He opened it and felt his blood go cold. It was a photo. Him and Victoria at the park. The same one Richard had sent, but this time it was embedded in what looked like a draft news article. The headline read, “Hail Industries CEO’s questionable relationship raises ethics concerns.” The article was poison.
It implied Victoria had used her position to help Noah, that Noah had manipulated his way into her life to advance his career, that the investigation was a cover up for their inappropriate relationship. It cited anonymous sources within the company and questions about conflict of interest. At the bottom was a message publishing Friday unless investigation is dropped. Your move.
Noah called Victoria immediately. Someone’s threatening to leak our relationship to the press. They want the investigation dropped or they publish. Forward me the email now. Noah did. He could hear Victoria typing furiously on the other end. This is Richard’s play. He can’t win legitimately, so he’s trying to force my hand.
Threaten my reputation. make this about scandal instead of facts. What do we do? We call his bluff. Noah, if we drop the investigation, Richard wins. He goes back to business as usual. You and everyone else he’s stolen from get nothing. And he’ll make sure you’re fired within a month. But if we don’t drop it, this goes public.
Your reputation, the company’s reputation, everything gets dragged through the mud. Better mud than surrender. Victoria’s voice was steel. I’m not backing down. Are you? Noah thought about four years of silence, about Emma asking why he always looked tired. About the possibility of finally, finally standing up for himself.
No, I’m not backing down. Good, because we’re going to beat him. I’m forwarding this to our legal team and to the board. Blackmail is illegal. Whoever sent this just gave us ammunition. What if they publish anyway? Then they publish. We’ll deal with it together. After they hung up, Noah couldn’t sleep. He paced the apartment, checked on Emma three times, scrolled through his phone compulsively.
At 2:00 a.m., his phone buzzed. Victoria can’t sleep either. Not even close. I keep thinking about Friday, about what happens if they actually publish. We survive it. Same as everything else. You make it sound simple. It’s not simple, but it’s survivable. I’ve survived worse. So have you. A pause. Then can I ask you something? Always.
Do you regret it? Any of this? Meeting me, getting involved, all the mess that came with it. Noah looked at his phone for a long moment before typing. Not for a second. You not even close. They texted until sunrise about nothing and everything. When Noah finally fell asleep on the couch, phone in hand, he dreamed about parking lots and photographs and headlines he couldn’t control.
Tuesday and Wednesday crawled by. The investigation continued. Auditors interviewed people throughout the engineering division. Noah was called in twice more, asked the same questions different ways, watched people take notes, and exchanged glances. He stuck to the truth, documented everything, kept copies.
Richard’s allies tried their best. Three engineers, just like Richard had promised, gave statements claiming Noah was difficult to work with. That he’d been passed over for promotion repeatedly because of attitude problems. That this was revenge masquerading as justice. But the evidence was overwhelming. Every claim Noah had made checked out.
Original files, timestamps, email chains, all of it pointed to systematic theft. By Thursday afternoon, HR had expanded the investigation to include two other managers in Richard’s network. Victoria texted updates when she could, but they were brief, professional, no phone calls during work hours, no meetings. HR’s recommendation to keep things private was being followed to the letter, even though it felt like suffocating.
Thursday night, Noah took Emma to her favorite burger place. She was unusually quiet, pushing fries around her plate. What’s wrong, sweetheart? Nothing. Emma? She looked up at him. Some kids at school said their parents said you’re in trouble at work, that you did something bad. Noah’s chest tightened.
I didn’t do anything bad. That’s what I said. But they said their parents said you’re dating the boss and that’s why she’s being mean to other people. Who said that? Sophia’s mom. She works at your company. She told Sophia’s dad and Sophia heard and told everyone at lunch. Noah closed his eyes. Of course, the gossip wasn’t staying contained to work.
It was spreading, bleeding into everything, touching his daughter. Listen to me, Emma. I am dating Victoria. That’s true. But I’m not in trouble. Some people at work did some bad things and now they’re being investigated. That’s all. Is that why everyone’s being weird? Yeah. People don’t always understand the whole story.
They just hear parts and make assumptions. I don’t like it when people say mean things about you. I know, baby. I don’t like it either. But we’re okay. You and me. That’s what matters. Emma nodded but didn’t look convinced. They finished dinner in silence. Noah’s phone buzzed as they were leaving. Unknown number.
Hope your daughter enjoyed her burger. Cute kid. Be a shame if all this stress affected her schooling. Kids can be cruel when their parents are tabloid fodder. Noah stopped walking. Read it again. Felt rage flood through him so intense he couldn’t see straight. They were threatening Emma now. Not directly, but the implication was clear.
