Chapter 3 The boardroom

The doors to the boardroom slid open with a soft whoosh, and Juniper-still in Selene's body-stepped inside. The room went silent for a beat as she entered, every set of eyes turning toward her. The sleek, polished glass table stretched long across the room, surrounded by powerful-looking people in tailored suits. A projector screen behind them displayed charts and numbers Juniper had no context for.

She could feel the weight of their gazes on her, expectant and calculating. This was it. The moment she had to convince them she was someone she barely understood.

A man sitting at the head of the table, dressed in a dark suit with graying hair and a sharp jawline, nodded his head toward the chair at the far end.

"Ms. Voss," he said, his voice smooth, almost warm, but with an underlying edge. "Glad you could join us. Please, take a seat."

She couldn't place the name or the face, but something about him felt familiar. The sharpness of his gaze made her think of someone who had seen and done everything. Someone who couldn't be fooled.

Juniper made her way to the seat, every movement feeling foreign in this body. She sat down slowly, trying to control the way her heart beat in her chest. She couldn't be Selene Voss. She wasn't a CEO. She was a florist, a woman who spent her days arranging flowers and writing in journals.

But as she sat there, surrounded by these people who somehow knew exactly who she was-knew exactly what she was supposed to be-she couldn't afford to let them see her fear.

The man at the head of the table cleared his throat, pulling her attention back to him. "Shall we begin, Ms. Voss?"

Juniper nodded, her mouth suddenly dry. "Yes," she managed to say, trying to sound more confident than she felt. She reached for a piece of paper in front of her that she hoped was the agenda. As her fingers touched the cold paper, the names of various board members and topics flashed across her mind. Nothing made sense. Nothing felt real.

"Perhaps we should address the latest developments with Project Arcturus," said a woman sitting to the right of the man at the head of the table, her tone clipped and businesslike.

Juniper blinked, trying to keep up with the conversation. Project Arcturus. The name sounded important, like a massive deal. What was it? What was she supposed to know about it?

The man at the head of the table turned toward her, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "Ms. Voss?" he prompted, as if waiting for her to say something.

In a panic, Juniper glanced down at the papers in front of her. Her fingers fumbled through them, flipping past graphs and spreadsheets that made no sense. Then, without thinking, she took a deep breath and spoke the first thing that came to her mind.

"Project Arcturus is on track," she said, her voice firmer than she felt. "We've ensured that the next phase of development will be completed by the end of the quarter, despite the setbacks with the AI systems."

The room seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Juniper's stomach dropped as she realized what she had just said was both incredibly specific and somehow...right.

The woman who had spoken before nodded, approving of her answer. "Good," she said. "We'll need your full attention on the team's progress for the next few weeks, Selene. The higher-ups are getting restless."

"Of course," Juniper replied, her heart pounding as she realized that the words had come from her mouth without her really thinking them through. But they were the right words. They had sounded like the right words.

For a moment, she felt like she was walking a tightrope, each breath a little too loud, each thought too fast. But she had no choice. She had to keep going. There was no room for failure.

The man at the head of the table leaned forward, his eyes never leaving her face. "And what about the leak?" he asked. "Any progress on who's responsible?"

Juniper froze. A leak? What leak? She glanced down at the papers again, but nothing in front of her gave her any indication of what this was about. A leak in the company? In the project?

Her mind scrambled. She needed an answer, something that would buy her more time to figure out what was going on.

"I believe," she began slowly, "that we have identified the source, but the situation is under control. I'll be having a meeting with the legal team after this session to ensure we're taking the proper precautions."

The room nodded, and a few murmurs of approval rippled through the board. Juniper exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Excellent," the man said, sitting back in his chair. "I'm confident we can rely on you, Ms. Voss."

The tension in the room seemed to ease a little, but Juniper wasn't sure whether it was because of her answers or if she was just good at faking confidence. Either way, the eyes of the room were still on her. But now, they seemed to be watching with approval, rather than judgment.

And for the first time since she woke up in this strange new life, Juniper felt like she might actually belong here. Like, maybe, she could do this.

She reached for the glass of water in front of her, her fingers trembling just slightly as she took a sip. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, though. Like there was something about this life, this woman's life, that wasn't entirely right. It wasn't just the weight of the responsibility-it was the way everything felt too polished, too perfect. Too easy.

And then it hit her.

The thought crept into her mind slowly, settling like a stone in her chest. What if this isn't just a swap of lives? What if something else is happening here?

Her eyes flicked over the table, her gaze landing on the faces of the board members. They all looked...too calm. Too perfect.

There was something dark about this world she had just stepped into. Something she couldn't quite place.

But one thing was clear: she couldn't back out now.