Page 72 of The Lessons

“Natalie, there you are.” She reached out and put her hand on my sleeve. “Can I have you for five minutes after the meeting?”

I swallowed. Something in her tone made me nervous. I tried to play it off. “Sure, Cathy. Whatever you need.”

I saw Brad across the room, and for a second, our eyes connected. I offered an apologetic smile, but he quickly looked down and pretended to be engrossed in his iPad. Weird. Was he actually mad that I’d backed out of our date?

The meeting was pretty standard, mostly round-robin team updates. But when it was the turn of Doug, the head of IT, to speak, he got up and stood at the front of the room.

“Hi, everyone. An important announcement. I am sure everyone saw the email about hackers and our firewalls. I just want to remind everyone that firewalls are not perfect and that you should never store your personal information on any work machine. If you could, please go over this message with your direct reports. Thanks.”

Was it just me, or did he avoid looking in my direction as he delivered the news?

Bizarre.

The rest of the meeting took about forty-five minutes, tedious stuff about restructuring our supply chain. I kept trying to make eye contact with Brad, who was seated across from me, but he wouldn’t look at me. I began to think that maybe Ryan was right… I mean, was Brad bored of me already? After one date?

“Alright.” The vice president stood. “That’s all for today, everyone. Thanks for coming. Enjoy your lunch.” The staff dutifully stood and started to file out of the room.

I hung back, waiting to make my way to Cathy. “Hey, you said you wanted to talk?”

“Yes, thank you, Natalie.” She glanced around, making sure we were alone before she closed the door to the room. “I’m glad you’re here. I take it you saw the email?”

“Uh, no. You mean the one Doug was talking about? No, I haven’t logged on yet. I had an appointment this morning.”

Cathy nodded slowly, concentrating on the blank notebook in front of her.

“Well, about that email, Natalie. It seems that someone hacked into our network.”

I nodded. Yes, that is what Doug had said. Or something like that. “Right.”

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before looking up at me. Her eyes were riddled with disappointment. “Natalie, I’m afraid some photos were leaked. Of you.”

I squinted at her. Photos of me? What did she mean? “I don’t understand.”

She rifled through her notebook, removed a printout, and passed it across the table to me.

I pulled it toward me and looked down.

Hol-y shit.

Chapter Twenty-one

Natalie

“What the hell is this?” I exclaimed, yanking the picture up to get a better look.

“Natalie,” Cathy started, her voice staying calm and measured. How she could stay calm and measured, though, was beyond me. I was face to face with a picture of me, naked, riding two guys who looked like Chippendale dancers.

“This isn’t me!” I said definitively, slamming the picture down on the table. Then I picked it back up and stared at it carefully. “Where did you even get it?”

Cathy readjusted herself in her seat. “It was emailed to everyone on staff this morning. Thankfully, it came in around seven, and it was taken down by 8:45, so most staff didn’t have a chance to see it. But, well…”

“But what? Cathy, youcannotseriously think this is me!” I wasn’t screaming, but my voice was definitely raised. I couldn’t help it. This picture had been sent to everyone? I looked at it closer. It was my face all right, but not my body. No way. “I don’t understand. Why would someone do this?”

“So you are confirming it’s not you. Is that right?” Cathy asked gently.

I put the printout down again. “Yes. It is definitely not me. I promise, Cathy.”

“And the photo didn’t come from your computer?”

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