CHAPTER 4 - EVERYTHING GOES WRONG
1314 Words
Monday did not feel like a new beginning.
It felt like punishment for surviving Sunday.
By the time I stepped into Blackridge Holdings, I had already rehearsed my day in my head at least ten times.
Don’t mess up.
Don’t embarrass yourself.
Don’t give that man a reason to look at you like you’re incompetent.
Unfortunately, I was about to fail all three.
Miles was already waiting for me when I arrived at the executive floor.
He looked… too calm.
That should have been my first warning.
“Good morning,” he said.
I forced a smile.
“Morning.”
He handed me a tablet.
“Today is packed.”
“I figured.”
He didn’t smile.
“That’s an understatement.”
I frowned slightly.
“How bad are we talking?”
Miles hesitated for half a second.
“Meetings all morning. Two external negotiations. A board call in the afternoon. And a dinner arrangement that you’ll need to confirm by noon.”
I blinked.
“That sounds like three different people’s jobs.”
“It’s one job,” he said.
“Then your company has a problem.”
Miles gave me a look.
“I agree.”
That was not comforting.
He tapped the tablet and turned it toward me.
“This is the calendar.”
It looked like chaos.
Color-coded chaos.
I squinted at it.
“Why are there overlapping events?”
Miles rubbed his temple.
“Because Mr. Black doesn’t reschedule. He overrides.”
“That sounds illegal.”
“It’s not illegal if everyone agrees to survive it.”
I stared at him.
“I don’t know how to do any of this.”
He nodded slowly.
“I figured.”
“Then why am I here?”
Miles looked toward the closed office door.
Then back at me.
“Because he said you were.”
That answer was becoming disturbingly common.
---
The first mistake happened before 10:00 a.m.
A client meeting.
Important one.
A Mr. Victor Hale.
Big investor.
Loud personality.
Unforgiving schedule.
I had been told to confirm the venue.
So I did.
At least I thought I did.
Except I had selected the wrong location.
Not slightly wrong.
Completely wrong.
When Miles walked into my desk area, he didn’t even need to speak.
His expression already said everything.
“What happened?” he asked.
I looked up from the tablet.
“I confirmed the venue.”
He stared at me.
“Which venue?”
I checked quickly.
Then froze.
“Oh.”
Miles closed his eyes for a second.
“That’s not the Blackridge Plaza Hotel.”
I swallowed.
“No.”
“That’s the Riverside branch.”
“Yes.”
Miles exhaled slowly.
“That’s forty minutes away from where Mr. Black is currently scheduled to be.”
My stomach dropped.
“I can fix it.”
“No,” he said quickly. “I’ll fix it.”
He walked away immediately.
No anger.
Just urgency.
That was somehow worse.
---
The second mistake came less than an hour later.
A cancellation request.
One of Andrew’s internal meetings.
A board discussion with a man named Daniel Mercer.
I remembered the instruction clearly.
Cancel.
Simple.
I opened the system.
Tried to cancel it.
The system did not cooperate.
At all.
There were warnings.
Permissions.
Restrictions.
I clicked something I shouldn’t have.
A confirmation box appeared.
I panicked.
Clicked again.
It looked like it worked.
So I moved on.
Except it hadn’t.
---
At 1:15 p.m., three executives arrived at the conference room.
Prepared.
Documents ready.
Expecting Andrew Black.
Andrew was not there.
Instead, Miles appeared in the hallway looking like he had aged five years in two hours.
He saw me immediately.
“No,” he said quietly.
My heart dropped.
“What?”
“They’re inside.”
“I canceled it,” I said quickly.
Miles stared at me.
“You didn’t.”
“I did.”
“You rescheduled it.”
My mouth went dry.
“…I what?”
Miles didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
He turned away immediately and walked into damage control mode.
I stood there.
Completely still.
Feeling my stomach twist in a way I didn’t understand yet.
---
When Andrew found out, it was not loud.
It was worse.
It was calm.
He walked into the executive floor just after 3:00 p.m.
Everyone straightened immediately.
Even people who weren’t near him.
That was the kind of presence he had.
He didn’t look at anyone except Miles.
“Miles,” he said.
“Yes, sir.”
A pause.
“Where was Mercer’s meeting?”
Miles hesitated.
Then spoke carefully.
“It was not canceled correctly.”
Silence.
Andrew turned his head slightly.
And then his eyes found me.
I felt it instantly.
Like pressure shifting in the air.
“You,” he said.
Just that.
I stepped forward slightly.
“Yes, sir.”
Another pause.
Longer this time.
Then he spoke.
Not loudly.
Not angrily.
But sharply enough to cut through everything else.
“You touched my schedule.”
I swallowed.
“I was trying to—”
“I didn’t ask what you were trying to do.”
My mouth closed immediately.
Miles looked down.
Andrew continued.
“You moved a board meeting. You redirected a client. And you created a scheduling conflict that made me appear absent from a room I was supposed to control.”
My chest tightened.
“I didn’t realize—”
“You didn’t realize,” he repeated slowly.
Then he nodded once.
Like that explained everything.
That silence afterward was heavy.
Then he said:
“Do you understand how expensive that mistake was?”
I didn’t answer immediately.
Because I didn’t know how.
Andrew stepped closer.
Not enough to invade space.
Enough to dominate it.
“You don’t guess in this position,” he said quietly. “You don’t assume. You don’t improvise. You execute.”
My fingers tightened slightly at my sides.
“I’m still learning.”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“Then learn faster.”
That landed harder than anything else.
He turned away.
And just before he entered his office, he added:
“Fix it before tomorrow.”
Then he stopped.
Didn’t look back.
“But let me be clear,” he said.
A pause.
Then the final blow.
“If this is your best, then I’m already wasting my time.”
And he walked in.
The door closed behind him.
Quiet.
Final.
Absolute.
---
That evening, I stayed longer than everyone else.
Miles offered to help.
I refused.
Because I needed to fix it myself.
Even if I didn’t fully understand how yet.
By the time I finished, the office was nearly empty.
Miles stood beside me as I packed my things.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
I forced a small nod.
“I think I survived.”
He gave a faint smile.
“That’s not the goal here.”
I frowned slightly.
“What is the goal then?”
Miles hesitated.
Then looked toward Andrew’s closed office door.
“Don’t disappoint him twice.”
I scoffed.
“I already did once.”
He didn’t smile.
“That’s why I’m warning you.”
I zipped my bag.
“I’m going home.”
Miles nodded.
“Get some rest.”
I turned toward the elevator.
But before I stepped in, Andrew’s office door opened slightly.
He didn’t come out.
He just spoke.
Cold.
Direct.
“You’re leaving?”
I froze.
Turned slowly.
“Yes, sir.”
A pause.
Then:
“You barely did your duties today.”
My chest tightened instantly.
“I stayed late to fix—”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Silence.
He continued.
“So I’ll ask again.”
A beat.
“Are you leaving when you haven’t completed what you were paid to do?”
And that was where it ended.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD