CHAPTER 58: WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?

Myla.

There was a strange expression on Kevin Munce’s face when he looked down at my phone. It was hard to gauge, which was…weird. I expected some kind of expression from him. Even a minor look of surprise. But instead, there was something guarded in his eyes. A…uh…carefulness, I suppose you could say. Why would he act like that?

“Uh…Ms. Carter, right?” Kevin asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Why are you being so formal, Kev? You’ve seen me naked,” Sophia remarked casually.

I turned to her, my mouth practically dropping open with the shock of her words. I should have expected this kind of thing from her but each time she said or acted like this, it felt like the first time. It always took me by surprise.

“Sophia!” I replied, appalled.

“What? It’s true and I’d rather we cut through all the bullshit and get right to it,” Sophia said. “Kevin, Myla happened to have sex in this building with Fabian Ness. Somehow, an unknown person (or persons, I guess), sent her some incriminating pics of said sexual encounter. We want to know who before Fabian finds out.”

Kevin leaned back in his chair after passing the phone back and stared at the both of us for a minute or so. I could see things turning in his head. Something about his reaction just wasn’t sitting well with me at all. At first, I had no idea why. But it kept sticking in my head and finally, I understood.

“You already knew, didn’t you?” I asked. It came out as an accusation and with more than a touch of anger. “How?”

“It appears the person…” He looked at Sophia for a second. “...or persons have also sent the...incriminating…photos to Mr. Ness as well. He came in here maybe forty minutes ago asking me to do the exact same thing. Find out who might have sent them.”

“No,” I said, unable to stop my reaction or the horrified look on my face.

“I’m afraid so,” he responded. “That is not something a person forgets easily. Someone like Fabian Ness paying a visit? Yeah. That tends to stick in the mind. Also, he wanted to ensure I did not tell a soul so do not let him know I said anything. In fact, I really didn’t. You were the one that did all the talking. Understood?”

“Sure, sure,” Sophia remarked, waving away his worries without a care. “So, he wants the same things as us?” She turned toward me. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“I don't know, Sophs. Nothing about this situation is good.”

“Ladies,” Kevin said, butting in. “Trust me, I am working on this matter personally. All my findings, however, will be going to Mr. Ness. If he chooses to share that information with you, that is his prerogative.”

“Prerogative?” Sophia said, her tone mocking. “Come on. Don’t be like that.”

“Sophia, you are incredibly…fun…but it is out of my hands now. My advice? Talk to Fabian. Tell him the truth. Once we figure out who set up that camera to spy on you, we’ll…”

I looked up sharply at him and Kevin quit talking. Immediately, he realized he messed up and gave away a tidbit of information despite what he just told them. There was a flicker of annoyance that crossed over his eyes.

“Look, just stop, okay? I need to maintain secrecy in this matter. Yes, it does appear someone planted a camera inside that room but I can’t say who and I will not, even if I did know. Fabian Ness himself was sitting right there, where you sit now.” Kevin’s face took on a grim, stoniness. “I’d rather not get on that man’s bad side if I can help it.”

He made sure each of us were paying attention.

“If he chooses to share this information with you himself, I do not have any say in that. But right now, I will not give anything else away. And if it helps, I am sorry this is happening to you. It’s disgusting and you do not deserve it.” He stood up and gestured toward the door. “Now, if you please, I do have a certain task to finish. Sophia, it was good to see you again and…you know…don’t be a stranger.”

“Thanks for nothing, Kev,” Sophia said. “Come on, Myla. Let’s go. It’s obvious that this was a waste of time.”

“That’s unfair of you. I’ve got a direct order from the guy that has contracted my firm for security. What was I supposed to do?” Kevin asked. “You expect me to lose my job over this?”

“Yes,” Sophia shot back, sounding childish. “No.” She let out a huffing breath. “Whatever, I guess not. Thanks anyway.”

“I do appreciate the help you were able to give,” I said.

“One last bit of advice, Myla. Just let Fabian handle this situation. Once I find out the truth, I’m sure he’s going to make this problem of yours go away.” He looked so earnest and sincere. I couldn’t help but feel at least a little bit reassured.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Yes, yes. Thank you,” Sophia said dismissively.

Then we left. Outside the office, I tried to wrangle and control the incredibly strong emotions inside me. Fear, of course, was the most powerful one. I didn’t know what to do now. Fabian knew. Worse yet, he’d gotten pics too. This was the absolute worst thing that could’ve happened with this whole situation.

“He knows, Sophs,” I said, practically wailing. “That must’ve been why he was calling. He thinks it was me, doesn’t he? Oh God, what do I do now? He’s probably furious with me.”

She grabbed my shoulders and turned me so I could look her in the eyes. I half expected her to slap me across the face next but she didn’t. She just captured my attention and pulled me in for a hug.

“I promise you, it’ll be fine,” she said, her voice a whisper in my ear. “Trust me.”

“But what do we do now?”

“Shh,” she said. “I swear it.”

As much as I wanted that to comfort me, it really wasn’t. Fabian knew! Dammit. This was not a development I enjoyed learning about. It made trying to deal with all my “big” emotions really difficult and on top of that, I felt like I was going to have yet another panic attack. I could feel it creeping over me, stealing my breath and wrecking my nerves. All I could think about was Fabian and Fabian’s rage over the entire situation.

“You need to calm down,” Sophia said. She pushed me to start walking and we headed back toward the elevators. “Focus on something else. I know that is probably really hard to do right now, but worrying over what Fabian knows and what he might do is only going to drive you batshit crazy. And that is not helpful.”

I tried to do what she said and focus on something else. That was a spectacular fail though.

“There’s no help for it. We need to go see him,” I said. “We need to see Fabian.”

“Maybe,” she said, hesitating. “Or…maybe we go to the twisted cunt bitch we both know is behind all this. I’m itching to get to the bottom of this and if she’s got nothing to do with this, I’ll be fucked by a giant dildo.” She shot a smile at me. “With studs on it.”

I laughed at that and shoved her playfully with a shoulder.

“That’s very…graphic,” I told her.

“It’s what I do,” she shot back.

“Is Grace even in today?” I asked. I hadn’t seen her yet but to be fair, Sophia and I hadn’t exactly gone straight up to work. There was a good chance she was up there and despite not wanting to confront her, part of me hoped to see her. I did want to get to the bottom of this and Grace was the likeliest culprit. Even I couldn’t blind myself to that bit of knowledge, much as I wanted to. I still didn’t want to believe it could have been her.

“Let’s go find out, shall we?” Sophia started to walk off.

I took off after her.

****

There she was right in front of me. Grace Steyner. She stood a few yards away, talking to someone on her marketing team. She looked…better…somehow. Like she wasn’t burdened with whatever she’d been burdening herself with before. Was that a sign that she was the one to send those pics then? Maybe she enjoyed having power over Fabian and myself.

A sudden, hot urge to race over and physically attack her gripped me. The bitch! If she was the one to do this then I would never forgive her.

“There she is,” Sophia said, unnecessarily. “We doing this out in the open? Or take her somewhere private?”

“Probably private,” I answered. “That makes the most amount of sense.”

“Right.”

We shifted direction and headed toward the woman. Her back was turned to us so she didn’t notice us approaching until it was too late. The person she was talking to noticed us coming though and as their gaze shifted to us, Grace stopped talking and turned around. The minute she saw us, her jaw clenched. Her mouth turned into a thin, firm line and there was a second where I thought she would hit us.

“What do you two want?” she asked, her voice icy. “Come to get me sent home again? Don’t bother. It’s not going to work this time.”

“I didn’t get you sent home,” I said, confused. “But no.”

“What Myla means to say is, the three of us need to have a little chat,” Sophia said in a commanding voice. “How about we go somewhere private for it?”

She looked about to tell us no but then stopped herself. I think it was curiosity that made her hesitate. She wanted to know what the two of us were so obviously angry about. A small, dark smile spread across her lips.

“Why the hell not?” she said. “The way you two are looking right now, this promises to be entertaining at the very least.”

She didn’t wait for either of us to respond. Instead, she just walked away. There was no discussion on which room to go to so we could have our discussion, which irked me a lot. Already, Grace was taking a measure of power away from us. Apparently, it annoyed Sophia too because she shot a dirty look at the woman’s retreating back. Then she turned to me and held out a hand, waiting for me to go first.

“After you,” she said. “Follow the bitch.”

I did, following after Grace like some child following their mother. That thought only intensified my annoyance. Probably Sophia’s too if she thought of the same comparison. Not once did Grace look behind her to make sure we were still there. She just remained confident that we were. Eventually, we came to her office and followed her inside. It was a large one with huge windows behind her desk. There were some decorations and personal items but not many, giving the room a somewhat sparse vibe. I also noticed that she had no framed photos of family members, and especially none of her husband.

She immediately went to her chair and sat down.

“All right. You’ve got me interested,” she said, looking up at us. There were no chairs to sit in so we both just stood there, somewhat awkwardly too. I’m sure she knew that would be the case and probably enjoyed seeing us look uncomfortable. “What is this about?”

“You know exactly what…” Sophia started, taking a step or two closer to her desk. I had to restrain her with a hand, otherwise she probably would’ve lunged at her.

“Wait, Sophs,” I said, trying to keep my own voice calm. “Let’s not start off that way. Let’s be civil.”

Sophia did NOT look like she wanted to be civil at all. If left to her devices, I fully expected my best friend to rip Grace’s head off, either metaphorically or physically. Maybe even both.

“Here’s a novel concept,” Grace said, steepling her fingers together in front of her. “Why don’t you stop screaming at me and just spit it out. I’m a busy woman. You can’t expect me to sit here all day, waiting. Some of us actually do real work here.”

Her eyes darted quickly to Sophia when she said that and my friend started to grind her teeth together, noisily.

“Don’t start with me, bitch. You’re still on my list for trying to turn me against, Myla,” Sophia snapped.

“Were able to put that together, huh? I’m impressed,” Grace replied.

“Can you just stop, please?” I asked. “It never had to be like this,”

“Yes, well, we will be disagreeing on that, Myla. Now again, what is this about?”