In Over Her Head (Corporate Chaos Series Book 1)

by Leighann Dobbs

  She stared at the check in disbelief. One hundred thousand dollars. So much money. This would save her mom's life!

  She couldn't wait to deposit the check then go to the hospital to tell the doctor and her mother, and maybe the whole world, the great news. She felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

  After depositing the check, Marly practically ran to the hospital, clutching the deposit receipt from the bank as if it were a winning lottery ticket. She dodged the crowds of pedestrian traffic, trying not to knock anyone over as she weaved between them. Her pace never slowed as she entered the hospital and hurried to the cancer wing. She was eager to tell everyone she had done it. She had the money.

  Entering her mother's room, she was surprised to see her sitting up in bed, eating red Jell-O.

  "Hi, Mom. You're eating?!" Marly ran over and hugged the frail woman. She was all skin and bones. She'd had to have a feeding tube off and on for months due to not being able to eat on her own. Seeing her eating something, even Jell-O, was a big deal.

  "Yes. Strawberry. Yum." Her mother managed a little laugh. The constant trickle of morphine made her loopy, and carrying on a real conversation hadn't happened in a long time.

  "I have some great news, Mom." Marly reached into her purse for the deposit receipt.

  "Well, look at you, eating! This is great that you have some appetite back. Marly, can your news beat this?" Dr. Pratt stood in the doorway, scribbling on a chart while smiling at them both.

  "Yes, Dr. Pratt, I actually think it can. I have the money for the procedure. We can do it. My mom can get it done now!" Tears of joy rolled down her face.

  Dr. Pratt blinked in surprise. "Marly, this is unbelievable news! I'll work on scheduling a date for the procedure, but you need to go downstairs and work with the financial office to figure out payment. I believe they'll want pre-payment first. Let's not get this held up. I have very high hopes that this is what will make your mother's cancer go into remission. Congratulations. You should be very proud of yourself, Marly."

  "Marly?" Her mother's voice was soft, her eyes saying it all. Marly knew she wanted to know how her daughter had been able to get that much money.

  "Mom, don't worry. I didn't rob a bank! I have a great job, remember?" Marly laughed, hoping her mother couldn't see through her lie. She would never have allowed Marly to do what she had done to get the money. But she had done it, and her mother would never have to know about it.

  Marly squeezed her mother's hand. Everything was going to be okay. Well, at least with her mother's health. She pushed away thoughts of Jasper while she watched her mother slowly drift off to sleep. Even though she was sure the designs wouldn't hurt Draconia, she had lied and deceived him. Could she ever look him in the eye again? Her heart pinched when she remembered the hurt look on his face when she'd rudely brushed him aside to meet with Tanner. She owed him an explanation for that at the very least.

  After her mother was asleep, Marly headed to the finance office to handle paying for the procedure. The whole process was surprisingly quick, and Marly was done by four thirty. No sense in going back to work now. Or maybe ever. But she wanted to go back. She wanted to make that presentation and have a chance to explain herself to Jasper.

  Once outside, she breathed in the brisk air, deciding that she would talk to Jasper tomorrow and tell him about her mother. Not the Tanner Durcotte part, but the part where the reason Marly had acted strange was because of her mom and the cancer.

  Suddenly, her phone went off. It was Sarah.

  "Where are you?! Jasper has called a meeting, and everyone's here!" Sarah's voice rose in a frantic pitch. "I've been calling you!"

  "Shit. I'm sorry—I was at the hospital. I met with Tanner and got the check. I can be there in ten minutes." Marly broke into a jog. Thank God Draconia was only a few blocks from the hospital.

  Jasper had called the last-minute meeting on purpose. He didn't want Bill and Steve to be able to build a smoke-and-mirrors presentation to cover the truth of the real sales numbers. And now it was getting heated—for several reasons—but the main one being the consistent decline of sales. This was a first in the history of Draconia. He wasn't happy.

  "When is the new plus-size line going to be shown to us, Jasper? A lot is riding on that, and I have yet to see anything. Fashion Week is right around the corner. I'd ask the person you put in charge, but she doesn't seem to be here," Bill Henderson asked, making a dig about Marly.

  "So everything relies on Marly's line being a success, Bill?" Jasper shot him a cold look. He wanted answers from his managers, not finger pointing. And Bill was right, where the hell was Marly?

  "Maybe she's at the sausage cart on the corner," Veronica said rudely, evoking a few laughs. Jasper's glare around the room shut them up. He didn't find it amusing.

  "Yes, Jasper, where is she? That girl… Marly, is it? This is important, and she can't fit this into her schedule? Hmmph." Edward Kenney was noticeably irritated. "Since she isn't here and all the answers seem to be with her, then I'm leaving. This was a waste of time." Edward got up and stormed out.

  Jasper shook his head. Leave it to Edward to butt in and throw everything off. There was no way the meeting was worth going on with. Everyone seemed to have their own agenda lately, which was finger pointing. He dismissed them all from the room.

  Marly burst through the door just as Jasper was getting up to leave.

  "Nice of you to show up." His voice was thick with sarcasm.

  "I'm sorry. I was…

  Jasper stood up.

  "I don't want to hear excuses, Marly. I want results. Do you have any idea how big a risk I took, putting you in charge of the plus line? Yet you can't manage to show up for a meeting? People are asking where your designs are. No one has seen them. I need to see the completed designs as soon as possible. And that means tomorrow morning at the weekly meeting. No excuses and no stories about missing materials and all that kind of stupid shit. If you don't have them, then don't bother coming to the meeting."

  A steely hand squeezed Jasper's heart at the hurt look on Marly's face. He'd been overly harsh. He was acting just as Edward would act. Just as he used to act. Treating people like objects with no thought for their feelings. And part of him knew that he was lashing out at her because of the way she'd brushed him aside earlier. That was no way for a CEO to act.

  He sighed and scrubbed his hand through his hair. He was acting like an immature adolescent. This was stupid. They'd only shared one kiss… but that night on his patio, it had seemed as if they'd shared a lot more than that. He'd felt something more and thought she had too. Maybe she hadn't. Either way, it was no reason to be a jerk. He should apologize—

  "Jasper, there's something I need to…"

  The door swung open, and Jasper turned to see one of his oldest and closest friends, Raffe Washburn. His mood lightened.

  Raffe's eyes flicked from Jasper to Marly, and a pang of jealousy shot through Jasper. With Raffe's broad shoulders, six-foot height, and male-model good looks, he was like a woman magnet.

  "Great to see you!" Raffe clapped Jasper on the back.

  "And you, buddy," Jasper knuckle tapped his friend. "Raffe, this is—"

  Jasper turned to introduce Raffe to Marly, but she was already sneaking out the other door.

  "Marly West," she completed his sentence with a finger wave. "Nice to meet you." She slipped out the door and was gone.

  "Was it something I said?" Raffe asked, laughing. "I don't want to interrupt business."

  "It was nothing important. I welcome the interruption. It's been too long since we've seen each other." Jasper was glad to see his old friend, but that empty feeling in his gut as he watched Marly walk away told him he'd just screwed up badly.

  Hachoo!

  "Bless you. Still got those allergies, I see." Raffe handed him a tissue.

  Jasper had met Raffe at boarding school. They had both been thirteen, and both from very wealthy families where sending
your kids away to school and only seeing them a few days a year was tradition. Though Jasper's mother had wanted him around more, she'd been sick on and off for most of her life, so he spent more time at school than at home.

  Jasper and Raffe had bonded almost immediately and had been inseparable until their early twenties, when Raffe had gone to work in London for his family's company, Washburne Industries, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

  Recently divorced, Raffe had decided to move back to the US to start up a chain of upscale restaurants, something that had been his passion ever since he was a kid. Jasper was interested in partnering with Raffe on this new endeavor for two reasons: first, he knew it would be a success, and second, he wanted to be involved in something other than fashion.

  Although he would be a somewhat silent partner with Raffe, he would be able to learn a few things about the restaurant industry, and that would be a welcome change. He had only ever been involved in the fashion industry on a business level and was getting antsy to try something new.

  "Still have time to do dinner?" Raffe asked, walking to the window and looking out.

  "Sure. Let me finish up, and we can go. Sarah can keep you company in the meantime." Jasper called to Sarah and handed Raffe off to her.

  Sarah tried not to stare at Raffe as he meandered around her desk while waiting for Jasper. She knew he and Jasper had been friends for a long time, and she'd spoken to him on the phone before but was completely taken aback when she saw him in person. He had to be well over six feet, with the broadest shoulders Sarah had ever seen.

  His long black hair was pulled up into one of those man-bun things. Not a look Sarah usually liked, but somehow it seemed to work on him. He wore glasses, but they only seemed to highlight his green eyes. He was also extremely down to earth, which was not at all what Sarah had expected. She could see how he and Jasper were such good friends. They had similar personalities.

  "Any suggestions on where to take your boss for dinner tonight?" Raffe asked her.

  Really? He was asking her? He owned several five-star restaurants. He had to know all the best places to eat in the city.

  "Well, there's a new place that opened up a few blocks away I've heard great things about, very eclectic menu. Five-star review, also. I can book you a table if you want," Sarah suggested, knowing that even though it had a month-long wait list, Raffe and Jasper could get a table in a moment's notice due to who they were.

  "Sure. Do you follow this kind of thing? Restaurants?" Raffe asked her, putting the paperweight he had been playing with down.

  "Actually, I do. I'm studying to be a chef, so I keep up with all of this kind of thing," Sarah replied, taking a jab at him jokingly.

  "Really? A chef, huh?"

  "Yes, and she is an excellent cook already," Jasper interrupted Raffe.

  "I bet she is," Raffe said.

  "Let's go before you get in trouble," Jasper said, winking at Sarah and herding Raffe toward the elevator.

  Sarah got back to work as they headed off. Meeting Raffe might be good for her career. He owned restaurants, and maybe that would end up resulting in a job for her. But she still had a lot to learn before she could even consider a chef position. She didn't think about them too long, though. Her mind was on Marly and that meeting. She didn't know what had happened in there, but from the scuttlebutt she heard as people left, it wasn't good.

  Veronica reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a handful of M&M's, slowly popping them one by one into her mouth, careful not to smear her perfectly applied red lipstick.

  Raffe hadn't even noticed her. He'd been too busy talking to Sarah.

  What was the big deal with her?

  She was so plain she looked as though she should be selling granola bars on the street corner. Between Marly and Sarah, Veronica wondered if Jasper had any idea how to run this company at all anymore. He was clearly letting riffraff in. But she would be stopping it soon, anyway. Her lips curled into a smile, and she slowly ate another handful of the M&M's.

  21

  The next morning, Marly awoke more hopeful than she'd been in over a year. The doctor had said he'd call with the time of her mother's operation, and she'd slept with her phone beside the bed. Silly, because of course he wouldn't call at night. He'd said it would likely be later in the afternoon, so she still planned to do her presentation at Draconia. Though she wasn't expecting a call until after the presentation, she'd give her phone to Sarah with permission to answer any calls that came from the hospital just in case.

  With the worry about her mother somewhat behind her, she'd done a lot of thinking about her job. She loved the position at Draconia and appreciated Jasper's confidence in her. She was making a name for herself, and she knew her ideas would help the company. She was good at what she did.

  So maybe she wouldn't have to quit. No one would recognize the designs she'd given to Tanner as Draconia designs. They would look totally different in the smaller sizes. And, by giving them to Tanner, she was actually helping Draconia since they weren't going to benefit Theorim's bottom line. There was hope for her yet. As for her and Jasper… well… Marly didn't dare think about that.

  She picked out her outfit—black slacks and a silk tank top that was loose at the bottom, to hide her stomach. A light, long blazer finished the look. She headed out to work, thankful that her anger took over her pre-meeting anxiety. She was a little miffed about the way Jasper had treated her the day before, but luckily, that only added to her determination to pull off a great presentation of her new designs.

  And anyway, what right did she have to be mad at him? She had been sneaking out of work to visit her mother, and she had rudely brushed Jasper off in the hallway when she was on her way to meet Tanner. The realization of what she'd done made her feel ashamed, but the shame was tempered by the joy of seeing her mother sitting up and eating Jell-O. Hopefully after this operation, her mom would be able to do a lot more than that.

  Once inside the building, she walked straight to the meeting room instead of going to her cube. People slowly started to trickle in, and she waited for her turn as each manager droned on and on. She hadn't bothered to print handouts. She would walk everyone through each of her designs, showing them on the giant screen in the conference room.

  Jasper barely spoke at all during the meeting, and she could sense some tension in the air. She wasn't sure if it was just between the two of them or if it was for the whole group. Things weren't going well at the company, based on what was being presented. The managers were all pointing fingers at each other's departments as to the reason why.

  Finally, it was her turn. She went through each design slowly, providing every detail imaginable, including the total overall production cost of the item, recommended store pricing, and estimated profit. After almost two hours, she was done. She had gone through the entire presentation without anyone interrupting, which was very rare in these meetings. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

  "Well, I have to say what you've done is pretty impressive, Marly. Congratulations," Bill Henderson said. The compliment was totally out of character for him, and he was also actually smiling, which made Marly very suspicious.

  "I agree. Marly, the designs are very attractive, not the same ones you tend to see for a plus line. I would wear these," Liz Gershon chimed in from the advertising team. "We can have some fabulous ads based off of these!"

  Jasper stood up and cleared his throat. He did not look pleased.

  Great. Here it comes. Marly braced herself for negative comments.

  But before Jasper could speak, Sarah burst through the door. "Marly! You have to get to the hospital immediately. It's your mom. I already arranged for a driver to take you." Sarah stood in the doorway, holding the door open for Marly with a panicked look on her face.

  Marly's heart twisted. Something couldn't go wrong with her mother now—not when she'd just managed to pay for the operation that could save her life! She raced through the door, not
caring about her project or that everyone in the room had turned to stare at her. Her only thoughts now were getting to her mother before it was too late.

  22

  Marly's heart lodged in her throat as she flew through the hospital lobby, rushing toward the cancer wing.

  Please let Mom be okay!

  She glanced toward the nurses' station as she rushed by. Everyone was going about their business as usual. How could they all be sitting there acting normal when there was an emergency? Why weren't they all in her mother's room?

  She slid the last few feet into her mom's room, grabbing onto the door to prevent herself from falling, only to find her mother sleeping peacefully, the only sound in the room the whirring and clicking of the various machines she was hooked up to. Confused, Marly stood there for several minutes catching her breath and then walked back to the nurses' station.

  "I had a call that there was an emergency here. What's going on? My mom is asleep. What's happening? Is she worse?" she asked one of the nurses.

  The nurse walked over to a pile of papers, taking out a sealed envelope.

  "I'm sorry, Marly. I think there was a mix-up—the call wasn't about your mother. It was was just to let you know you had something to pick up at the desk here." She handed Marly the envelope.

  Marly looked at the front. It was from the hospital finance department. She opened the envelope with shaking hands. It was a brief note to contact them immediately regarding payment. The check had bounced. They were not able to approve the procedure.

  Marly's heart sank. She read the note again. And then again.

  Tanner had screwed her over. That bastard. She stormed back into her mother's room, crushing the paper tightly in her fist along the way. Her mother was still asleep. She looked so peaceful, Marly wasn't going to wake her up and tell her the bad news. She kissed her lightly on the forehead and turned and walked out of the room, tears streaming down her cheeks.