Chapter 20 - Day 2 Counteroffer
Thursday morning, there was coffee on my desk.
Again.
I stopped beside my chair.
Looked at it.
Then looked toward Adrian's office.
Door closed.
Of course.
I put my bag down.
Maya looked over from her desk.
Her eyes landed on the coffee.
A slow smile appeared.
"Two days in a row."
"Apparently."
"He's committed."
I pulled out my chair.
"It's coffee, Maya."
"Mhm."
I sat down.
The coffee was still warm.
Which meant Adrian had either brought it recently-
or had developed some kind of advanced architectural technology specifically designed to keep my coffee at the correct temperature while simultaneously avoiding me.
Honestly, at this point, either seemed possible.
I took a sip.
Perfect.
Obviously.
Yesterday, he'd offered me more money.
A lot more money.
I'd said no.
He hadn't mentioned it again.
Yet.
I opened my computer.
At 8:47, an email appeared.
From Adrian.
I stared at his name.
Then opened it.
That was it.
No come to my office.
No unnecessary sentence.
No reason for me to speak to him before the meeting.
Professional.
Exactly what I'd asked for.
I should've appreciated it.
Instead, for some reason, I stared at the email for another few seconds.
Then closed it.
At 9:15, Adrian was already in Conference Room 3.
Claire was there.
Daniel.
Nicole.
Two people from interiors.
And Ethan.
Adrian stood at the end of the table, sleeves rolled to his forearms, tie perfectly straight, expression suggesting he'd been born disappointed in architectural drawings.
Normal.
Good.
Normal was good.
I took the empty chair beside Nicole.
Adrian's eyes moved to me.
Just once.
"Morning."
"Morning, Mr. Vale."
His gaze stayed on me for half a second longer.
Then he looked back at the drawings.
The meeting started.
For approximately twelve minutes, everything was fine.
Then Adrian pointed at the western elevation.
"This needs to move."
I looked at it.
"No."
Silence.
Oh.
I looked around.
Ben wasn't even in the room and somehow I could feel his spiritual presence celebrating.
Adrian slowly lifted his eyes to me.
"No?"
I looked at the drawing again.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because moving it creates another problem."
"It solves this one."
"And creates a worse one."
"I disagree."
"That's unfortunate."
Nicole looked down.
Daniel suddenly became extremely interested in his notes.
Adrian folded his arms.
"Explain."
So I did.
I walked him through the shading condition, the sightline, the relationship with the adjacent glazing.
He listened.
Then shook his head.
"No."
I stared at him.
"That isn't a counterargument."
"It doesn't work."
"It does."
"Not well."
"According to?"
"Me."
I blinked.
"Unfortunately, you're not a building code."
Daniel coughed.
Ethan looked down very quickly.
Claire's mouth moved.
Barely.
Adrian stared at me.
I stared back.
Then-
the corner of his mouth twitched.
Once.
Tiny.
Gone.
Something warm and stupid moved through my chest.
There you are.
I immediately hated my brain.
Adrian looked back at the elevation.
"Three inches."
"Two."
"Three."
"Two."
"Two and a half."
I paused.
He looked at me.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Did you just negotiate with me?"
"No."
"You absolutely did."
"Two and a half, Ms. Stone."
I looked around the room.
Nobody was looking at us.
Which meant everybody was absolutely looking at us.
"Fine."
Adrian nodded.
"Good."
And just like that-
we moved on.
No humiliation.
No reminder of who ran the company.
No line drawn in front of everyone.
Just work.
For the first time since Monday, something inside me loosened.
Only a little.
But enough.
At 10:36, my phone rang.
I looked at the screen.
I stared at it.
He had literally seen me an hour ago.
I picked up.
"Yes?"
"Can you come to my office?"
I blinked.
He remembered.
The request.
"Why?"
A pause.
"I want to discuss something with you."
"That sounds suspicious."
"Angelica."
"What?"
"Can you come to my office?"
I looked toward his office.
The glass gave me absolutely nothing from this angle.
"Fine."
I hung up.
Maya looked over.
"Again?"
"Apparently."
"Maybe he missed you."
I stood.
"Maybe you should do some work."
"I am working."
"You're eating pretzels."
"Multitasking."
I walked away.
Adrian was behind his desk.
And there was another folder sitting in front of him.
I stopped.
Looked at the folder.
Then at him.
"No."
His eyebrows pulled together.
"You don't even know what it is."
"There's a folder."
"Yes."
"There was a folder yesterday."
"That was different."
"Oh God."
I didn't sit.
"What are you offering me now?"
"I'm not offering you anything."
I looked at the folder.
He looked at me.
I looked back at the folder.
His jaw tightened.
"Sit down."
I raised an eyebrow.
He closed his eyes briefly.
"Would you sit down?"
I sat.
"This is getting weird."
"Open it."
I did.
There was no salary number this time.
Instead-
projects.
Several of them.
I frowned.
"What is this?"
"Upcoming work."
"I can see that."
"Three projects scheduled to begin within the next six months."
I flipped the page.
A luxury residential tower.
A boutique waterfront resort.
And-
I stopped.
No.
I looked closer.
Then at him.
"The Coral House?"
"Yes."
I looked back down.
The Coral House was a private oceanfront residence on Key Biscayne.
Not enormous.
Not the firm's biggest project.
But beautiful.
I'd seen the preliminary client brief months ago.
I'd also spent approximately twenty minutes telling Maya that if the project ever moved forward, I would sell a kidney to work on it.
I looked at Adrian.
"Why is this in here?"
"Because it's moving forward."
"I know. Why is it in here?"
"You wanted it."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"You wanted the project."
"How do you know that?"
"You said so."
"When?"
He looked at me.
"I don't remember."
Bullshit.
I leaned back.
"Who did I say it to?"
"I don't know."
"Was it you?"
"No."
"Then how do you know?"
"I heard you."
"When?"
His expression hardened slightly.
"I just told you I don't remember."
I stared at him.
Adrian stared back.
Interesting.
Very fucking interesting.
I looked down at the folder again.
"You're offering me Coral House."
"Yes."
"In exchange for staying."
"No."
I looked up.
"No?"
"You'd be assigned to it if you stayed."
"That sounds suspiciously like in exchange for staying."
"It's a project assignment."
"It's a bribe."
"It is not a bribe."
"Yesterday was money. Today is architecture."
"Yesterday was a compensation adjustment."
"Right. Sorry."
I nodded solemnly.
"Different department of bribery."
His eyes narrowed.
"Angelica."
I smiled despite myself.
Just a little.
His gaze dropped to my mouth.
For half a second.
Then came back up.
I stopped smiling.
He leaned back.
"You'd have more design responsibility."
I looked down at the pages.
"You'd work directly with Claire through concept development."
He continued.
"You'd also have first consideration for two other projects in the same category."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because you're good at your job."
There it was again.
I sighed.
"Adrian."
"You are."
"I didn't say I'm not."
"Then I don't understand the problem."
"The problem is that none of this is why I resigned."
His jaw tightened.
"I know."
That surprised me.
I watched him.
He looked away first.
Just briefly.
Then back at me.
"I also know you're good at your job."
"Okay."
"And Vale Architecture would prefer not to lose you."
"Vale Architecture."
"Yes."
I nodded.
"To the company."
His expression changed.
Tiny.
But I saw it.
"Yes."
I closed the folder.
"Then the company will have to replace me."
"No."
I stared at him.
He stared back.
I almost laughed.
"You can't just keep saying no."
"I can."
"It doesn't change anything."
"Neither does you repeating that you're leaving."
"Actually, legally, that one does."
His mouth twitched again.
I pointed at him.
"That."
"What?"
"You almost smiled."
"I did not."
"You did."
"No."
"Your face moved."
"Faces generally do."
"Oh, we're being funny now?"
"I'm not being funny."
"That makes it worse."
He looked irritated.
I loved it.
Which was unfortunate.
I pushed the folder toward him.
"Thank you."
"Take it."
"No."
"Angelica."
"Adrian."
His eyes locked on mine.
I stood.
He didn't.
For a moment, neither of us said anything.
Then he looked at the folder.
"Think about Coral House."
I sighed.
"You remembered I wanted it."
He said nothing.
"You don't remember when I said it."
"No."
"But you remembered the project."
Silence.
I waited.
Nothing.
Of course.
I shook my head.
"Goodbye, Adrian."
"Angelica."
I stopped at the door.
"What?"
"You have twelve days."
I froze.
Slowly, I turned.
He was looking at me.
"What?"
His face changed.
Just slightly.
Like he hadn't meant to say it.
I stared at him.
"You're counting?"
"No."
I blinked.
"Adrian."
"Go back to work."
I stared at him.
Then laughed.
Actually laughed.
"You're counting."
"I have work to do."
"Oh my God."
"Angelica."
"Twelve days."
"Out."
I opened the door.
"Have a productive afternoon, Mr. Vale."
"Out."
I walked out smiling.
By lunch, I had mostly stopped smiling.
Mostly.
Maya noticed anyway.
Unfortunately.
She sat across from me.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"You're smiling."
"No, I'm not."
"You were."
"I remembered something funny."
Ben sat down beside her.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Tell us."
"No."
Nicole joined us.
Daniel followed.
Apparently lunch had become an interrogation committee.
Maya leaned forward.
"Was it Vale?"
"No."
Too fast.
Her eyes widened.
"Oh my God."
"Stop."
"What did he do?"
"Nothing."
Ben looked delighted.
"This is already excellent."
"He offered me a project."
Maya blinked.
"What project?"
I stabbed my salad.
"Coral House."
Daniel looked up.
"Wait. Seriously?"
"Yes."
"That's a good project."