Page 54 of His Obsession

“I don’t need to hear excuses, Elise,” he says.

“What can I do?” I ask. “I can call them…”

“Unless you plan on driving an hour to the office, I’ll fix it myself. I’ll just have to convince them to give us an extension to keep the contract.”

“I…” I start to say but stop and think. “I’ll come up there and talk to them. I don’t know what happened, but I’ll fix it.”

“Fine. I’ll hold him off. Just get up here so we can keep them happy,” he says. “Bring your work laptop so I can take a look at it.”

“Okay. I’m so sorry, Jake,” I say.

“Let me know when you’re here,” he says flatly before ending the call.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How could I let this happen? This is yet another major company contracted with us, and I fucked it all up. I call Lucian in a panic, and he answers right away.

“Hey baby,” he says happily.

“I fucked up,” I say tearfully. “I fucked up so badly.”

“Woah. What happened?”

“The project I was working on. I sent Jake the files, and they're corrupted, but now they are not on my computer. I thought I saved them, but they’re gone. This is so bad. I always make sure I save files. I don’t know how the fuck this happened,” I say, panicking.

“Slow down. What did Jake say?”

“He said unless I wanted to come up there and try to convince them to give us an extension. He would have to figure it out. Lucian, if we lose this contract, I’m going to get fired. I’ve worked here for so long. I don’t wanna get fired. I just looked at the files this morning. I don’t get it,” I say.

“Are you going up to the office?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I sniff. “I’m so sorry. I fucked up everything.”

“You have plenty of time, baby. Just go and see what you can do. Either way, we will figure it out, okay? Shit happens,” he says. “Just take a deep breath and do what you can. I’ll text you the address of the restaurant we are going to. I’ll adjust the reservation to when I know you’ll be back.”

“Okay. I feel bad,” I say, calming myself down.

“Again, shit happens. Just tell the client the truth and tell them that youwillget them what you are contracted for. Be confident and they will love you, okay? If not, it wasn’t meant to be. Okay?”

“Okay,” I sigh. “I’m going to get some shoes on and go up there.”

“Okay. Be careful, please. I love you so much, Elise,” he says sweetly.

“I love you too, Luci. I’ll be careful,” I say.

When I end the call, I jump up and get ready to leave. I am trying to drive responsibly, but I’m so nervous. When I’m about ten minutes out, I text Jake.

Almost there…

Ok

I sigh at his short response. He is mad, and rightfully so. This is a massive fuck up. I have been doing this far too long to make mistakes like this. I really hope I don’t get fired for this, but I would understand if I did.

When I park, I only see a few cars in the lot. This immediately worries me because if the client left already, they cancelled the contract. I go inside and halfheartedly wave at Susan, the receptionist. She smiles happily, and I continue on to the elevator. I feel like this thing is moving incredibly slow for how quickly my brain is working.

When the doors open, I go down to Jake’s office and find it empty. “Fuck,” I mutter.

“Sit,” Jake says when he comes in behind me and shuts the door.

“Jake, I’m so sorry,” I say, turning to face him.

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