Reborn Omega; I Refuse To Be Your Substitute

Don't Read

44

I walked into the office the next morning still half-thinking about that back view at the restaurant, the jacket, the shape of those shoulders I couldn't place.

Then I nearly walked straight into him.

"Morning," I said automatically, stepping back.

Cael brushed past without stopping, deep in conversation with one of the executives, something about numbers, contracts, his voice low and focused. He didn't even glance my way.

I stood there a second, feeling stupid for expecting anything else. He had a company to run. I wasn't the center of his day, whatever the food on my desk yesterday might have implied.

I swallowed it down and headed for my desk.

The floor was already buzzing, worse than yesterday. Priyanka looked like she hadn't slept, hair pulled back messy, eyes wide with the particular kind of panic that came right before a deadline.

"Nora." She caught my arm the second I sat down. "Tell me we're ready. Tell me we're actually ready."

"We're ready."

"Because Jason thinks the risk section still looks weak, and Chloe says the intro is too long, and I genuinely think I'm going to throw up before tomorrow."

"Priya."

"What?"

"Breathe."

She let out a shaky breath, nodding fast. "Right. Breathing. I can do that."

I stood up and raised my voice slightly, enough to catch the attention of the small cluster of people hovering near my desk, all of them wound tight enough to snap.

"Everyone. Come here for a second."

They gathered, six or seven of them, faces tired and strung out in that specific way that happens the night before something huge.

"We don't need more pressure right now," I said. "We've done the work. The deck is solid. The numbers are solid. Tomorrow we walk in and we do exactly what we already know how to do."

"What if they ask something we haven't prepped for?" Jason asked.

"Then we answer it like professionals, because we know this account better than anyone else in that room."

"What if—"

"Jason."

He shut up.

"We'll be fine," I said, quieter now. "I promise you."

A few nods. Some of the tension actually eased, just slightly, enough that people started drifting back toward their desks instead of orbiting mine like nervous satellites.

"Has anyone seen Sienna?" Chloe asked, glancing toward the empty desk near the window. "She's not usually this late."

"She's probably still asleep," Jason muttered. "She's been useless the last few weeks anyway."

"Useless how?" I asked.

"Barely does anything. Shows up late, leaves early, snaps at anyone who asks her a question." He shrugged. "Honestly, they should just fire her already."

"Better lazy than actively working against us," Priyanka said, not looking up from her screen.

The comment landed heavier than she probably meant it to. A couple of people glanced at her.

"What?" she said, finally looking up, noticing the attention. "I'm serious. At least when she's lazy, she's not scheming."

Nobody argued with that. I cleared my throat and pulled everyone's focus back before the conversation could wander somewhere I didn't have the energy to referee today.

"Let's just focus on tomorrow," I said. "Final revision pass, one more time, top to bottom. I want everyone confident in their section by end of day."

"Yes, boss," Jason said, mock-saluting, and a few people actually laughed, the sound loosening something in the room that had been wound too tight all morning.

We got to work. Real work, focused work, the kind that made the hours actually move instead of dragging. I went through the deck one more time myself, checking transitions, checking numbers, checking the risk section Jason had been so worried about until I was satisfied it held up under pressure.

By early afternoon, most of the team had settled into a steady rhythm, quieter now, more focused, the panic from earlier replaced by the kind of quiet determination that actually got things done.

"I think we're ready," Priyanka said eventually, leaning back in her chair, some of the color finally returning to her face. "Like, actually ready."

"Told you."

"You didn't sound that confident yesterday."

"I'm always confident. I just don't always show it."

She laughed, and for a moment, everything felt almost normal, almost calm, the kind of quiet satisfaction that came from a team that had actually pulled something together under pressure.

Then Jason came jogging over from the direction of the break room, phone still in his hand, face pale.

"Guys." He stopped in front of my desk, breathing slightly too fast. "Have you heard?"

"Heard what?" I asked, already feeling my stomach drop before he even finished the sentence.

"The production company," he said. "The one Draven Holdings just partnered with. They pulled out."

The room went completely silent.

"What?" Priyanka's voice came out barely above a whisper.

"Yesterday," Jason said. "They pulled out yesterday."