The Blackmail Bride

Chapter 47 Part 1

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{The Third Person Limited POV that no one asked for}

"I explicitly remember firing you," The bronze head remained buried in the paperwork in front of him as he acknowledged the quiet opening of the door.

Everyone knew not to come into his office without knocking. Apart from his secretary, no one would dare.

The woman, tucking her brown hair behind her ear, cleared her throat awkwardly.

Her boss paused from flipping pages and looked up at her. The liquid metallic color in his eyes hardened as he eyed his secretary.

"Sir Jace," Sierra pushed her glasses up her nose bridge as if wanting to start a conversation. But her expression immediately turned to an embarrassed grimace, "I'm sorry for my actions earlier, Sir."

An expressionless Jace leaned back against his leather seat and crossed his arms in front of him, "It took you until after work hours to come back in here just to tell me that?"

There was a moment of silence until the secretary perked, "Wait. That's it? No lectures?"

Jace waved at the table in front of him, "Do you expect me to do all of this by myself?"

The nervousness the secretary displayed when she first entered the room had all but disappeared and she pouted. She grumbled beneath her breath, "It's not like you can't do it on your own."

"Your year-end bonus," Jace stated firmly, "You're not getting it. Don't even think about negotiating with me later."

Sierra shrugged, "I wasn't expecting to still have a job so..."

"I wasn't going to hire you back," Jace said seriously.

"So why?" Sierra asked then stopped, eyes widening suddenly realizing, "Did he ask you to..." she trailed off.

Jace shook his head, "I don't care for your personal issues. Isla feels responsible for you."

Sierra approached the desk and started sorting the folders, relaxing a bit, "Oh, this is about Isla? That sounds sort of suspicious to my ears."

Jace raised a bronze brow, pausing. "Don't smile. This will be your first and last warning, Sierra. You can act as carelessly as you want, and we'll excuse it as ignorance from your lack of legitimate responsibility aside from yourself. But you of all people know where Isla stands after your relationship with—"

Sierra raised her hand as if in surrender, "I understand. That's why I apologized. We don't have to make this about me."

Jace leaned back, raising his eyes to the ceiling and frowning, "When we get to the bottom of Sand Castle's issue, my family worth may come out lower than hers and all attention will shift to her, waiting for her response. Everyone will be watching for the smallest mistake. So, don't encourage her to subscribe to your brand of stupidity."

For Sierra's part, she seemed to ignore every insult mixed into her boss's statement. And gently asked, "But aren't you caging her a bit too much? Even you must acknowledge that Isla's as capable as you are. It's actually unbelievable considering how young her age."

Jace had already returned to flicking through his files and turned to the monitor on his side, as if to check something.

"She's young," Jace said quietly, "You just said it. Do you think people around here will be kinder to Isla just because of her age? It makes her a target, Sierra. Now get back to your work."