Page 7 of Isolated (Harper Security Ops #21)

Iris

My luck ran out.

I was the kind of person who always tried to look on the bright side, to find the silver lining, but even that was exceedingly difficult to do in this situation.

The only thing I could manage to be grateful for at this point was that it was Saturday and I’d have time over the next two days to fix some of the mistakes I made and try to clean up the mess from the second half of my work week.

Sleep had been rather elusive last night as I found myself reeling most of the night over how my week had gone. It was as though everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and it all happened without any warning.

The week started off like normal. Monday and Tuesday had gone just as they always did, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. But by Wednesday, it all changed .

I’d been in my office all morning, working on some campaign development and budget allocation. I was so focused and productive that by the time I had gone to lunch, I felt like I’d been sitting on top of the world. I didn’t think things could get any better.

But that’s when it happened, and the slow tumble into despair had started.

Steph, Kasey, and I were in the middle of a conversation I could even remember the details of right now when Nova, one of our PPC specialists, walked over to me with a stunned look on her face.

“Oh, Iris, I didn’t realize you were here.”

“Here?” I repeated. “As in, at lunch?”

“No. I mean, here, as in at work today.”

“Pardon?”

“Did you get here late?”

My brows pulled together. “No. What would make you ask me that?”

She shook her head. “Well, it’s just that you weren’t at the meeting this morning. Bryan was slightly irritated that you’d blown off the meeting, but someone said that you must have been out sick, because you never miss anything like that.”

Bryan Farmer was the current Chief Marketing Officer at Mono Mark Solutions.

Once I started my new role as VP of Marketing, his position would be the only one I’d ever be interested in fulfilling one day.

“There was no meeting scheduled for this morning. I have it on my calendar for this afternoon. Two o’clock, to be precise. ”

Nova offered a slight nod of acknowledgement in return. “Yes, it was supposed to be at two. But then we got the email yesterday afternoon from Bryan himself. He pushed the meeting up to this morning.”

My stomach dropped. I hadn’t ever missed a single meeting.

Not the ones I’d led, and certainly not the ones led by my superiors.

My eyes darted several times between Nova and my two closest friends, who were sitting across the table from me.

Steph and Kasey looked just as surprised—and alarmed—as I felt.

Had I really overlooked an email from one of my bosses?

Finally settling my gaze on Nova, I said, “Thanks for letting me know.”

Before she walked off, she shot me a look that told me this was the greatest thing that could have happened today.

While I generally got along with everyone at work, there were certainly a few who I decided to keep my relationship with strictly professional.

Nova was one of those people. She was good at her job, but she thrived on gossip.

Any hint of adversity, and she was in her glory.

Disbelief settled in, my gaze dropping to my lunch as I tried recalling the emails in my inbox. There hadn’t been anything from Bryan. Not one.

“Are you okay?”

Kasey’s voice cut through the panic that was building. I lifted my chin, focused my attention on my friends, and said, “I… I don’t know. I never got an email from Bryan about the meeting.”

Steph didn’t seem the least bit concerned. “I’m sure it was just an oversight. Maybe Bryan forgot to add you to the email.”

I could only hope that was the case. It was the only thing that made sense .

“Yeah,” Kasey agreed. “Just go talk to him about it after lunch. It was probably just a mix-up.”

I felt so uneasy. “Nova said he was ticked.”

“And Nova’s not happy unless she’s starting trouble,” Steph reminded me. “You’re worried for nothing, Iris. Honestly, I’d wait to freak out until after you’ve spoken to Bryan yourself.”

My friend had a point. While I didn’t doubt that I’d missed the meeting—something I’d profusely apologize for—Nova probably made it out to be worse than it actually was just so she could get a rise out of me.

I glanced across the room and saw her sitting in her usual spot with Madison, and both women were looking at me as they talked and laughed with one another.

Mean girls.

They were nothing more than that.

As much as I wanted to rush back to my office to go through my emails, I refused to give Nova the satisfaction. Plus, it wasn’t like I’d find Bryan in his office until after lunch anyway.

Even though I wasn’t very reassured, I sent a half-hearted smile to Steph and Kasey. “You two are right. Nova’s just evil. I’ll talk to Bryan after lunch.”

They quickly shifted the conversation to whatever we’d been discussing prior to Nova’s interruption, but I was completely distracted. In fact, despite feeling ravenous ever since my workout session with Landen on Monday, I couldn’t bring myself to finish my lunch.

I’d wound up heading back to my office ten minutes early, just so I could sift through all my emails and find the one from Bryan. But it was nowhere to be found. Not even in my junk folder .

Confident I hadn’t screwed anything up, I waited until five minutes past the time that I suspected Bryan would have returned from lunch before I made my way to his office. I knocked on the open door and waited.

Bryan looked up, and the moment he noticed me there, I saw the mask of disappointment fall into place. “Iris.”

I took a few steps into the room as I spoke.

“Bryan, I wanted to come by and personally apologize for missing this morning’s meeting.

I had it on my calendar for this afternoon, but I saw Nova at lunch, and she mentioned the meeting had been moved up.

I never received the email about the time change, but I’m so sorry I missed it. ”

His brows shot up; disbelief was written all over his expression. “Well, your name was the first one in the queue to receive that email.”

“With all due respect, sir, are you sure?”

While I wanted nothing more than to prove I hadn’t purposely avoided attending the meeting, I immediately regretted questioning him.

Because where Robert could be stern, he was reasonable.

He’d admit to making a mistake. Bryan was not the same.

He seemed to be in a perpetual state of annoyance, and me questioning his competence wasn’t something he appreciated in the least.

Bryan turned his focus to his computer, hit a few keys on the keyboard, and clicked with his mouse a couple of times. He turned the monitor slightly, crooked a finger, and said, “Come here.”

Stomach trembling, I walked closer to his desk. Though I was still standing on the opposite side of it, I leaned over just enough to see the screen. And there it was—the email telling everyone about the change in time for the meeting and my email address as the first listed for it to be sent to.

Feeling nothing but frustration and confusion, I stood up straight. “My apologies, Bryan. I honestly do not know what happened, but I never received the email.”

There wasn’t an ounce of understanding or sympathy in his expression. “Did you delete it?”

I shook my head. “Not that I’m aware of.”

Bryan studied me in silence for several beats, the air between us growing more and more tense.

“I know Robert has gone ahead and offered you Howard’s position once he retires at the end of this year.

I’m not sure if that promotion has already gone to your head, making you think you can do as you please, but rest assured, I will be speaking to Robert about what happened this morning. ”

Although I wasn’t expecting him to take it easy on me, I thought it was slightly unreasonable for him to be so crass about it.

He had not an ounce of understanding, especially when he knew I wasn’t the kind of person who cut corners or made excuses when it came to my job.

I always did my best to go above and beyond the call of duty each day I came to work.

But fighting with him would get me nowhere, so I merely nodded in response. “I understand. Again, I’m sorry for the oversight.”

Bryan barely acknowledged me with a jerk of his chin as he slid his attention back to his computer. I turned and walked out of his office.

Realizing there was nothing I could do about having missed the meeting, I did my best to let it go and move on.

Sure, it bothered me for a bit, but I eventually brushed it off. And I told myself that it was merely just a freak thing, but when things went sideways on Friday, I gave up hope of luck still being on my side.

Except for a few individuals like Nova, Madison, Warren, and Tanner, I generally didn’t have any issues with anyone at work.

Even when it came to those four, I didn’t necessarily have specific problems with them.

I simply didn’t find myself interested in speaking with any of them about anything unless it pertained to us being able to do our jobs.

But when I walked in to have lunch on Friday, I could feel dozens of sets of eyes on me. And everyone was looking at me in that way that indicated they were trying not to be obvious about it.

An uncomfortable shiver ran down my spine as I crossed the room and sat down with my friends. I took one look at their faces, and I instantly knew they were aware of whatever it was that had everyone looking at me the way they were.

“What’s going on?”

“Are you joking, or do you honestly not know?” Steph fired back.

My eyes were bulging, and I shook my head. “I have no idea what’s happening, but I’m willing to bet it’s something big.”