Chapter 184 Easy for you to say

Chapter 184 Easy for you to say
It's the evening before our trip to Japan, and I'm sitting in the back office at Orphic, sifting through a stack of manager applications.
I rarely ever use this room for actual work, it’s far too small, and despite paying a ridiculous sum to have the entire space professionally deep-cleaned before I took over the room, it never quite feels clean enough. I constantly have to fight the absurd, nagging urge to run my finger along random doorframes or inspect obscure corners just to confirm they haven't let dust settle.
But it's been nearly three days since I spent any real, uninterrupted time with Kaden. We’ve both been swamped. He certainly wasn't exaggerating when he said he'd take every opportunity thrown his way. The campaign ads have been running for the past couple of weeks, and it seems the industry is finally waking up to the gold mine he is.
We’ve kept in constant contact...texts, calls, brief check-ins, but it’s a poor substitute for proximity. So, I relocated my evening desk work to this back office, simply so we could share the same zip code for a few hours.
He's working the bar tonight. I told him not to, given our flight tomorrow, but he refused to listen. He insisted he could handle the shift.
Turner's supposed to drop by shortly, he mentioned he might have unearthed something concrete regarding Vesper. Truthfully, I’m considering offering him the general manager position over here. He’s discreet, sharp, deeply observant, and his former career with the police department gives him an edge that most corporate managers lack. He already handles a wide array of security logistics for me, but I’ll float the idea to him tonight and see if he's interested.
I glance down at my watch. Everyone was instructed to arrive thirty minutes prior to the shift opening, so the full floor staff should already be assembled.
A while back, Turner emailed me a list of four names, employees who've been routinely abusing their shift hours, treating the staff lounge like a personal break room while slacking off on the floor. I'm about to head out there to sever their employment personally.
I stand up, straighten my cuffs, and exit the office, eagerly anticipating my first glance of Kaden tonight. As I make my way down the narrow hallway that leads toward the main floor, the faint sound of anxious, overlapping voices carries toward me. There’s a distinct edge of tension in the air, the staff is clearly trying to divine the reason for the sudden early call-time.
"If he's going to fire us, he should have just sent a damn email or something," a girl’s voice complains, her tone filled with anxiety. "Dragging us in early for an execution is insane."
"Nobody's getting fired," Ava’s voice cuts in smoothly, trying to ground the room. "Can everyone just chill out for two minutes?"
"Ava's right," Kaden speaks up, his voice warm and steady against the mounting panic. "Everyone just calm down. There's no point in jumping to conclusions before we know what's up."
"Easy for you to say," a girl snaps back...a voice I recognize instantly as Kimmy, one of the four names sitting on my list. "You're only this calm because you know for a fact your job is bulletproof. I’d be completely relaxed too if I were fucking the boss."
My eyes narrow into cold slits. The room goes dead silent. I can picture Kaden’s face in my head...pale, startled, caught entirely off guard.
"Kimmy, shut the hell up! Fuck's wrong with you?" Ava barks back, her voice laced with venom.
My jaw ticks. My stride lengthens. I'm more than ready to step around the corner and personally escort Kimberly O’Brien out of my building. But just as I reach the turn, Kaden speaks, and my shoes halt against the hardwood.
"Sure you're not just jealous, Kimmy?" He asks, his tone dangerously smooth. "It's not my fault he noticed me instead of you. And let’s be real, even if I weren't fucking the boss, I still wouldn't have anything to worry about. I actually do my damn job."
A collective gasp ripples through the room, followed by a sudden burst of hushed chuckles and murmurs from the rest of the staff.
My eyes widen slightly, the corner of my lips lifting into a subtle, deeply amused smile.
I take the final step and swing around the corner into the lounge area. "Is there a problem here?" I ask.
The entire staff snaps to attention, terror flashing across half their faces as they realize I’m standing there. My gaze bypasses the rest of them entirely, landing naturally on Kaden. He’s leaning against the high bar stools alongside Ava, wearing a fitted white tank top that hugs his frame, and... he got a haircut. The clean, tapered edges sharpen the line of his cheekbones, making him look devastating....and entirely dangerous to my self-control.
He holds my stare, a subtle spark dancing in his dark eyes. Beside him, Ava leans up, whispering something brief and smirking into his ear.
I recall Kaden telling me a few days ago about an argument he and Ava had over him keeping our relationship a secret from her. Leading Kaden to finally come clean to her. Judging by the protective look on Ava's face right now, I assume he was completely transparent.
My eyes slowly sweep across the rest of the room before bringing their full weight down upon Kimberly O’Brien.
Kimmy. Twenty-three years old, an aspiring lifestyle influencer who treats her shifts as an unwanted side quest between posting superficial, vanity-driven content to her twenty something thousand followers. She lives under the delusion that she's vastly superior to everyone in this room. I watch the color drain from her face as she registers the cold, unblinking focus of my gaze. She shifts uncomfortably, unable to maintain eye contact, and rapidly averts her gaze to the floor.
“I made it explicitly clear that I'd be auditing the standards of this place,” I begin, my voice carrying effortlessly through the quiet room, “I expected a basic level of professionalism, discipline, and respect from all of you."
I take a step forward, tucking my hands into the pockets of my tailored trousers.
"I'm well aware that some of you are deeply lacking in all three categories. You know who you are. And since you lacked the self-awareness to hand in your resignations quietly, I'm stepping in to make the decision for you."