Regret Came Too Late

Grace strolled up to Jessica, her tone even. "Jessica, I don't start fights unless someone asks for one. The second you sent Chester after me, you should've known this day was coming. Go ahead and threaten me all you want, but let's see if you even have the time for that.

"After all this mess, what company will still hire you? And if I remember correctly, you've got some pretty hefty loans, don't you?"

Jessica went pale. She had taken out a huge loan to buy a car worth seven figures just to impress Peter, and her monthly payment was a gut-wrenching four thousand dollars. Without a job, she was totally screwed.

"Grace, I'll kill you!" Jessica lunged at her.

Grace slapped her.

Jessica staggered back, clutching her face in shock. She hadn't thought Grace would actually hit her.

Grace rubbed her wrist like it was nothing. "You still don't think you did anything wrong, so there's no point wasting my breath. Take care."

"Grace! Grace!" Jessica's eyes burned red, her whole body shaking with rage.

Everyone else in the department who saw Grace slap Jessica dropped their heads like clockwork. They had always thought of Grace as nothing more than a pretty face trailing after Yancey.

But now, she had driven Jessica out of the company and wrecked her career. This side of her was straight-up terrifying. No one dared talk behind her back anymore in the group chat.

Grace was perfectly fine with the change in attitude. They had never liked her anyway, and she had no intention of trying to fit into their circle. It was even better if they wanted to keep their distance.

Jessica was quickly fired. With her manager position suddenly up for grabs, everyone in the department started scrambling for it. Grace had only been there two weeks and wanted no part of it.

Almost like Yancey was doing it just to mess with her, he went ahead and slapped the manager title on her the very next day. For a rookie who was barely two weeks in, taking that job was like picking up a ticking time bomb. All it would do was stir up jealousy and backlash.

she was ready to march straight to Yancey -only to find out he wasn't in. Her colleagues were clearly unhappy, but with the kind of backing she had, none of them

breath, Grace unblocked Yancey's number and called

watch her struggle while the whole department turned against her. When he saw her name pop up

finally unblocked me. Never thought I'd see the day,"

on. "Yancey, do you

the bullet and call me just makes it even better,"

unbearable, but now, he was just

CEO's office on the top floor, only to find out Ethan was in a meeting. Fortunately, Tim wasn't as cold toward her

seemed to know exactly why

past in his wheelchair, he said, "You can join the

up here that suited her. Before, she had kept her distance from Ethan because he made her uneasy. But now

Then, realizing it sounded flat, she added, "How

the second she said it, regret twisted in her stomach. Things with Ethan already

desk, Ethan said flatly, "I don't

come over to my place. I'm actually a pretty good cook,"

up with

heated under his gaze like he thought she had some kind

spoken too fast. Sure, she could cook, but would someone like him really want to go to an