Page 2 of Somewhere You Belong

Chapter one

Willow

Present Day

“Katrina, did Fletcher ever call back?” I call to my assistant as I shuffle through the papers on my desk, searching for a Post-it note she may have left me, but I know the bright pink paper would be sticking out if there were one among the sea of white.

“No,” Katrina says as she strides through the door of my office, landing right on the other side of my desk. But I don’t look up at her as I pick up the other stack of papers to my right, eager to review the latest marketing campaign submitted for approval from one of my teams.

Marshall Advertising is my pride and joy, the company I started from the ground up when I left the University of Nevada and traveled back to Washington, D.C. in hopes of making a name for myself in our nation’s capital.

And I have.

Just three years ago, my company hit the multimillion-dollar mark.

As owner and CEO, I make it my mission to be involved in every aspect of the business while keeping it very separate from my personal life. Separating emotions from my work means I can make tough decisions and still sleep at night. And taking ownership of what I’ve created means I’m in control, the way I like to be—the way I need to be.

“Um, Willow…” Katrina quietly starts, pulling my eyes up to her. She’s chewing on her bottom lip as she clutches her iPad to her chest.

“What’s wrong?”

“There was…asituationthis morning during one of the meetings with our remote team.” Her eyes widen as she speaks.

We have several employees that work remotely since they live in other parts of the country, but very rarely are there any issues. In fact, hiring remote staff has allowed us to double the number of accounts we can represent. It was a smart business decision, but the look on her face has me questioning if that’s still true.

“What kind of situation?” I ask hesitantly as I drop the pen and papers from my hands to give her my full attention.

“Well, I think I’d rather just let you watch the video.” With a shaky hand, she hands me the iPad and then steps away from my desk, as if the video in question might reach through the screen and grab her.

With a pinch in my brow and a slightly accelerated heart rate, I press play on the recording from the Zoom call and watch, waiting for something to catch me off guard.

And boy, does it ever.

“Is that…”

“Yes.” She pauses. “That’s a penis, Willow.”

On one of the small screens in the video, a man stands up, showcasing his rather proud and rock-hard erection with semen leakingfrom the tip as if he just finished making himself “happy” during the meeting. And if I’m being honest, it doesn’t look like his dick was camera-ready.

But then, as the rest of the employees notice the inappropriate display of his manhood, the supervisor, Francis, freaks out and begins yelling, clicking around frantically in an attempt to minimize the offender’s window, but ends up pinning his screen, so the entire view of the call is of his dick.

“Oh. My. God,” I say, channeling my inner Janice fromFriends.

Katrina’s lips fold in as I look up at her. “Yeah.”

“Holy hell.” I shake my head, unable to look away from the chaos going on in the Zoom call. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“Francis has already handled it and terminated the employee, but I figured you’d prefer to be in the loop.”

I shut the iPad off and set it on my desk, heaving out a sigh. “I appreciate that, although, I’m pretty sure I would have been happier never having seen that in the first place.”

Katrina stifles her laugh. “Agreed.”

“Anything else? Maybe a surprise nip slip on a client call? Did someone shit their pants during a pitch?” My words drip with sarcasm. How can I not be a little on edge after an unsolicited, face-to-face encounter with an employee’s penis at nine in the morning?

“Nothing as bad as that. Your meeting at eleven got pushed until one. Fletcher hasn’t returned your call yet, but I plan on sending a follow-up email when I get back to my desk. And this came for you.” She pulls an envelope from under her arm, swapping it with the iPad that’s now sitting on my desk.

I glance at the address written on the envelope.

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