Page 56 of Return on Love

It feels nice to be called Bernard’s favorite and being recognized as such. “What do you suggest we do, Hayden? I’ve stopped James, but do they have something more on Bernard? Something about siphoning money from an escrow account.” I want to know if he knows anything about it. He’s closer to Weber than I am.

“I don’t know, Eva. I’d like to help Bernard, but what can we do? They are setting up an investigating team. I’m sure they’ll find the truth. It’s my last few days here and I don’t really want to get involved in anything, y’know. I’d suggest you too not to get involved any more than necessary. Save yourself.”

Well, that was that. Hayden is a good man, but he’s risk-averse. I understand the reason too. He comes from a poor background and has a large family dependent on him. He won’t do anything to jeopardize his situation. It’s much too precious for him. He has already seen a lifetime or two of hardships in his life so far.

I fall asleep with my brain oscillating between trying to find some solution for Bernard and thinking about Ryan and his oh so muscular and toned body.

The sleep does me good and when I wake up, my brain is already going on an overdrive, thinking of a way to expose Weber.

I meet Ryan and Gabriel in the office. “Gabriel, can you work on the presentation with the old game and send it to Weber by end of the week? Just tell him you’ll be making a few updates and sending him over the weekend for giving it to the Partners. That’s when we’ll add the new slides. By the way, we’ve also thought of education through games concept. We can just put it as a future strategy, maybe for next year.”

“Education! Wow. I’d almost forgotten about it. Ryan was always so passionate about doing something for the education sector in America when we started out. I’m glad we’re finally getting to it.”

“Actually,” Ryan says, a little sheepishly. “It was Eva. It’s her idea. I’d almost forgotten my ideals in a bid to make what sells.”

“Whoever’s idea man. I’m glad it’s back on our radar. We can create a Trust for this work and fund it through companies' CSR budgets. Our reach can extend to schools in other countries too. It can really be great. Funding reminds me—what about Bernard? You said something about him being in a soup.”

We brief him on the details that we know so far, both Ryan and I talking in quick succession, filling up where the other was missing.

“How do you both know it? You spent the weekend together?” Gabriel asks.

“No!” Both Ryan and I squeak together.

“I mean, we’ve been in touch and he showed up at the restaurant where I was having lunch with Dad. But that’s all,” I say. I think it comes off more like an excuse than an explanation. I don’t even know why I’m trying to hide it. We’re adults, for God’s sake. We can sleep with who we like, without owing an explanation to anyone.

“Yeah, sure,” Gabriel says. “So, I’ll get to finishing the presentation to send Weber. Molly has to send the updated screenshots of the game. I spoke to her yesterday evening, and she’s made good progress.”

Gabriel leaves us and there’s an awkward silence in the room. “Well, that was weird,” Ryan finally says.

“I know, right! Pfft. It’s not like we’re dating or anything.”

Ryan gives me a slanted look and raises his eyebrows. “Whatever you say. So, what’s the remaining plan of action? You texted in the morning that you had some spy-level ideas.”

“Yeah,” I say, leaning forward on the table and loud whispering to Ryan. “Remember, you told me about that software you can put in the system that’ll allow you to access it? The one you thought Weber must’ve used for Bernard to send that email.”

Ryan nods.

“Can you code it for me? I wanna use it on Weber.”

“I can, but that’ll take time. A faster way is to check with some people on the dark web. I think it can be done. But we’ll need to copy the file onto Weber’s laptop.”

“I plan to go to LA this Thursday. I’ll meet Weber on Friday.”

“But won’t he expect you to be here. I mean the funding presentations are scheduled a week later, right?”

“Yeah. But the existing client updates and other decisions are happening next week, even though your presentation will be the week after. We, in any case have to send the final deck by end of this week. He won’t suspect my presence. I’m sure I’ll get some opportunity once I’m there. That’ll give us proof of Weber’s involvement.”

“What if you’re caught? And they think Bernard set you up for it? You could get into trouble.”

“I won’t.” I say with much more confidence than I really feel. I’ve thought about this scenario, and honestly, it scares me. I need to do it for Bernard and expose people like Weber. They must face consequences for their actions.

“Okay, I’ll send out feelers on the dark web and see what comes of it. I’ll also book our tickets for Thursday.”

“Our? You’re coming? You don’t need to. I’m doing it for Bernard. You don’t have to get involved any more than required.”

“I do.” He stands up, walks over to my side of the table, and twirls the chair on its wheels so that I’m facing him. He places his hands on my shoulders and leans in, bringing our eyes so close. “I will be there for you, not because I have to, but because I want to.”

I could kiss these lips right now. I can see the slight trembling of his lips too, as he straightens up and goes back to his seat. This is his office. And, as I said earlier, we’re not dating. Plus, we’ve already discussed, the ‘mistake’ was only for the weekend and the weekend’s gone. We need to be professionals now.

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