Mission: Undercover

Chapter 20

Monday morning

"Nessaaa!" Rebecca's cheery voice echoed in the kitchen and perhaps in the entire house.

Vanessa, sitting on the kitchen countertop, drinking her coffee, came down and hugged her. "Becks! You are back! I didn't know that you'll be home so early."

"I wanted to surprise you! I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too."

"I have so much to tell you!" Rebecca jumped up enthusiastically and clapped her hands several times. "The interview went amazing! I'm so close to debuting the magazine! But you go first! How was your time at the charity ball?"

Before Vanessa could begin to speak, Jackson walked into the kitchen. "How are my two favorite girls?"

The moment Rebecca saw her brother, she threw herself at his neck. "Jacks! I missed you so much!"

Vanessa smiled, watching the scene.

"I missed you too, sis," Jackson replied to his sister. "How was the flight?"

"It was fine. Cole picked me up from the airport but just dropped me off here and went to work. He wasn't particularly chatty as usual. So, tell me! How was the ball?"

"It wasn't bad," Jackson answered, then turned to Vanessa. "Speaking of which, how are you feeling, Nessa?"

"I'm fine now, thanks."

"What happened?" Rebecca asked.

"Nothing, Becks. Gossip later. I have to go to work now," Vanessa replied as she put on her shoes that she had thrown on the floor earlier.

"Wait for me. I'm coming too. I'm going back to work starting today."

"That's great, Becks!"

Rebecca caught Vanessa's arm, and they both left, saying goodbye to Jackson simultaneously.

"I guess I should probably start work too... at some point..." he muttered to himself after the girls had already left.

On the way, Vanessa briefly told Rebecca about the ball, skipping the ending. It was as if she was ashamed of what had happened.

When they arrived at work, however, the two girls parted ways. Rebecca walked into her office, and Vanessa headed to hers.

Emma, ​​the new secretary, was waiting for Vanessa out front as that was her first working day.

"Good morning, Miss Blake," the girl greeted kindly.

"Good morning, Emma." Vanessa opened the door. "Come in."

The two went inside. Vanessa sat down at her desk and gestured for the girl to sit in the chair across from her.

"How are you, Emma? You seem a little stressed." Meanwhile, Vanessa turned on her laptop. "And please, call me Nessa."

"I'm very well, thank you. But I'm also a little nervous, yeah."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine. Don't worry."

"I will do my best to live up to your expectations. Where do I begin? Oh, I forgot. Do you want me to make you some coffee?"

"No, thank you. You don't need to make me coffee at all. Well, for Cole, you probably will have to. Come on, let me introduce you to him."

At that exact moment, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

"Good morning, Miss Blake."