ONE NIGHT, ONE ROOM, AND A BOSS.

CHAPTER 9: A SCANDAL

Avery walked out of the HR department with a sense of relief. She had been there for nearly an hour, dealing with one question after another.

It was supposed to be a quick submission, but the HR manager had kept her longer than expected.

She had been asking a few too many polite questions about how she was settling in, even though she had to lie that everything was going well. It had only been a few days since she joined Hale MARKETING COMPANY, but it all felt like years.

She had never thought working in a big company would be this draining, not when her supposed boss was the same stranger she had a one-night stand with.

When she got to the top floor, she saw Chloe standing outside Nathaniel's office, holding a stack of files.

“Perfect timing. Mr. Hale wanted to hold a marketing briefing in fifteen minutes." Chloe said, her gaze landing on her. “I'll grab the files from the copy room. Go set this up on MR. Hale's desk.”

“And join us in the conference room,” she added before filing down the hallway.

Avery nodded and took the file, twisting the doorknob to Nathaniel’s office. The faint scent of cedar and coffee greeted her the moment she stepped in. On his table was a nameplate, the letters boldly inscribed: NATHANIEL HALE— CEO.

Several files and documents sat on his table. Avery carefully pushed them aside and set the stack of files she brought next to them, but something drew her attention.

In between the documents was an old newspaper, sticking out.

A name bolded across the headline: THE HALE FAMILY SCANDAL—Secrets the public never knew.

Slowly, she tilted the paper just enough to see more. A photo. A mansion. And a younger version of Nathaniel standing in between a man and a woman who seemed like a mirror image of him.

Scandal? Her throat tightened as she read a line beneath the headline: "Sources claimed the investigation was abruptly closed after undisclosed…"

She hadn't finished reading the line when a footstep echoed outside. She quickly tucked the paper back into the files and slipped out of the room.

When she arrived at the conference room, Nathaniel and the other members were already seated.

And this time, it was just the marketing department.

Nathaniel remained seated at the far end of the mahogany table, fingers loosely interlaced, eyes fixed on the screen.

Miss Graham was sitting next to Nathaniel, while Chloe stood near the screen, ready to commence the presentation.

Avery slid into a seat near the entrance, trying to blend into the background.

The light beamed on the screen as Chloe began the presentation.

"Good morning, everyone," she said smoothly, her tone calm yet bold enough to command attention. "We will begin with a summary of our company retention performance for the third quarter."

Graphs and charts flickered on the screen as she proceeded.

"As you can see," she continued, clicking through the slides, "the Los Angeles branch engagement has stabilized by fifteen percent since July. However, outer company metrics show a five percent decline, primarily due to delayed campaign rollout."

Nathaniel's deep voice cut in. "Which department was responsible for the rollout delay?"

"That would be the creative unit." Chloe replied without missing a beat, her voice firm and steady.

"Okay," Nathaniel gave a nod. "Continue."

Chloe moved to the next slide.

"Despite the delay, projection for the next quarter remains positive. Our Santorini launch is expected to push engagement back to standard figures."

The room hummed with approval.

Avery's heart gave a thud at the mention of Santorini, but she quickly shook it off as her gaze moved towards Nathaniel's direction. He was clearly unbothered, his attention fixed on the screen.

"Good work," he said. "Make sure the issue is resolved before next month's review."

Chloe nodded, her eyes radiating confidence. "Already in progress, sir."

"As outlined in this report, with tighter scheduling and consistent creative follow-ups, the overall performance should rebound before the next quarter.

If we maintain this pace, we’ll outperform our competitors by early next quarter. However—" she looked around the table briefly. "That depends on keeping everyone consistent. We can’t afford another internal delay.”

Nathaniel's gaze shifted to Miss Graham. "Miss Graham, do you have a suggestion?"

"Miss Chloe is right. We need consistent creative content. It might help to include a short-term content drive before the Santorini launch—something to re-engage the audience while we finalize the campaign visuals. That could balance the dip faster.”

Chloe nodded thoughtfully. "We can run a teaser ad series across platforms to build anticipation. I'll have the creative unit start on the drafts."

Nathaniel’s gave an approving nod.

"Good. And make sure the execution matches the concept. I don’t want another rushed campaign.”

As the presentation went on, Avery's mind drifted to the old newspaper she saw on Nathaniel's table.

The creepy headline, the photo, and the line she read . What happened in the past? What does the headline mean by scandal? All these questions were the questions replaying in her head.

"That concludes my report. Miss Cole, you drafted a social media caption for an ongoing project the other day. Please share it with the team."

That was what jolted Avery back from her thoughts. She froze for half a second. That was just a test draft she had passed to her team lead. She hadn't expected it to come up here. Not in front of their boss.

Still, Avery smiled and nodded, masking the tension building in her system. "Yes, Miss Chloe."

As she stood and walked to the front, Chloe stepped aside.

"I have the file with me. You can use this slide," Chloe said with a gracious smile, gesturing toward the projector cable before walking away to take a seat.

Avery’s fingers trembled slightly as she opened the file.

“This was just a draft concept,” she began. “The idea was to tie the post to the Santorini campaign, focusing on emotion instead of location.”

She read the short caption aloud. As Avery was busy explaining the concept, she noticed something strange. The way Chloe’s gaze lingered on Nathaniel. The warmth in her eyes while looking at him, the way she was completely focused on him, and her body language.

Avery didn’t think much of it. She looked away, refocusing on her presentation and pushing the thought aside as she continued.

She couldn't afford to be distracted at this very moment.

"Clean and engaging. That would work beautifully with a teaser image." Miss Graham applauded as Avery rounded up and walked back to her seat.

"Agreed." Nathaniel said simply. "Nice concept."

"That's all for today. You can all return to your department." His gaze swept across the room, pausing briefly on Avery. "Miss Cole, please wait behind. I'd like to take another look at the caption draft."