Page 4 of Blackmailing the Mogul

“Her name is Jenna Henson. Twenty-one years old. She recently graduated summa cum laude in computer science and web design from Seattle University. Also, she works as a freelance website programmer for a small company outside of Seattle. She has an excellent transcript as you can see in the file in front of you, so her duties here are quite below the belt of her qualifications. However, the HR department seems confident in her capabilities. She started just last week."

I flip through the file, skimming her resume and academic records. Maria's right, her qualifications are extremely impressive, especially for someone so young.

I can't help but wonder why someone with her skill set is working as an associate office manager here, a role that seems beneath her abilities.

"Why would she take a job like this?" I ask, not expecting Maria to have an answer.

"That's unclear, sir," she replies, a hint of curiosity in her voice. "Perhaps she's looking for a foot in the door or more stable work than freelancing.”

"Jenna Henson," I muttered, mostly to myself. Then, it clicks, she must be my ex-partner, Henry’s stepsister he always whined about. Oh, something shady is going on here.

After watching me flip through the file for a few more minutes, Maria clears her throat.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”

"Not at the moment," I say, waving her off. "Thank you, Maria. That will be all."

She nods and exits the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I stare contemplatively at the passport photo in Jenna Henson's file, wondering how I should proceed. I feel like she’s here for nefarious reasons.

I lean back in my seat and close my eyes, letting the encounter in the hallway replay in my head. She'd seemed a little jittery but that could be because she's new… it could also be because she has an ulterior motive for coming here. For now, I'll keep my eyes on her.

***

Hours later, she's still stuck in my head, and I must have been going on and on about her judging from the look on my Aunt Hilda’s face as she asks the same question Maria did earlier in my office.

“May I ask why you seem so interested in the new girl?"

We're seated on the porch chairs on my penthouse balcony with our glasses of the expensive white wine she brought back from her most recent travels across Europe.

While I'd gotten away with giving Maria a flippant response, I knew that wouldn't fly with Hilda. She knows me like the back of her hand and will immediately call my bluff. Hilda and I share a bond that runs deeper than our family ties. Despite being my paternal aunt, she's the only true friend that I have. After my parents died in a tragic car accident when I was seven, Hilda took me under her wing. She was just seventeen herself at the time, but she stepped up. Ours isn't a conventional relationship. She raised me, but at the same time, we grew up together. It was Hilda who guided me through establishing MedPlus, with the money Dad left me, and even after the company was established, she continued to offer her insight and support behind the scenes. Everything that I am, I owe to her, but she wouldn't even hear of it.

“Earth to Ryan,” Aunt Hilda says, waving a perfectly manicured hand in my face. “Are you interested in this new girl?”

“Of course, I am,” I reply in a noncommittal tone. “She's my employee, after all.”

“Bullshit,” Hilda says with a small laugh that makes her short, purple-spiked hair bob around her face look like a playful halo. “None of your employees has ever interested you so much that you go on about them for more than a second at a time. You've told me about how clumsy and smart she is in more words than I've heard you describe anyone with. That's… odd.”

"Well, I don't mind being odd with you," I say with a mild shrug then sigh softly. "For some weird reason, she's stuck in my head."

“You're attracted to her, aren't you?” she counters, her bright red lips tilting at the corner in a knowing smirk as she searches my face. “You like her!” Her tone is a bit smug. Triumphant, even.

I snicker quietly, rolling my eyes at her ridiculousness. “That's taking it too far, Hilda. I barely even know her.” As much as I try to keep my tone impassive, I can hear the irritation in my voice and that makes me even more irritated. I let out a soft sigh, shaking my head slightly. “It's just… something doesn't feel right about her.”

“Why do you think that?” Hilda asks, her expression turning serious.

“I think she is Henry’s sister,” I reply, wiping a hand across my face.

Hilda seems to think about that for a second, her forehead creasing slightly in a small frown. “If that’s the case, it wouldn’t hurt to take a deeper dive into why she’s working there.”

I nod in response. We sit in companionable silence for a while. The evening is cool, and the view is great, but even that doesn't distract me from the thoughts swirling in my mind. The past few months have been a whirlwind of emotions for me; emotions that I find hard to process and as a result I ignore them. It was shocking to discover Henry's betrayal because, even more than my business partner, he was my friend.

I met Henry Henson at a party I was dragged to by my roommate in my final year in college. We bonded quickly which was a surprise even to me because I didn't usually like keeping people close. At the time, the plans for MedPlus were already underway and somehow, Henry got involved. He was extroverted, persistent, and a sweet talker, and I was quite the opposite, so it made sense that he met up with investors to source funds for our project. I'd always known Henry to be an ambitious person with tendencies to be reckless, but I never thought he'd go as far as pilfering investors' funds and planning to frame me for it so he could have to company himself– my company. So, I played his game right back and took him by surprise.

“Do you think people are right?” I ask, glancing up at Hilda’s puzzled face.

“What about?” She asks, still searching my face.

I shrug. “Many say I'm a cold-hearted jerk for ejecting my business partner of eleven years. I've read blogs that described me as heartless and jaded; I was just wondering if they're right.

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