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“But doesn’t Ms. Voss need to sign off on these?”

I smiled. Clara had only been working at DawnStar Studios for a little under six months, and she was still learning.

“No, Ms. Voss only needs to sign off on proprietary documents,” I explained, initialing each page as I spoke. “And I reviewed these last week. Didn’t Rae mention that?”

“She couldn’t talk much,” Clara breathed, visibly deflating in relief.

I nodded. “That’s all right,” I said. “You can take a seat and I’ll walk you through the process.”

“O-okay!”

She practically fell into the chair in front of my desk, her small notebook seemingly appearing out of thin air to take notes.

“When it comes to contracts that deal with legalities like copyright, they come to me,” I explained, signing a page and turning it over. “Those are the kinds of documentation that you, Rae, and I would handle.”

I glanced up and found her scribbling furiously. “The only time that Ms. Voss’ personal sign-off is required is when her legal team is present and we have an officiate to verify her sign-off.”

“Sounds like a huge deal,” Clara mumbled, a little in awe.

“It is,” I said. “Which is why she isn’t very involved. If we had her sign every little task off, we’d never get anything done.”

I picked up the stack and lined up all the pages before handing them over to Clara with a warm smile.

“Thanks, Mia.” She groaned. “I’m sorry, I swear I’ll get better at this.”

“You’re doing just fine,” I said. “Stress is par for the course. Just make sure you ask questions when you’re unsure, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am!” She scurried off, her kitten heels squeaking on the tiles behind her.

I chuckled quietly, the mirth slipping quickly.

I wouldn’t be around to help Clara for much longer. I wouldn’t even be around long enough to train my replacement. The thought of it burned like acid in the back of my throat.

“All that work…”

“What work?”

My head snapped up in alarm, my eyes zeroing in on Reid as she walked in.

Her pixie-short blonde hair sat in sleek waves on her head, the sharp angles of her face turning soft under the warm light of her office. As usual, her perfectly tailored suit hugged every plane and curve of her body, but I was sure the heels she wore would land up in her hands by the end of the day.

The thought made me smile a little despite the raging panic in my gut.

My heart immediately lodged itself in my throat, and I forced a cough.

“Oh, nothing,” I lied, plastering a grin on my face. Reid frowned. “Rae is out today so Clara has a ton of work on her plate.”

“I’m sure we could get HR to send a temp,” Reid hummed, readjusting the rolled sleeves of her jacket. “Rae won’t be back this week – remind me to send her flowers, poor thing – so we could get someone in to help Clara.”

“I’ve arranged for flowers to be sent,” I said, and Reid grinned. “And the copyright contracts are on their way so we can move forward with the RPG beta testing.”

“What would I do without you?”

My heart plummeted through the bottom of my stomach, and my laugh sounded hollow.

“We’ve got one hell of a day.” She sighed, walking into her office. I followed her inside and pulled up our schedules on my iPad. “Shall we get started?”

“How did Rae’s surgery go?” Reid asked, walking in step beside me.