[Jay's POV]
The atmosphere in the dining hall was no longer warm and golden; it was a pressurized chamber of cold, jagged resentment. The only mercy was that Bridget was away on a university trip—I couldn't have handled her smug face. But the rest of the Watsons were there, and for the first time, the "Power Couple" was broadcasting a total system crash.
I sat at the far end of the long mahogany table, my eyes fixed on my untouched plate. Keifer was at the head, radiating a dark, turbulent energy that made the silverware seem to vibrate.
"Pass the salt, Jay," Keifer said, his voice clipped and robotic.
I didn't look at him. I slid the salt shaker down the table with a sharp, aggressive shove. It skidded across the wood, nearly tipping over. "There. I wouldn't want your breakfast to be as bland as your excuses
Mamma Serina and Pappa Keizer exchanged a worried glance. Even Keigan had stopped eating, his fork hovering in mid-air.
"Jay, dear—" Mamma started gently.
"No, Mamma," Keifer interrupted, his eyes flashing blue fire as he looked at me. "If Jay wants to act like a petulant child because she saw me working, let her. I'm tired of apologizing for being the CEO of a multi-national corporation."
The Explosion
I stood up so fast my chair shrieked against the floor. "Working? Is that what we're calling it now? Standing at a thread's distance from a woman who looked like she was trying to merge her DNA with yours? You looked like you were enjoying the 'view' quite a bit, Keifer!"
Keifer slammed his hand onto the table, making the crystal glasses rattle. "I was looking at a decimal point error! I have ten thousand employees, Jay! I don't have time to measure the air gap between me and my analysts to satisfy your sudden onset of paranoia!"
"It's not paranoia when the man who claims I'm his 'Empress' is letting another woman breathe on his neck!" I shouted, my voice echoing off the high ceilings. "You told me the Watson-Jay Constant was a closed loop. It looked pretty open to me yesterday!"
"You walked out!" Keifer roared, standing up to meet my gaze across the table. "You left the building without a word! You humiliated me in front of my security team! You didn't trust me enough to walk through that door and claim your place. You ran away because you're scared that you're just a 'girl from a lab' after all!"
The Audience
"Keifer, that's enough!" Pappa Keizer's voice boomed, but we were both too far gone into the "Red Zone" to listen.
"I ran away because I didn't want to watch the man I love act like he didn't have a fiancée at home!" I retorted, tears of rage stinging my eyes. "Go back to your office, Keifer. Go find that 'thread' again. I'm sure she's much more 'efficient' and less 'petulant' than I am!"
"Maybe she is!" Keifer hissed, his jaw set in a hard, cruel line. "At least she understands how a business operates! She doesn't throw a tantrum over a tablet screen!"
The silence that followed was deafening. Mamma Serina looked heartbroken, and even Keigan looked uncomfortable.
I felt like my heart had been shredded. I looked at Keifer—the man who had carried me to this very table just twenty-four hours ago—and I didn't recognize him. The "Glow" was dead.
"Fine," I whispered, my voice trembling. "If she's so efficient, let her take my seat at this table too. Because I'm done being part of a system that treats me like a variable you can just ignore when the work gets 'intense'."
I didn't wait for him to respond. I turned and sprinted out of the dining hall, the sound of my sobbing being the only thing left in the wake of our first, devastating public war.