My Ambition 3

 

Chapter 3 

Ryan forced out this smile that looked more painful than crying. 

“Phone totally died! For real! Couldn’t turn it on all night, missed everything!” 

Brittany was tugging at his shirt, peeking out timidly: 

‘Director Sterling, please don’t blame Ryan, this is all on me… I just saw how stressed he was, thought someone might be scamming him. I’m so stupid, didn’t think it through.” 

didn’t respond, just went to grab the contract. 

yan immediately snatched the seal, hands literally shaking as he flipped through pages, stamping frantically. 

rittany tried damage control: 

Director Sterling, please don’t be mad! I know you’re this total powerhouse, but I’m just some basic girl who sees Ryan killing imself for the company and it breaks my heart… I just wanted to help shoulder some of his burden, never thought it would cause ‘ou this much trouble.” 

looked up at that face, picture-perfect innocence written all over it. 

Caring enough to gamble with a multi-million-dollar deal?” 

My voice was barely above a whisper: “Brittany, your ‘caring’ comes with a pretty steep price tag.” 

Her face went ghost-white. 

We got the contract submitted, but still thirty minutes late. 

Wellington’s contact was pissed, said the CEO was not happy. 

yan hung up looking like death warmed over. 

He knew damn well I’d fought tooth and nail to win this project from our competitors. 

¡o, didn’t take long before he came crawling back my house. 

This time he’d dropped the boss act completely, practically begging: “Jade, I know you put everything into this project.” 

Brittany meant well but screwed up bad. Think you could maybe smooth things over, explain what happened?” 

stared at him, then asked: 

‘Explain what exactly? How your girlfriend’s personal drama almost bankrupted the company? Or how you, as CEO, enabled her to orch everything?” 

He went speechless. 

Seeing Ryan squirm, I sighed and finally nodded: 

“I’ll handle Wellington, but you need to guarantee Brittany stays out of company operations. Period.” 

He was about to agree when Brittany burst through the door: 

“Ryan… don’t sacrifice yourself for me!” 

“Director Sterling’s way too professional to leave you hanging!” 

“This is all my fault-I just love you too much.” 

“Ryan, Mr. Wellington trusts Jade so much, he won’t make things difficult for her, right?” 

Brittany kept shooting glances my way. 

I watched Ryan, waiting for his call. 

He sighed, looked at me with that conflicted expression: 

“Jade, look… damage is done. Wellington’s always respected you, so maybe… could you just handle this one?” 

I smiled. 

“Ryan, my job description doesn’t include cleaning up your girlfriend’s messes.” 

My eyes shifted past him to Brittany’s pale face. 

Ryan was cornered, finally speaking through gritted teeth: “Jade, I promoted you from intern to director. Don’t forget where you came from.” 

For a second, my blood ran cold. 

Fine. 

“This is the last time.” 

I told him. 

Fold myself too.