The Reclaimed Rose (Annalise and Steven)

"Mr. Felker is quite invested in this project, but he was worried that we might not be on board, so he called a special meeting to gauge whether we'd be willing to take it on," Sasha explained.

Sherry hadn't encountered anything like this before. "Did everyone agree to take it on?"

Sasha paused, making sure to word it just right. "Not exactly. A few people weren't up for the extra work, so Mr. Felker transferred them to teams with lighter workloads. At the same time, he brought in some motivated individuals from those teams to join ours."

Sherry's eyes brightened as she looked at Sasha. Sasha could tell what Sherry was thinking, even though she hadn't said a thing.

"Are you considering joining our team?" Sasha asked.

"Is that possible?"

Sasha thought it over before answering, "Yeah, but I can't say for sure. Hold on. I'll check."

With that, she rushed toward the office. Sherry watched Sasha hurry off, mentally preparing for a rejection. But to her surprise, less than five minutes later, Sasha returned, with her department manager, George Felker, following close behind.

George looked slightly taken aback when he saw Sherry. "Are you sure you want to join our department?"

"Yes," Sherry answered firmly. "The workload in my current department has been pretty light lately, so I was thinking about asking Mr. Huxham for more responsibilities.

"But before I had the chance, I heard your department might have what I'm looking for. I thought I'd check with you first. It's okay if it's not possible-"

George cut in before she could finish. "Now's the perfect time. Honestly, we're swamped and could really use someone with your abilities. How about we get the transfer process started right away?"

Sherry turned to Sasha, surprised by how fast things were progressing.

Sasha held back a laugh. "Go for it. Mr. Felker knows talent when he sees it. You'll kiss those easy days goodbye if you join us."

That was what Sherry wanted to hear. She said, "Okay."

Once the paperwork was done, Sherry gathered her things and made her way to her new office. With some time to spare, Sasha leaned close to Sherry and asked, "Who were you meeting when you went downstairs earlier?"

Sherry hesitated for a moment before replying, "Yvette."

Sasha was surprised. "What did she want to talk to you about?"noveldrama

"She's worried I might end up getting back together with Gavin," Sherry explained. "So, she suggested Kfind a boyfriend to make Gavin think I've really moved on."

Sasha curled her lip. "You didn't actually go along with that, did you? If you agreed

to something that crazy, I'd be seriously disappointed."

"Don't worry," Sherry said, her tone relaxed. "Not only did I refuse, but I also made

it clear. I told her Gavin was only hanging on because of our breakup.

"If she wants him to notice her, she's going to have to make him believe she might walk away, too. That'll definitely get his attention."

"Now that's the way to do it!" Sasha said with approval.

Once I wrapped up for the day, it dawned on me that Sage should've already started at my company by now. She'd been such a big help to me before, and I thought it wou

be

a good idea to check in and see how

she was doing.

I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, took in the skyline in the distance, and gave her a call.

"Hello?"

"Annalise, is there anything you need?" Sage sounded down.

"Didn't you just start at the company a few days ago? I just wanted to check in

and see how you're settling in," I said calmly.