Chapter 33

Kara’s POV

I still felt exhausted the next morning when I arrived at the office, but somehow happier than I had I a long time. It had felt so good to run, and to be doing something. I’d finished my intelligence document with a coffee first thing this morning before I even got out of bed, so I could put it straight on Hunter’s desk before my meeting with the planning commission. I’d been busy enough that I hadn’t given too much thought to how strange Hunter had been last night, but the concerned expression on his face kept popping into my head. It wasn’t like him to worry about me, and I couldn’t figure out what had made the change.

I sat down at my desk and input my laptop password, ready to navigate immediately to the pack school folder and send the documents I needed to the printer.

The folder was in the wrong place on my desktop. It wasn’t far wrong, but it was definitely at least an inch further up and to the left than I’d left it.

My chest tightened, though I wasn’t sure why. I’d probably just been more tired than I thought when I’d last been working on it.

But my stomach dropped when I double clicked into it.

They were gone.

I tried to breathe deeply, but whipped my head around the room in panic, trying to think of who to ask for help and what could have happened.

“Laila, Elle, can you come over here?” I asked. My voice was high and tight.

They both came over quickly, and stood blinking down at me.

“Do you know what happened to all the documents for the pack school planning commission? They were all right here in this folder on my desktop, but now I can’t find them.”

They both looked baffled, which ratcheted my panic up another degree.

“I don’t know,” Elle said quickly. I haven’t used your computer, but don’t you have an automatic backup set up?”

I sighed in relief. She was right. I navigated to the cloud folder that should have stored them.

They weren’t there either, though everything else was.

I started to breathe quicker. If I didn’t have those documents, there was no way the commission was going to grant my request to expedite. And I couldn’t put anything else together so quickly—it had taken me the better part of the week to get them done.

Elle’s brow furrowed as she looked at the empty folder over my shoulder. Laila remained silent, still not saying anything. Why was she being so quiet?

I jumped at the sound of the office door opening. It was them, four men and one woman in business casual attire, all looking stern and carrying briefcases.

I got up from my chair slowly, clearing my throat as I walked toward them.

“Laila, can you get some coffee for the conference room?” I called over my shoulder, trying to make my voice sound steady.

She didn’t answer, but walked toward the break room, I assumed to make it.

I shook everyone’s hand, using an extra firm grip. If I didn’t have what I needed, I should at least make it look like I was confident and prepared for this.

I ushered them all toward the conference room, standing at the head of the table.

“Thank you all so much for coming,” I said slowly. I hadn’t made any notes for what I was planning to say. I didn’t need to give a full speech, but I did need to lay out the agenda for the meeting and give an overview of the school plan. But now my mind was blank.

“I’ve called you here to discuss expediting new plans for the pack school. We’re expanding the scope, and need more space.”

“What’s the additional square footage needed?” A severe man in a navy blazer asked.

“Um—” I looked down at the notepad I’d brought in, though I knew it was completely blank.

“And how quickly do you need them approved?” the woman asked, eyes narrowed.

My stomach heaved. Now nausea was threatening to overtake me.

“In about two weeks,” I replied. My stomach heaved again. I was seriously going to throw up.

“‘About’ isn’t much use to us on that timeframe,” she continued. “Fourteen business days? Two calendar weeks? If you’re not prepared to make more of a presentation than this, we’re not going to be able to approve the plans.”

“By the end of the month,” I said, trying to sound confident. “That way we can—” I brought my hand up to my mouth, covering a burp that tasted of vomit. I begged my body not to do this. I took three deep breaths, and my stomach calmed, but the woman was standing up and grabbing her briefcase. The men all followed suit.

“Your request is denied,” she said, clipped. You’re welcome to try again after 30 days, but do make sure you’re more prepared the next time. I don’t like wasting time.”

“I can’t wait 30 days,” I started to say, but they were halfway to the door, and before I could think of anything else to say to get them to reconsider, the door closed behind them.

I hung my head, dropping it into my hands and rubbing my pounding temples.

“What’s wrong?” A familiar voice asked. I jumped, startled again, and looked up.

It was Sean. He was twenty minutes early for our scheduled meeting.

I lifted my head, blinking up at him.

“That was quick,” he said. He seemed chirpy and excited. “My 8am meeting got cancelled so I thought I’d head straight here and see if I could join you in the planning commission meeting. I’m surprised they’re gone already. All good with the expediting request?”

I couldn’t speak. The nausea and weight of how big a problem this was rumbled together in my stomach.

“Kara?” He asked, after a moment. I had to tell him something.

“They denied our request. I’m so sorry.”

“What? Why? How could they—what did they say when you showed them all the specs and the plans? I was so sure we’d thought of everything.”

I cleared my throat.

“I didn’t have any of my documents. I couldn’t find them on my computer this morning when I went to print them out. Everything’s gone. That’s why they said no—I couldn’t answer any of their questions, and—”

His eyebrows were raised, reaching nearly to his hairline.

“I guess I was wrong about you,” he said finally. I thought you seemed different—more together than the others I’ve tried to work with. I guess better to find out now than when the school is up and running and we’d have to work that closely together.”

I opened my mouth, but quickly closed it again. What was there to say? He was right. I’d screwed this up so badly.

He paused, still giving me a chance to reply, but turned on his heel and walked out when it became clear I wasn’t going to.

I looked up from the conference table, eyes wet with tears, as I heard the door slam behind him.

Maya was looking at me from across the room, the ghost of a smile etched on her face.