1 - ONE LAST CHASE

ONE LAST CHASE

***

Fantastic!

That was the last word Charleigh heard from her brother and boss, Tripp, after her presentation before him and Kayden Braxton, the COO, and co-founder. 

She’d been working her ass off for the past three years at Braxton and Wrylee Associates as an associate architect, and she just spent four weeks on her desk to make a good impression. She deserved more than just the word fantastic. 

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t even get a good job from him. It was not that she was fishing for compliments. This time, she wasn’t sure if he meant it because she didn’t get a lot of it from Tripp. She didn’t care about it anymore for as long as he would keep to his promise.

“Are you ready for your promotion?” Tripp Wrylee asked. 

Charleigh said silently, “Been born ready.”

“Great. Your flight will be tomorrow. Do your best, Charleigh. Don’t come back until you impress the client.”

She stopped placing her things back into her tote bag and finally lifted her gaze to her brother. “I think you’ve been hard on me for years, Tripp, to know if I can do this or not. I can handle this. This is not my first project, anyway. And the last time I checked, I haven’t screwed things up.” If she didn’t count her last relationship. She inwardly grimaced.

“Okay. I’m just reminding you that the firm’s credibility lies in your hands.” Jeez, he had his own way of boosting her confidence.

“You haven’t told me about the client. And where exactly I am going? You only told me to design a 26,000-square-foot modern commercial three-story building. That’s it.” She assessed her brother. As always, she couldn’t see any emotions on his face.

“It’s in Hopes Spring.”

“Oh, I can do it.” Wait. Where is it exactly? “I hope you can tell me more than ‘fantastic’ when I come back,” she said confidently. 

She was a hundred percent sure about her promotion, and already dreaming of her name on a nameplate on her new office door.

“You need to get the approval from the city mayor. He also owns the old building.” Why did she feel like there was more than what Tripp was telling her? 

“You mean, our client. Piece of cake.” She hung her bag around her shoulder. “I’ll check my email. Thanks.”

Charleigh was ready to leave the conference room when Kayden called her name. “Yeah? Wanna add something? Like the great history of Hopes Spring, maybe I should be making a three-story floating building above the spring, on a lake, or at a mountain’s peak. I just wanna make sure I won’t miss every detail, you know. Do they ride a horse sleigh? What’s the weather there? I should have done my homework.”

Kayden chuckled. “Nope. The city is a little bit smaller, but they’re not completely outdated when it comes to technology. And they definitely have Wifi and Netlfix.”

“Good to know.” Charleigh nodded because she couldn’t live without the internet. It was part of her daily life. 

“We made sure the building is going to be built on the land. Good luck.” 

Kayden Braxton was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. His dark bronze skin made him more attractive in his dark blue tailored suit. When he smiled, he could be a toothpaste model.

“Thanks, Kayd.” She stepped closer to wrap her arms around him. She could easily hug him like a brother. 

She’d known Kayden since college. He was also Tripp’s best friend. She felt that Kayden was the one who convinced her brother to let her join their firm. When it came to Tripp, she wouldn’t exactly expect anything from him other than his cold shoulder and authoritarian. Maybe that was why the firm was successful.

“There’s another thing you should know,” Kayden said when he pulled from their embrace.

“Kayden,” Tripp warned his best friend, and it didn’t miss Charleigh’s suspicious eyes.

Since she got this project, Charleigh knew something was off. For the starter, Tripp handed it to her on a silver platter. Then, the client should have been around during her presentation, and that never happened today. 

She would be traveling to Hopes Spring to do another presentation and make a good impression, but she was more determined to get her promotion than to grill them with questions. If she had to climb the highest mountain, she might not think twice. 

What was so special with the city mayor that he couldn’t even join if this project was so important to him?

“Our client is—” 

Tripp cut off Kayden. “Dax Easton.”

Charleigh sucked in a breath. She could feel the color draining from her face. Well, she wasn’t exactly expecting that kind of revelation, but she had no more escape from this, had she? 

“You’re making this up.” She swallowed hard while staring at her brother in utter shock. 

“No.” Tripp almost looked hurt, but she knew it was bullshit. He wouldn’t give this job to her if he even gave a damn because he was aware of how the breakup affected Charleigh.

Everything was still fresh when Dax freaking Easton broke her heart in front of a breathtaking landscape. She moved on, but it didn’t mean that she’d forgotten her humiliation. 

Her way of moving on was devoting to zero interest in relationships. It was as if written in stone. She had hook-ups and made sure no personal entanglements were involved. She pushed that thought to the other side of her brain. 

“So he’s also the mayor, huh?” she scoffed. Wow! She never saw that coming. Mayor Dax Easton. It actually had a ring to it. 

Kayden sighed deeply and nodded to confirm. “Well, it was easier than we thought.”

She arched a brow before she faced her brother. “Let’s not get too sentimental. It was a long time ago. And you do plan on making me look like an idiot there, don’t you, Tripp?”

“I just don’t want you to turn this project down. It’s a stepping stone for you, Charleigh.” Gah, how she hated it when Tripp looked at her so damn little. She didn’t look like so useless piece of an architect, only in her brother’s eyes. Besides, for years, she’d proven useful, and she passed the exam, for God’s sake, so she deserved a little respect from him.

She wanted to punch her brother. Stepping stone his ass! After three years? God, how did he become such an insensitive jerk?

“I’m not turning it down because I designed his castle. I can prove to him that I wasn’t so broken when he left me. Just like you said, this is my stepping stone. He was my ex, and what happened between me and Dax was all in the past. Water under the bridge. I’m over it.” She slightly stiffened when she sounded defensive and desperate at the same time. 

Well, she was. 

She couldn’t take her mind off the project on her way to her apartment. She wanted to turn around to the nearest bar to drown her sadness with the strongest poison she could get. Then she laughed alone, thinking, perhaps it was Tripp’s way of punishing her. She wouldn’t let him win. 

There was no sibling rivalry between them. Besides, what was Charleigh’s match over her brother’s achievements? He was the CEO, and well, she was just an associate in the firm full of greedy sharks.

She curled up on her couch, replaying the day Dax broke her heart. The truth was, she still blamed herself. It was her fault after all. She shouldn’t have let Dax break the bro code by dating her. 

Dax was the only guy who showed interest and attention and made her feel like she was special. For almost two years, she was even thinking of her future with him, and then, all of a sudden, it was nothing more but a dream. 

Her phone pinged. It was an email from her brother’s assistant about the details of her flight and her stay at the Inn.

There was no turning back. She wouldn’t want the month of her hard work would go to waste because of these damn terrible men in her life.

***

The flight attendant announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Hopes Spring Airport. The local time is 5 p.m., and the temperature is thirty degrees.”

She was picked up by the local car service arranged for her. The ride was less than fifteen minutes to the Inn. The entire city was not what she expected when Kayden informed her about the not-so-left-behind ideas. It looked like from the 90’s movie scenes. When she climbed out of the cab, she was more surprised by the Inn signage in front of her.

It was more like an Airbnb.

“Lovely.”