From “Clingy” to Gone My Independence Was His Biggest Regret novel Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I caught my flight the next day as planned.

Starting at the new company hit some snags though.

My name was missing from the new hire list, which jammed up all my paperwork.

Then my supervisor stuck me with some throwaway project and impossible deadlines.

A few days in, I figured out the office politics.

The department head was some CEO’s son doing his management training tour.

veryone called him “The Prince,”

he real power sat with the seasoned supervisor who’d been there forever.

eople whispered he was “The Regent.”

hey smiled at each other in meetings but were clearly at war underneath.

ty role had always reported to The Prince, so I was on his side whether I realized it or not.

low another approval got stuck with a different department.

hey were ghosting my messages completely.

opened my top chat and fired off a crying cat emoji before my brain caught up.

7as about to vent to Autumn when I got instant replies:

‘In here]

What happened?]

stared at my screen.

utumn never responded like that.

ie always sent back some nosy emoji with wiggling ears.

hen I saw the name at the top. My heart sank.

frong person.

of my best friend

ty boss Alex Hamilton, who was out of town on business.

he infamous Prints with the legendary bad allitude

uy looked like he could be on magazine covers but walked around like everyone had personally wronged him

lever met him face to face, but his reputation was brutal

it happy hour, some dude bragged about juggling two girlfriends.

Chapter 4

While everyone else nervously laughed. Alex deadpanned:

“Cool. So when you’re with one, do you Venmo request the other for the emotional labor hours you’re putting in?”

During a team meeting, some old–timer rambled about learning authenticity from younger generations.”

Alex cut him off:

“That’s great. Since you’re so into authenticity now, does that mean we can finally bill clients at 1 have no idea what I’m doing rates?”

When one of The Regent’s guys made a major screwup. Alex went nuclear.

I didn’t know we hired people based on participation trophies.‘ Seriously, was your resume just a coloring book?”

was completely fucked.

Never had a boss who fired back texts that fast. Zero chance to take anything back.

was panicking about how to explain myself when those three dots appeared.

His next message was short.

Wait for me]

What the hell did that mean?!

hree hours later, the guy who was supposed to be traveling sat in the conference room.

lis black suitcase was propped against his chair.

le looked up when I walked in.

now had gotten his hair damp, and those eyes found mine immediately.

What’s going on?”

he office gossip wasn’t wrong.

lex Hamilton definitely had the kind of face that made working late seem reasonable.

ut he wasn’t the ice cold asshole everyone talked about.

ctually seemed pretty calm.

When I told him the text was meant for someone else, Alex’s smile disappeared.

Strange how you never fat finger me a bonus by mistake.”

ught. There was that famous attitude.

figured I’d suck up by mentioning my approval nightmare.

instead. I got an impromptu career coaching session

The process that had been stuck for days got cleared in seconds after Alex made one call.

I exhaled hard.

“Thanks, Mr.