Chapter 2

Jayden was a no-show all morning.

Hazel must've gotten bored holed up in the executive suite, because she drifted back out like she owned the place.

She started by poking at someone's design mockups they'd been fine-tuning since 8 a.m., rearranging elements for no reason.

Then she wandered over to random desks and started mashing keys, messing up spreadsheets, deleting formulas, renaming tabs.

Everyone froze when she got close, their faces stiff with forced politeness, then scrambled to undo the damage the second she moved on.

Eventually, she made her way to the water cooler. Probably thirsty again. She grabbed a paper cup, pressed the lever—and whether it was genuine clumsiness or pure sabotage, I couldn't tell—her hand jerked at the wrong moment.

A full cup of water flew in a clean arc and splashed square against the wall beside the cooler.

Right where the main electrical panel was mounted.

There was a loud POP, followed by a shower of sparks. Every light in the office died instantly. Monitors went black across the floor. A beat of silence, then chaos erupted—screams, curses, the whole nine yards.

"My code! I've been coding all morning and it's not saved!"

"My Photoshop files! The client's been blowing up my phone and I was literally two minutes from done!"

"My quarterly reports—they're due at 2 p.m.! I'm completely screwed!"

The IT manager burst out of his office, took one look at Hazel standing there with her innocent doe-eyes next to the smoking panel, and went rigid. His jaw tightened, fists clenched at his sides, but whatever was on the tip of his tongue, he swallowed it whole.

Hazel spoke first, her voice dripping with whiny indignation.

"Ugh, what just happened? This electrical stuff is so garbage. A little water and it breaks? Why does our company buy such cheap crap?"

The nerve. Blaming the equipment while standing in the wreckage she'd caused. Honestly, it was almost impressive.

The facilities manager came jogging over, took one look at the fried panel and then at Hazel, and immediately switched into full ass-kissing mode.

"Hazel, are you okay? Did the sparks scare you? This is totally not your fault—the wiring's probably outdated. We'll get a crew in ASAP, install a brand-new waterproof system. Don't you worry about a thing. Why don't you go relax in the office and let us handle it?"

Hazel pouted. She turned and sauntered back toward Jayden's corner office.

The facilities guy wiped the sweat off his forehead and started barking orders at IT. As he passed my temporary desk, I stopped him.

"Does this sort of thing happen often?"

He glanced at me, clocked that I was from corporate, and his expression soured. He pulled me into the stairwell and lowered his voice.

"You're the auditor, right? I probably shouldn't be saying this, but after today..." He let out a heavy sigh. "Look, she's Jayden's princess. We can't touch her. Today Jayden's in Chicago for client meetings, so no one's here to babysit. When he's around, at least he keeps her locked in his office."

His face twisted with bitterness.

"Last month, she had another 'oopsie'—knocked over her Frappuccino right onto the main server. Corrupted all our data. IT pulled all-nighters for a week trying to recover everything. A whole week of work, gone."

"What happened then?" I asked.

"Jayden blamed IT for 'inadequate safety protocols' and docked everyone's quarterly bonuses. Said it would 'teach us responsibility.'"

My stomach kept sinking.

So this was Jayden's leadership style? Let his airheaded 'wife' run rampant while hardworking employees paid the price for her chaos?

Jayden. You're something else.

Just then, the executive office door cracked open. Hazel poked her head out and called into the dark, silent office:

"Ugh, I'm so bored. When's the WiFi coming back? Oh no—my phone's at like 10 percent! Are there any snacks in the break room?"

No one answered. The entire floor was dead quiet, thick with suppressed frustration.