Page 101 of Mr. Hook-up

I felt my head shake, my lips open the entire time. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Seeing. That something this evil was attached to my name. “But I didn’t do it. I’m telling you, I didn’t send that email. I know nothing about this—not just the creation of the email or how my address was resurrected out of the blue, but I have no knowledge of the Dating Place. It didn’t exist while I was employed there, or if it did, it was never shared with me.”

“If your name wasn’t listed as the sender of that email, we would be in full agreement,” Holden said. His tone wasn’t exonerating, but it wasn’t accusatory either. “But you have to understand where we’recoming from. The company in question is your previous employer. The designs are painfully similar to ours. As our director of app development and engineering, you have unlimited access to our systems and software, and that puts you in a precarious position. Not to mention you’ve signed an NDA with us.”

“But I wouldn’t do this. I’m not a spy or a thief. I wouldn’t send you an email from my old Faceframe account and then sit at this table and defend myself. I would get on a plane and go right back to work for Faceframe if that was the case.” As I glanced at Easton, my pulse was hammering away so fast, my tongue was vibrating. When I got no reaction from him, no response to anything I’d said, I looked at the attorney. “Isn’t there a way to confirm I’m not employed there? That they haven’t paid me a dime since my final paycheck?”

“Drake, whether you’re employed there or not is only half the issue and a serious breach of your NDA,” Grayson said. “The other half is that data was transferred from our company to theirs.”

Hair fell into my eyes as my head moved continuously from side to side. “You don’t believe me.”

“We’re not saying that at all, Drake. We believe—” Holden stopped to glance around the room. “Let me rephrase. I believe I can speak for everyone at this table when I say you’re one of the best things that’s ever happened to Hooked. At this moment, we’re looking at the information that has been presented, and due to its nature, we must take action. This isn’t an accusation. This is the start of a thorough investigation.”

“Which will rule out any wrongdoing, or it’ll show who in this office did in fact send Faceframe the data,” Grayson added.

Their choice of words was no coincidence. Grayson and Holden had been prepped on what to say, the in-house attorney carefully providing the verbiage.

I knew how this worked.

But I didn’t need to watch my verbiage.

Not when I was completely innocent.

“I know how this looks,” I told them. “I know you got that email with my name at the top and my signature at the bottom and what you immediately assumed.” I took a breath. “It’s what anyone would assume. But I swear to all of you, I had absolutely nothing to do with this.” I didn’t know how to show them I was innocent. I didn’t know how to prove that I wasn’t this kind of person. “I’m still in contact with my old colleagues at Faceframe. They reach out to me on occasion with questions, and I’m the ex-boss who answers each and every one. I refuse to leave them hanging—I’m not a person who would do that. Just like I answer calls from my coders here when they phone at three in the morning. But never once during any of the conversations I had with Faceframe employees did they mention the Dating Place. I’ve been kept completely in the dark and ...” My voice trailed off as I glanced down at the folder. “I realize now that was probably on purpose.”

No one said anything.

Not even Easton.

His silence was maddening.

Didn’t he have an opinion?

Didn’t he know I would never do something like this?

Didn’t he have anything to offer that would help my case?

I lifted the papers, running my fingers over the photos. “Are you positive these are real? That these images weren’t Photoshopped? That someone from, say, another one of our competitors didn’t send this in an attempt to rile you up?”

“David was able to find the test markets, and he confirmed the Dating Place is live, like the email stated,” Grayson said. “And the interface looks exactly like the photos.” He nodded toward the papers in my hand.

I set the pages down and closed the top of the folder. “I’m not a mole, a spy, or a thief—I’m an honest, dedicated employee who would do anything for Hooked, including working eighty hours a week, which I have been. I certainly wouldn’t put in all those hours only to blowmyself up this way.” I was met with more silence, and I dug through my brain, scraping for more verbal evidence that would acquit me. “I’m one of the top coders in the country. If I really wanted to steal your designs, I would have just hacked in and gotten the information I needed. I most definitely wouldn’t have put myself through this kind of humiliation and shame to get something I could have easily obtained while sitting at my desk at Faceframe.” I scanned each face around the table. “Please tell me you believe me.”

“Let me reiterate,” the in-house attorney said, “you are not being accused of anything. As it currently stands, the only proof we have is this email. We don’t have evidence that you acted as a mole or that you distributed or transferred any said material.” As the attorney took a breath, I felt Easton’s eyes on me. “The partners are going to assess the evidence that has been presented and open an internal investigation to determine if there’s more evidence to be found. Based on those findings, they’ll move forward with the next steps.”

That meant they were going to comb through every piece of data on my computer to see if they could locate a transfer.

They knew that if I wanted to hide my tracks, it wouldn’t be hard. I could make that transfer history completely disappear, where David or a forensic data analyst wouldn’t be able to find it.

My skills were stronger than both combined.

Still, they couldn’t accuse me unless they had proof.

I leaned my arms onto the table, my head falling forward as I searched, clawed, through my mind for the right words. And when I still had nothing, when I didn’t even know where to begin, I glanced up. “I don’t know what I can say at this point to clear my name. I know how terrible this looks. I know I’m being framed to appear like the worst employee in the world, but I hope that in the little time I’ve been here, I’ve shown how loyal I am to your company. How much I love working here and how much you all mean to me.”

As I thought of the relationships I’d developed with the people around this table, my voice caught in my throat. Their opinions of me mattered, and it hurt to think those had now been tarnished.

I couldn’t go down without a last-minute fight.

“Why would I do all this work here if my intent was to just destroy you?” I asked. “Why would I go to Germany to represent a brand I don’t respect? Why would I be on the cusp of an international rollout if my intention was to never follow through? You’ve seen the work I’ve done with the rollout, and you know how long it’s taken me so far. You’ve witnessed all the improvements I’ve made on the current app, the usability and retention I’ve increased—things I wouldn’t even be bothering with if my motive was as nefarious as these accusations.” I held up the folder and tried to bring more air into my lungs. It didn’t help; I still couldn’t breathe. “Analyze whatever you want, strip my work and home stations. I assure you, you’ll find nothing. Your investigation is going to prove my innocence.”

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