Next time, get one for me.
Dora’s pov
The cabin felt like a battlefield. Every glance Austin and I exchanged was like a silent war, the tension so thick it could choke me. My fingers hovered over my laptop keyboard, but my mind was miles away, stuck in the past, stuck with him.
“Add new criteria to the report,” Austin said, his voice flat and emotionless. He didn’t even look up from his screen. “Apart from customer satisfaction, I need data on their dissatisfaction. The client wants the percentage first before they proceed with the transit.”
Cold. Calculated. That was Austin.
He was glued to his laptop, typing like a machine, switching from one conference call to the next. Just business as usual, until it wasn’t. Then, I heard it.
“Ma, how are you?!”
His voice softened, a rare smile spreading across his face. It was a side of him I hadn’t seen in years.
That word, Ma.
Ruby.
My ex-mother-in-law.
A sharp pain shot through my chest. Ruby was never cruel to me, but she never stopped Austin from divorcing me either. She just stood by and watched as my life fell apart. No explanations, no apologies, just silence. Why did it all fall apart? There were no warning signs. No fights. No red flags. One day, everything was fine, the next, I was alone. Abandoned without a single explanation. I couldn’t stay in that cabin another second. The walls were closing in.
“I need some air,” I mumbled, grabbing my coat. I felt Austin’s gaze follow me as I left, but he didn’t say a word. He just kept talking to his precious mother.
Outside, the cold air hit my face, but it didn’t numb the ache inside me. My heart pounded as I leaned against the cabin wall, trying to steady my breathing. Noah, my ex-father-in-law, had always been kind to me, but Ruby? She was distant, cold, and eventually, she disappeared along with the rest of them.
No answers. No closure. Just an empty void. I needed coffee, something, anything to ground me. I grabbed a cup from the café nearby, stalling for time, dreading the moment I had to go back and face Austin again. Why did he leave me? Why didn’t he show up for any of the court hearings? Why was he now my boss?
And that word. Whore. It still echoed in my mind, like a scar that refused to fade.
“Get over it, Dora,” I whispered to myself. “If it was meant to work out, it would have.”
Time to move on. Time to forget.
When I finally gathered the courage to go back to the cabin, Austin was gone.
Good. I let out a breath of relief and settled at my desk, fingers flying over the keyboard. The report wouldn’t write itself. Focus, Dora. Work was my only escape now.
At one point, I set my coffee down to type faster. Minutes later, when I reached for it again—it was gone.
My head snapped up.
There he was.
Austin. Holding my coffee. Drinking it like it was his.
He smirked. “Next time, get one for me.”
My jaw tightened.
“There won’t be a next time, Mr. Jess,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m done with the report. Have a look before I leave.”
Bastard.
I shoved my laptop into my bag, my mind a swirling storm of anger and heartbreak. I wasn’t going to let him get to me.
Not again.
“You can do better with the cursing,” Austin said, leaning over my shoulder to peek at my screen.
I stiffened. His voice was calm, but the way he hovered made my skin crawl.
“The reports look good; you may leave,” he added, still standing too close.
I glanced at his hand resting on the chair and the other on the desk, boxing me in. “If you can move away from the chair, I can get up,” I said, keeping my voice steady, though every nerve in my body was screaming.
Austin smirked. “I don’t see how I’m blocking your way.” He leaned in even closer.
That was it. Already fuming from him drinking my coffee earlier, I stamped my heel down hard on his foot.
He winced, his hand shooting to his foot. “Damn it, Dora!”
“Oops! Sorry, didn’t see your foot there.” I grabbed my laptop and rushed out of the cabin before he could react.
Behind me, I heard him mutter, “No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did,” I shot back over my shoulder.
Later, in the cafeteria, I told Sienna and Douglas about my little stunt. They burst out laughing, loud enough to draw the attention of half the room, including Austin.
He stood across the cafeteria, glaring at us. His jaw clenched, his eyes fixed on me.
“You’re going to pay for your little stunt, catty,” his expression seemed to say.
But something changed after that day. Austin stopped pestering me or handing me extra work. It was almost too good to be true.
Then came the weekly team meeting. Nathan, our team lead, went over the client visit details, talking about how things were moving in our favor.
“The next step is to choose someone to present our team’s work and last year’s performance to the clients,” Nathan announced.
He paused. “Instead of me picking, why don’t you nominate someone?”
Douglas spoke first. “Dora’s the best anJessst we have. She should do the presentation.”
A wave of mixed reactions spread through the room. Some nodded in agreement. Others scowled, clearly thinking I was too new for the spotlight.
After a bit of back and forth, the team finally agreed. I was officially nominated.
“I don’t know… I’m not sure,” I muttered, still grappling with the reality of it.
But Sienna nudged me. “You’ll do great, Dora.”
“Congratulations,” Nathan said with a smile. “It’s a big opportunity.”
I let out a small breath of relief, until Nathan added, “Well, you have two weeks to prepare… and you’ll be working closely with Austin.”
My heart dropped. Of course. Just my luck.
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