Cage
Cage 52

Chapter 52

One night, we barely caught a wink of sleep.

Jade’s design was brilliant, thoughtful, and eco–friendly to boot. But somewhere along the line, a minor misstep led to a gaping flaw in the final design. It wasn’t until I combed through everything from the beginning that I spotted the root of the problem. “Look here. You didn’t make this change, did you? The measurement is off by an inch.”

Jade pushed up her glasses, squinting at the screen before slamming her hand on the desk.

“No way.

Who messed with my design? No wonder the numbers were all over the place! Somebody must’ve fiddled with the file when I wasn’t looking. I thought I’d accidentally deleted the original file!”

I had suspected as much but hadn’t said anything until then.

With no time to figure out who messed up, Jade got straight to fixing the data, and I was there to help her out.

After a few hours of hard work, we finally got all the files in order as dawn broke.

With a hoarse voice, Jade hugged me tight. “Melanie, I’d be toast without you. You saved my ass out of the mess. You are my savior!”

“Don’t be silly. We’re best friends.” I patted her head, only to have my hand swatted away as she grimaced, her throat too sore to even speak.

Running on no sleep and dealing with a headache, I decided to call in sick.

Lately, it felt like Clyde deliberately kept me from taking on more at the company. The Design Department had been unusually quiet.

Jade seemed worse off than I was, barely able to stand, yet she couldn’t miss the bidding

meeting.

After a brief discussion, she let me, her guardian angel, take her place. “Since you’ve taken the day off, give me a hand.”

I encouraged her. “With your brains, we’ve got this in the bag.”

She was the lead designer, and no one else was as familiar with the project. She was worried about potential oversights. Her raspy voice, coupled with her powerhouse demeanor, was quite the mismatch. After some thought, I felt confident enough in my understanding of the project to start preparing

But arriving at the bidding meeting, I saw Vinson and Clyde with their teams. I instinctively ducked my head, and of course, Jade saw them, too, heaving a heavy sigh.

As the Patterson Group’s Design Director, stepping in for Jade would cause a stir. I could

05.54

feel one particularly icy stare from Clyde.

Jade patted my shoulder, her voice harsh, “I’ll go.”

I nodded. It was Jade’s call to make. When Jade started speaking onstage, the audience was visibly shocked. But she powered through presenting the entire design plan with her gravelly voice.

Even though the Patterson Group’s desi

Jade’s lower cost estimates.

was thorough, it just couldn’t compete with

Vinson’s team seemed eager but lacked experience, failing to grasp certain aspects. In the

end, Jade won the contract with her superior expertise.

She came off stage and wrapped me in a tight hug. “Melanie…”

“If you keep talking to me with that voice, I’ll mute you for good.” I pushed her away, popping a throat lozenge into her mouth.

She clung to my arm, playfully whining. “Melanie, my hero, my champion…”

Her husky voice made my skin crawl.

As we were leaving, laughing and joking, Kayla, oblivious to the room, followed us out. “Melanie, you’re with the Patterson Group. How can you support another company? And as Design Department Director, isn’t this like betraying your own?”

Her glare was full of resentment, backed by a few from Design Department III.

Perhaps their sour mood was due to not winning the contract as they grumbled.

“Exactly, we all know how talented you are. Instead of helping us, you assist the competition?”

“It’s like you want us to look bad. Maybe Melanie even shared our designs with them.”

“No wonder we lost!”

As Clyde approached, Kayla turned to him, playing the victim. “Just yesterday, flaunting your romance with Clyde, and today, helping another company. That’s too much. Don’t the Patterson Group and Clyde mean anything to you?”

Clyde stopped in his tracks, looking at me, waiting for a response.

I was speechless. Design Department III wasn’t my responsibility, and we had no overlap in work. It was a sector Clyde established several months back for smaller projects. The Patterson Group probably didn’t care much about this project, so Clyde handed it to them. And their lack of success was somehow my fault.

But I wasn’t in the mood to explain. Instead, I turned to Kayla. “Clyde? Your Clyde means nothing to me. But that broken bracelet is a different story. That was worth millions. Don’t