over, my palms slightly sweaty. “It’s comprehensive. Nine pages. I covered their Q3 financials, board composition, recent acquisitions, and—”

“I said ten pages.”

“I know, but I managed to condense everything into nine without losing any relevant—”

“I said ten pages, Miss Draven. When I give you parameters, I expect you to meet them exactly.”

Frustration bubbled up. “With all due respect, sir, isn’t it better to be concise than to add unnecessary information just to hit a page count?”

His eyes narrowed. “Are you arguing with me?”

“I’m explaining my reasoning.”

“I don’t need your reasoning. I need you to follow instructions.”

“Even when those instructions don’t make sense?”

The words were out before I could stop them. The silence that followed was deafening.

Kael stood slowly, coming around his desk to lean against it, arms crossed.

He was close enough that I could smell his cologne.

Close enough that I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.

“Miss Draven,” he said quietly, dangerously. “Do you want to keep this job?”

“Yes.”

“Then I suggest you remember who’s in charge here.”

I stood too, refusing to be intimidated even though my knees were shaking.

“I do remember. But I also remember you hired me because I’m competent, not because I’m a yes-woman who’ll waste time on busy work to hit arbitrary page counts.”

His jaw tightened. For a moment, I thought I’d gone too far. That he was about to fire me right here, right now.

Then something unexpected happened.

He laughed.

It was short, barely more than a huff of air, but it was definitely a laugh. The ice in his expression cracked, just slightly.

“You’ve got spine,” he said, and there was something almost like approval in his voice. “I’ll give you that.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Don’t push your luck.” But the corners of his mouth quirked up. Just barely.

“The report is good. Better than good, actually. You found weaknesses in their structure I hadn’t considered.”

“So the nine pages are acceptable?”

“The nine pages are excellent.” He picked up the report, flipping through it. “Sterling’s going to hate this meeting. Which is exactly what I want.”

Pride bloomed in my chest. “Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You’re coming to the meeting.”

“What?”

“Tuesday. Ten AM. You’re taking notes.” His eyes met mine.

“Jade Sterling is… difficult. She’ll try to throw us off balance. I want someone there who can keep up.”

“I’ve never sat in on a meeting like that before.”

“Then you’ll learn.” He returned to his chair, all business again. “That’s all. You can go.”

I turned to leave, then remembered. “Mr.Thorne?”

“What?”

“Thank you. For the opportunity.”

Something flickered across his face. “You earned it, Miss Draven. Now go get some lunch.

You look pale.”

I found Margaret in the break room, eating a salad that looked infinitely more appealing than anything I could stomach right now.

“How’d it go?” she asked.

“He loved the report. I’m sitting in on the Sterling meeting Tuesday.”

“That’s huge. He never brings assistants to those meetings.” She studied my face.

“But you still look like you’re going to throw up.”

“Morning sickness doesn’t care about my schedule.”

“Here.” She pulled a container from her bag.

“Ginger cookies. They helped me when I was pregnant. Take as many as you need.”

I could have hugged her. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Just don’t eat them all at once. Trust me.” She went back to her salad. “So. When are you telling him?”

“I don’t know. Soon. Maybe after the Sterling meeting? I don’t want to distract him before something important.”

“Sage.” Margaret’s voice was gentle but firm.

“You’re three months along. You’ll start showing soon. He needs to know.”

“I know, I just—” A wave of nausea hit. I grabbed a ginger cookie and bit into it. The sharp, sweet flavor helped immediately.

“I don’t know how he’ll react.”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Before I could respond, Marcus appeared in the doorway.

“There you are. Kael is looking for— are those ginger cookies?” His eyes lit up. “Margaret, you’re holding out on me.”

“They’re for Sage. She has an upset stomach.”

“Food poisoning,” I said quickly. Too quickly.

Marcus looked between Margaret and me, then his expression shifted. “Oh. OH. Are you—”

“No!” I said at the same time Margaret said,

“Yes.”

Marcus’s jaw dropped. “Does Kael know?”

“No, and you’re not telling him,” Margaret said firmly.

“That’s Sage’s news to share when she’s ready.”

“But—” Marcus looked genuinely distressed.

“He’s my best friend. I can’t keep something like this from him.”

“You’re keeping it from him until Sage decides to tell him herself,” Margaret repeated. “Or do I need to remind you about the time you made me cover for you when you ‘worked from home’ for a week but were actually in Vegas?”

Marcus winced. “That’s blackmail.”

“That’s friendship.”

He looked at me, and I saw the moment he made his decision.

“Fine. But Sage? Tell him soon. The longer you wait, the worse it’ll be.”

“I know.”

“And when you do tell him, make sure I’m far away. Preferably in another building. Maybe another city.” Despite his joking tone, there was real concern in his eyes. “He’s going to lose his mind.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

The weekend passed in a blur of anxiety and nausea. I stayed holed up in my friend Jade’s apartment not Sterling, thank god—different Jade, eating ginger cookies and trying not to think about Tuesday’s meeting.

Monday morning, I arrived at the office to find a file folder on my desk with a note in Kael’s sharp handwriting:

Background reading for tomorrow.Be prepared.

The folder was three inches thick.

I spent the entire day reading about Sterling Enterprises’ history, their major deals, and their corporate structure.

By the time I left that evening, my head was spinning with information.

Tuesday morning, I dressed in my nicest suit—a black number I’d found at a thrift store—and arrived at the office thirty minutes early.

Kael was already there, of course, reviewing documents in his office.

At 9:45, he emerged.

“Ready?” he asked.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Remember: observe, take notes, don’t speak unless I specifically ask you a question. Jade will try to provoke you. Don’t react.”

“Got it.”

We headed to Conference Room A—the large one—where Marcus was already waiting with another man I didn’t recognize.

“Sage, this is David Chen from our legal team,” Marcus introduced. “He’ll be reviewing any contracts.”

David nodded politely. “Pleasure.”

At exactly ten AM, the receptionist called. “Mr. Thorne? The Sterling team is here.”

“Send them in.”

The door opened, and three people entered.

Two men in expensive suits, and between them

Jade Sterling was stunning. Tall, with silver-blonde hair and ice-blue eyes that immediately locked onto Kael with an intensity that made my stomach clench uncomfortably.

“Kael,” she purred, crossing the room to kiss both his cheeks like they were old friends. “It’s been too long.”

“Jade.” His voice was professionally neutral.

“Shall we begin?”

Her eyes finally shifted to me, and I felt evaluated and dismissed in one glance.

“Who’s this?” she asked, like I wasn’t even there.