POV: Kesley

My phone rang in the middle of a contract review and I almost didn’t answer it. I was three hours into my first real day at Cross Shipping, still learning the shape of everything Zachary Jonas had rearranged in my absence, still finding the places where things had been moved and the places where things had simply disappeared.

I had told Elizabeth Carter to hold all non-urgent calls until I had finished with the Meridian documentation. But the screen said ‘Elite Academy’ and my stomach dropped before my brain had fully caught up. I answered it before the second ring finished.

The principal’s secretary was professional and brief....