Page 94 of Breakaway

“I didn’t do that. This is not my article, and I didn’t send you this email. Someone else did.”

“But…” Kai glances sideways, scowling and looking lost in thought. “You said something was happening with my emails to you. That it looked as if you’d read them when you didn’t.” I nod, swallowing my nerves. “Did you talk to our tech team?”

“They said they didn’t know why it was happening. That it didn’t look like anyone had hacked my email.”

“When was the last time you changed your password?” I shake my head signaling that I don’t remember, and Kai’s face darkens. “Someone must’ve had access to your email. Maybe they were reading my emails to you, checking your emails to me. Whoever it was probably replaced the article too.”

“Access to my…” I trail off, the picture slowly becoming crystal clear. How could I’ve been so stupid? The explanation was right there. “I’m such an idiot.”

“You know who did this?”

I nod, standing up from my chair. “Travis.”

“Your ex? He hacked your email?”

“He didn’t need to. A few months ago, I forgot my laptop here at the office, so I used his. I logged in to my email, sent the article I was working on to myself, and closed the laptop. I didn’t even check to see if I logged out; I never thought it would be a problem.” I stalk to the door, anger bubbling inside of my body.

“You want me to come with you?” Kai rises in his chair, but I shake my head no.

“It’s fine. I can handle him.” I open the door but pause in the doorframe. “Can you please replace what’s online with my original article?”

“Of course,” my boss says. “And take the day off. I’m guessing your husband wasn’t happy with that article.”

“He wasn’t, but I’ll do anything I can to fix it,” I reply and walk out the door. “I love him, and I refuse to give up on us.”

“Attagirl.” Kai’s voice follows me as I head down the hallway.

If someone had told me that Travis would do something like this, I would’ve never believed them. He wasn’t malicious or scheming. He was a good guy through and through. Until he wasn’t.

Because I broke his heart.

Viraj,Travis’s colleague, sees me first. There’s a cup of coffee pressed to his lips. He lowers it and smiles, waving at me.

“Nevaeh, hey. It’s been a while,” he says as I stop beside him, sweeping my gaze over the office’s open floor plan. “How did you get in?”

“Rosie let me in.” Joining my ex and his coworkers for drinks a few times definitely came in handy today. Rosie, a nice girl from reception, let me in right away. “Where is Travis?”

“On a call in the conference room.” Viraj points to a room with tinted glass walls.

“Thanks, Viraj. It was nice to see you.” I veer to my right, saunter over to the door, and knock loudly.

I’m absolutely fuming. It takes a lot not to show how furious I am. But I don’t want to be kicked out before I can talk to Travis.

The door swings open, and Travis’s face comes into view. He steps back, surprise coloring his features. I push past him, and he lets me, closing the door once I’m inside. Squinting at his laptop, I know his call is over. The code editor is launched, and the lines of whatever code he’s working on are displayed on the screen.

“What are you doing here, Nevaeh?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know,” I grit, plopping myself down into a chair.

“Youfinallyfigured out I’ve been checking your emails. Took you long enough I must say. I kinda hoped you’d realize it sooner.” He smirks, sitting down across from me. “I could’ve marked them as ‘unread’ and you would’ve never even known something was wrong, but I wanted you to know…and you disappointed me.”

“Why did you even care about what was in my work emails?”

“I saw you withyour husbandin his car after you brought Happy back, and you lied to my fucking face when I confronted you about him.” Travis shrugs. “Hurt people hurt people, isn’t that what they say?”

I shake my head in disbelief. “Did it make you feel better? To spy on me? To replace the article I wrote? Did any of it make you feel better about yourself?”

“In fact,” Travis says, relaxing back into his chair, “it did. How does your boy toy feel now? Not so powerful, I assume?” The smile that forms on his face makes me nauseous. “I swear, all that time I spent googling him paid off and it came in very handy when I realized I could use it for your piece. If you only knew how many articles I read in Russian, how many Facebook and VK groups I scoured for inside information. Did you know they have a Russian version of Facebook? It was created by?—”

---