Page 72 of Return on Love

We move to the other slides, where I’ve penned down, in brief points, how Priscilla is behind everything, how the funding from James’ app was going to Richard, finally ending with the screenshot of money transferred to Bernard’s account from the escrow account and then a few days earlier a large part of that being transferred from Bernard’s account to another account, which as per our guess is Richard’s.

There’s a collective gasp from the audience. Priscilla shuts the power supply, something she should’ve done some time ago. But it’s too late now. We can’t see anything. Ryan quickly erases traces of the virus from Priscilla’s laptop and anything that can link it all to him or me.

Some minutes later, we casually walk past the boardroom. I see Lily standing outside. She runs over to me as soon as she sees me.

“Did you have something to do with this?” she asks, her eyes open wide in horror and excitement.

“With what?” I ask, but I can’t control the smirk on my face.

Lily nods. “Good work, both of you. Thank you from the entire firm. They’re discussing whether to call in the police or run an internal investigation on Priscilla. I think they won’t call the police. It’s bad for the firm. But her career here is definitely over.”

All the associates, analysts, VPs and even the assistants are told not to step out until the investigation is done. I see Weber talking with Neil. By the looks of it, it’s not a pleasant conversation. Ryan is requested to leave the office premises. They don’t want potential clients to get a whiff of what’s happening. As if Ryan doesn’t know about it! But the partners don’t know the source of what happened.

I meet him before he leaves. “So, this is over,” he says. “Hopefully Bernard will be in the clear now.”

I nod. “Thank you.”

“What does it mean for us?” he asks, gazing into my eyes.

“There is no us. You went to Priscilla behind my back. You signed the document saying I was worthless.”

He rolls his eyes, as if exasperated. “That paper doesn’t mean shit now. I had to do it to get us to this level.”

“Or did you do it to save your ass whatever be the outcome today?”

He lets out a sigh. “You cannot put this on me. I’d never do that and I think you know it. You’re saying this because you’ve had some terrible relationships and you’re afraid to be vulnerable again. But you have to stand up for what you want. You can’t live your life in fear and hide behind your past.”

“How dare you?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. But it’s true, isn’t it?”

I can feel my entire face burning up in anger. He’s using the things I told him in confidence against me, to justify his own sly behavior. “I don’t want to see you ever again. Just leave. Now.”

I stomp away. I hear the ping of the elevator, and I know he has to go down. And I don’t care. Living my life in fear! Hiding behind my past? As if that’s the reason I mistrust him.

Lily and I spend most of the day together. Lily’s boss, Gordon, is locked inside the boardroom with the other partners and Weber is busy trying to figure out the mess he’s in.

“So,” Lily asks, once we’ve found a relatively quiet corner in the cafeteria, a cup of hot chocolate in our hands. “What’s going on with you and Mr Handsome?”

I shrug. “Nothing,” I say as nonchalantly as possible, but I can sense my pitch is a little higher than usual. Lily raises her eyebrows and has a grin plastered over her face. “I mean, he’s not as bad as I thought. He’s okay.”

“Uh, huh! And? Did you guys… y’know?” She arches her eyebrows.

“Really, Lily! C’mon now,” I say, trying to get away. “You tell me, how’s Don?” Don is the easiest way to get Lily to drop a topic. She loves talking about the dog at every chance she gets, except, of course, now.

“Don is good. But don’t digress.” She pauses and stares at me. “Oh, my God! You both really did it? I don’t believe it. After all the talk of I hate him and he hates me, it took you just a month to get into bed together! Wow! Good for you. Tell me, how was it? Don’t spare any details, girl. Tell me everything. Is he as good in bed as he is to look at?”

I nod and feel my lips involuntarily moving into a smile. “But it’s over now. Just a fling. And I still hate him.”

Thankfully, I’m saved from further questioning by Weber’s appearance.

“Hi girls,” he says, the politeness tinged with tension. “I need to borrow Eva for a bit. I hope you don’t mind, Lily.”

I follow him to his office. He shuts the door and gestures for me to take a seat.

“First of all, I’d like to apologize. Priscilla told me some things, and I believed her. I distrusted you and your abilities. In fact, I almost set you up to fail. However, I’m very impressed by the work you’ve done with MooreGames in such a short time. I reviewed the presentation last night and immediately recommended funding the company to the partners. Congratulations on that!”

I nod. I have a feeling he’s not done yet.

---