Chapter 10
Ten
JASON
The Everett Corporation main conference room had witnessed many surreal moments in its glass-walled history, but Jason was fairly certain this topped them all: his ice queen of a wife demolishing his board of directors while wearing an outfit that looked nothing like her usual armor of designer labels, while his normally unflappable Chief Marketing Officer Ethan Stewart kept stealing glances at his assistant instead of paying attention to the quarterly projections.
Barb was documenting everything with her usual precision. And Sophia… Jason watched his assistant try to maintain her professional composure despite her new outfit drawing increasingly frequent looks from Ethan’s direction.
“With all due respect, Mr. Payne,” Victoria said in a tone that suggested respect was the last thing she felt, “if you’re still arguing against renewable energy, I have to assume you also have strong opinions about keeping your horse and buggy.”
A few younger board members snickered. Ethan, who’d finally dragged his attention away from Sophia, leaned forward with interest. “Mrs. Everett makes an excellent point,” he said, flashing a smile that made Sophia duck her head to hide her blush. “Our market research shows?—”
“Oh good.” Charles Payne’s jowls quivered with indignation. “The marketing department has opinions on infrastructure now.”
Jason watched Victoria’s eyes narrow at Payne’s dismissive tone. This should be interesting. The Victoria he knew wouldn’t have bothered defending anyone below her social station—which was basically everyone.
“The marketing department,” Victoria cut in with surgical precision, “has apparently done more research than you have, Mr. Payne. Unless those quarterly reports Barbara’s been sending have been getting lost in the prehistoric era you seem to be operating from?”
Barbara’s typing faltered for a split second.
Jason leaned back in his chair, unable to take his eyes off her.
This morning, he’d watched her try to sneak around the penthouse like a teenager breaking curfew, then dive into a closet of all things.
He’d been amused—Victoria “I never lift a finger unless it’s to point out someone’s social faux pas” Everett, hiding among the coats like a caffeinated raccoon.
So he’d tested her. Offered her his coffee mug—something Victoria had once sneered at as “painfully middle class.” In two years of marriage, they’d never shared a cup, never shared much of anything really.
But this morning’s Victoria had taken it, her lips pressing against the rim where his had been, making his pulse jump in a way it hadn’t since their early dating days.
Then that kiss. God, that kiss. Victoria usually treated his attempts at affection like he was offering her fast food instead of caviar.
Even in the beginning, before he realized their marriage was just another business acquisition for the Hayes family, she’d barely tolerated his touch.
The last time he’d tried to kiss her, she’d pulled away with such disgust that he’d finally stopped trying.
But this morning… this morning she’d kissed him back with a sweetness that haunted him, her body soft against his, her little gasp of surprise when he’d pulled away still echoing in his mind.
“Mrs. Everett,” Frederic Webb tried to interrupt, while Sophia quietly passed him updated financial projections. “While your… passion is admirable?—”
“Oh, we’re well past admirable,” Victoria cut in, and Jason felt his pulse jump at the fire in her voice. “We’re at either join the future or get left behind with the dinosaurs. Speaking of which, how’s your investment in coal doing, Webb?”
The meeting room went silent. Webb had lost millions in a failing coal venture last quarter—something that wasn’t public knowledge. Victoria shouldn’t have known about it. Hell, Jason had only learned about it through his private investigators.
Ethan whistled low under his breath, shooting an impressed look at Victoria before turning to share a smile with Sophia. Jason noticed Victoria’s eyes tracking that interaction, her brow furrowing slightly as if something wasn’t adding up.
“The numbers don’t lie,” Victoria continued, pulling up graphs on the presentation screen with surprising technical competence.
The Victoria he knew treated technology like it was beneath her unless it involved posting carefully curated social media photos.
Barbara quickly adjusted the lighting for better visibility—earning a genuine “thank you” from Victoria.
Payne leaned forward. “Mrs. Everett, with all due respect?—”
“Oh good, more respect,” Victoria muttered, just loud enough for Jason to hear. He had to bite back a laugh. Since when did Victoria do witty asides?
“—these changes you’re suggesting would require significant initial investment.”
“Unlike your recent yacht purchase, which I’m sure was completely necessary for company morale?” Victoria’s sweet smile had enough edge to cut diamonds. “Tell me, does taking investors’ money for a personal cruise count as sailing or stealing?”
Webb choked on his water. Ethan didn’t even try to hide his grin, nudging Sophia who was pressing her lips together to suppress a laugh. Barbara’s fingers flew across her tablet, probably trying to capture every barb for posterity.
“The fact is,” Victoria continued, wielding her tablet like a weapon of mass destruction against outdated thinking, “going green isn’t just good ethics—it’s good business. Unless you gentlemen enjoy watching your portfolios become as extinct as your thinking?”
“The marketing team has already drafted preliminary campaigns,” Ethan added, sitting forward with enthusiasm. “Sophia, could you pull up those mock-ups?”
Jason watched as Sophia gracefully rose to access the system, her new pencil skirt drawing Ethan’s appreciative gaze. Victoria’s eyes narrowed at the interaction, and for a moment she looked almost… confused? Concerned? It was gone so quickly he might have imagined it.
“As you can see,” Sophia began professionally, though her cheeks pinked when Ethan mouthed ‘well done’ at her, “initial focus groups show overwhelming support for?—”
“Yes, yes,” Payne waved dismissively, “but surely the CEO’s wife has better things to do than lecture us about?—”
“Than ensure her husband’s company stays relevant in the next decade?” Victoria’s voice could have frozen hell. “You’re right, I should probably be planning another charity gala or comparing tennis instructors with the other trophy wives. How thoughtless of me to care about actual business.”
The sarcasm in her voice was so thick you could spread it on toast. Jason found himself fighting another smile. Who was this woman? And what had she done with his perfectly polished, perpetually disdainful wife?
“Mrs. Everett makes some… interesting points,” Webb conceded, as if the words were being extracted via root canal.
“Oh, I’m just getting started.” Victoria grinned—actually grinned, an expression Jason hadn’t seen since their early dating days—and proceeded to systematically dismantle every objection with the precision of a surgeon and the wit of a comedian.
By the end of the presentation, even Payne’s dinosaur-era resistance had crumbled under the assault of pure logic and sharp humor. “Perhaps… a gradual implementation…”
“Starting next quarter,” Victoria said firmly. “The future waits for no one, gentlemen. Not even dinosaurs.”
As the shell-shocked board members filed out, Ethan hung back, falling into easy conversation with Sophia about the marketing timeline. Jason noticed Victoria watching them, her head tilted slightly as if trying to solve a particularly puzzling equation.
“The mock-ups are impressive,” Ethan was saying, leaning perhaps a bit closer to Sophia than strictly necessary. “Maybe we could discuss them over coffee?”
Sophia’s blush deepened. “I’d like that.”
Victoria’s frown intensified, and she actually opened her mouth as if to object before catching herself. Interesting. Jason had never seen his wife show any interest in office dynamics before, let alone concern over his assistant’s love life.
“Mrs. Everett.” Barb approached with her usual efficiency. “Your car is waiting downstairs whenever you’re ready.”
Victoria checked her phone and grimaced. “Right. Dinner with my parents tonight.”
The mention of Richard and Elizabeth Hayes should have brought back his usual bitter taste of resentment. Instead, watching her gather her things with nervous energy so unlike Victoria’s usual ice queen composure, he found himself saying, “I’ll go with you.”
She froze, her eyes widening. Behind her, Jason noticed even Ethan and Sophia pause their flirtation to stare.
“You… want to have dinner with my parents? Voluntarily?”
The surprise was justified. The last Hayes family dinner he’d attended had ended with Richard attempting a hostile takeover of his Asian division while Elizabeth made pointed comments about his “regrettably common background.”
“Consider it professional curiosity,” he said, leaning against his desk with studied casualness. “I’d like to see how the champion of renewable energy handles the fossil fuels of the social world.”
Her startled laugh—God, when was the last time he’d heard Victoria really laugh?—made something warm unfurl in his chest. Behind her, Sophia nearly dropped her tablet, clearly shocked at this display from her usually glacial employer. Even Ethan’s eyebrows had climbed toward his hairline.
“Did you just call my parents fossil fuels?”
“If the dinosaur comparison fits…”
She bit her lip, looking torn. Another un-Victoria-like gesture that fascinated him. “I… that might not be…”
“I insist,” he heard himself say, surprising them both. “After your performance today, I think you’ve earned backup.”
Barbara was already pulling up his schedule before he finished speaking, her efficiency unhampered by her obvious curiosity about this unprecedented scene playing out in front of her.