Chapter Two

Anna’s POV

“Anna! My office. Now!”

I pushed down the groan in my throat as I dropped my bag on my desk before crossing the space into Grace’s office. I could feel the number of eyes gazing at me. It didn’t help that her office was made with a glass door.

This morning was going to be such a delight.

“Grace, I can explain…”

“Save it!” She snapped, face so tight that I wondered if it was just as tight as the bun in the centre of her head. If the situation had been any different, I would have burst out laughing. But laughter was only going to send me out of the Archer Groups faster than I imagined.

“I don’t want to hear any of your lousy excuses,” she continued, her pants swaying as she paced her office, her fingers pressed against her temples. “You were supposed to be here an hour ago. Do you know how vital time is to the company?”

“I didn’t…”

“I have sent a query to your email. Don’t let me send a second one, Miss Lane, or else, you can kiss your internship at the Archer Groups goodbye. Are we clear?”

She looked at me with so much anger that it scratched something inside me. I was uncomfortable being talked to like that, but I didn’t have a choice. Back in college, everyone wanted to work here post-graduation.

I was given the opportunity, and I wasn’t going to let Grace ruin it.

That and the fact that I was at fault for coming late today. Fucking p**n.

“Yes, Grace.”

“Good. Now, why was the report not on my desk this morning?”

I could hear snickers behind me. It wasn’t exactly news that I wasn’t best friends with some of them in this department. “I sent it to your email last night,” I replied, already wanting to be out of here.

Grace moved to her desk, her fingers clacking on the keypad of her computer. I took the opportunity to move a few steps closer. “I was … I was also wondering if you have given thought to my application.”

She narrowed her eyes without looking up. “What application?”

We always played this game. She knew what I was talking about. “I initially applied to be in the Investment Analysis…”

 I never got the rest of my words out because her head jerked up suddenly. “What the hell did you do, Anna?”

“What?”

“What are those errors in the report?”

“Errors? There are not…”

“Get out of my office right this instant and do not show your face again until you have corrected that nonsense you sent to me.”

I opened my mouth, but the look in her eyes made me snap it shut again.

“Why are you still standing here?”

“Sorry,” I blurted, scurrying towards the door.

“And Anna?” Grace called, causing me to halt. “You have until noon. Mr. Archer, the new CEO, is going to be around by then, and he will need to see that report. You better not make me look incapable in front of him, or else, you will be out the door.”

Sighing, I pulled the door open and walked to my desk. My head buried in my hands, I took a few seconds to pull myself together. I had gone through that report a million times. There was nothing wrong with it.

Grace was just trying to frustrate me. As usual. Rumor had it that when she first started working here, she was interested in Investment Analysis, but the CEO at the time wouldn’t allow her to change departments.

She was doing the exact thing to me.

“Don’t worry about Grace,” Alex, my colleague, muttered from the desk next to mine. I raised my head to meet him, chewing on his pen and staring at figures on his computer.

“She is hell bent on making my life miserable.”

He shrugged. “Maybe a little extra today, but it is none of her fault. She is just … pissed that the second son was named CEO rather than the first.”

My eyes fell wide open. “The second son? How?”

“I wish I knew,” he breathed. “Everyone knows that he hates the company. While the first son actually shows interest, the second has been a photographer all his life. The direct opposite of what we do here.”

“I don’t get it,” I whispered, more to myself.

“No one does. And there is also the fact that he… he is a bloody player. I think he has successfully slept with half the women in the city.”

“He has to look like a god.”

“He does.”

For some reason, I remembered the man from the bus station. Dark hair, dark eyes. He looked like a god, too. I guessed there were many gods roaming around New York. I ended up with one of them. Look where that got me.

“Mr. Archer is sure over the moons being CEO,” I murmured. “While I’m stuck here doing an already perfect report just because of Grace’s need to impress him.”

“I don’t think that's it,” Alex said, shaking his head. “Grace is just stressed out. She is worried that Mr. Archer is going to make a lot of mess in the company and that she might have to practically spoon-feed him along the way. Let’s just say she isn’t a fan of the second Archer son.”

“I am not a fan, too.” It didn’t matter that I had never met him. He was already making my life harder.

My phone rang from my purse suddenly, and I dove to reach for it. But not before the shrilling sound covered every inch of the office. I knew the rules. Phones had to be kept on silent.

Grace stared at me from the glass doors of her office. I acted like I didn’t see her, forcing my gaze to the computer in front of me. Luke’s message popped up on the side.

“I am going to keep calling until you give me a time. I’m sure you don’t want your feisty boss finding you distracted.”

I typed back. “You don’t distract me, Luke.”

“Wanna bet?”

I ignored Luke, hitting the report I had submitted last night.

“What the hell?”