When Love Becomes a Cage by Nora

Chapter 52

Chapter 52



One night, we barely caught a wink of sleep.

Jade's design was brilliant, thoughtful, and eco-friendly to boot. But somewhere along the line, a minor misstep led to a gaping flaw in the final design. It wasn't until I combed through everything from the beginning that I spotted the root of the problem. "Look here. You didn't make this change, did you? The measurement is off by an inch."

Jade pushed up her glasses, squinting at the screen before slamming her hand on the desk.

"No way. Who messed with my design? No wonder the numbers were all over the place! Somebody must've fiddled with the file when I wasn't looking. I thought I'd accidentally deleted the original file!"

I had suspected as much but hadn't said anything until then.

With no time to figure out who messed up, Jade got straight to fixing the data, and I was there to help her out.

After a few hours of hard work, we finally got all the files in order as dawn broke.

With a hoarse voice, Jade hugged me tight. "Melanie, I'd be toast without you. You saved my ass out of the mess. You are my savior!"

"Don't be silly. We're best friends." I patted her head, only to have my hand swatted away as she grimaced, her throat too sore to even speak. Running on no sleep and dealing with a headache, I decided to call in sick.

deliberately kept me from taking on more

seemed worse off than I was, barely able to stand, yet she couldn't miss the

me, her guardian angel, take her place. "Since you've taken the day off, give me a

her. "With your brains, we've got this in

potential oversights. Her raspy voice, coupled with her powerhouse demeanor, was quite the mismatch. After some thought, I felt confident enough in my understanding

at the bidding meeting, I saw Vinson and Clyde with their teams. I instinctively ducked my

would cause

her voice

When Jade started speaking onstage, the audience was visibly shocked. But she powered through, presenting the entire

Patterson Group's design was thorough, it just couldn't

failing to grasp certain aspects. In the end, Jade won the contract with her superior expertise. She came off stage and wrapped me in a tight

I'll mute you for good." I pushed

clung to my arm, playfully whining. "Melanie,

husky voice made my

were leaving, laughing and joking, Kayla, oblivious to the

company? And as Design

full of resentment, backed by a few from Design

due to not winning the

are. Instead of helping

bad. Maybe Melanie even shared our

"No wonder we lost!"