The Last Time We Loved

Chapter 13

Elara

“Well, well,” Jacob drawled, leaning against the doorframe. “Look who crawled back, couldn’t stay away from me, could you, Elara? I told you you’d come running.”

The humiliation from the lobby flooded back to memory and I gripped the edge of my desk, fighting the urge to throw something at him.

“Get out of my office, Jacob.”

Jacob laughed softly, crossing his arms. “Your office?” he glanced around. “How generous of the new CEO.” His gaze returned to my face.

“Tell me, did you have to kiss more than just one stranger to get reinstated this fast? Or was spreading your legs for Harrison Hayes enough?” He spat.

His words cut through my chest, reopening the wounds that hadn’t even begun to heal, I can’t imagine I gave this man my virginity, now he throw insult my face.

I wanted to scream at him, to expose how he had stolen my work and ruined me after sleeping with our senior, but Harrison’s warning from the contract stopped me.

I had to focus on the project first, and I couldn’t afford to lose this chance, not with my mother’s surgery bills now covered.

“Unlike you,” I said, forcing my voice leveled. “I actually care about people not dying because of your sabotage. Now leave.”

Jacob smirked. “You’re still playing the victim.” He scoffed. “Well, enjoy your little comeback while it lasts. Hayes men get bored easily.” He turned and left the office.

I slumped back in my chair, clenching my fist so hard that my knuckles turned white, resentment burned in my chest.

How dare he walk around like he still owned me after destroying everything I built? I had loved Jacob since college. I had trusted him with my every dreams, my future. Now he paraded around mocking me in the very company that he had betrayed me.

Angry tears shimmered in my eyes, but I blinked them away furiously. I forced myself back to the files, channeling my anger into the work.

I heard a knock on the door and glanced up to see Mrs. Clara. “It’s lunch break, Elara, you should go eat something at the cafeteria.”

I blinked, glancing at my wristwatch and back at her. “I will, once I’m done with this.” I told her and Clara stared at me for a while before nodding.

“Okay, the work load at this office is much, you should try grabbing lunch while you can.” She said and left.

I didn’t know it was lunch break, I had been so focused on work to realize. Many hours have passed and I still haven’t corrected half on what went wrong.

I worked for an extra hours, skipping lunch. I couldn’t face the staffs I knew would be at the cafeteria spreading rumors about my return, Jacob had been bold enough to come say it at my face, not sure how I could take it from the colleagues I had worked with, especially after kissing Harrison at the lobby that day.

I went to Harrison’s office, slowly knocking on the office door and he called me in. “Mr. Hayes.” I stepped close to his desk, stretching my tablet to him, on it was the corrected file. “I’ve fixed the primary load corrections on the foundation levels. The original errors would have caused a twenty-three percent stress overload with eighteen months.”

He took the tablet from me and studied my revision, I noticed how his brows creased with focus, his eyes moved between lines and I couldn’t help but admire his attention to work details.

It was the first time anyone had studied my work seriously. When I still worked downstairs, the seniors would always tell me to leave it on the desk, and most times I wonder if they ever go through it, or just toss it aside.

“Take a seat.” He told me and I blinked, glancing at the place he had gestured me to sit. There was a second chair across the table and on it were tablet, laptop, and some file.

“Huh?” I blinked, turning my gaze back to him, he stood up and walked over to the chair, sitting on it, then he pointed again.

I swallowed hard and walked over to the chair, sitting across from him.

“You’re right about the soil compression factors,” he said, finally glancing up from the tablet. “But you missed the secondary wind shear component. Look here.”

I leaned over the screen of his laptop and watched as he adjusted variables in real time. The 3D model on screen shifted, revealing vulnerabilities I didn’t fully catch.

I glanced at Harrison in awe. He was different from Nate and a few people I’ve worked with. His brilliance was undeniable, he looked ruthlessly focus. He saw connections across disciplines that most engineers needed weeks to identify.

Was this the reason his father handed over the company to him and not to Nate who had been working here for year? He must have really returned just to take over his father’s company. He is amazing.

In under an hour, we established three critical sections of the project that had taken my former team months to botch.

I couldn’t resist stealing glances at him as we worked. Harrison’s face remained unreadable, almost craved from stone. His jaw was set in concentration, there was no smiles, no warmth, still he was undeniably handsome.

“You’re very good at this.” The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them and Harrison glanced up.

His grey eyes met mine for only a second before returning it to the screen. “I didn’t return to this company to be average, Miss. Brooks.”

I pressed my lips together, I had intended to ease the tension, but his response and the formal address snapped the tension right back.

I didn’t expect him to call me Elara so soon, but I thought after I had pulled him into a desperate kiss in front of the entire lobby he would treat me better than any other employee, but he was still cold. Perhaps this was for the best.