Page 161 of Twisted Truth

I mull over his words. Honestly, they don’t surprise me. I wouldn’t be shocked if they saw the article about me and Charlotte as an opportunity to cut me down. It’s no secret they hate the amount of power I hold. Their hands have been mostly tied about that, but this presented them with an opportunity to do something about it. I can’t blame them for it, but I sure as shit can keep them from succeeding.

“How does the board determine whether or not their little farce has succeeded?” I ask. I’m aware this is something I should have probably asked before I signed the contract to date Ella, but everything happened so fast, the question didn’t even occur to me.

“It comes down to metrics, I believe,” Emily says. “Part of my role in this is to calculate as best I can the positive versus negative media attention. At the end of the ninety days, if there is more positive media attention, and the story of Charlotte is basically dead, then you’ve done your job. But if there’s more negative attention than positive, and if Charlotte’s story is still relevant, then you’ve failed.”

“And what about after the ninety days? Can they just keep bringing up the shares as leverage in the future? What’s to stop them from doing this over and over again?”

“I believe the cap on it is ten years,” Matthew says. “You signed that deal seven years ago, and the conditions were that the deal had to remain in place for five years and your shares were under condition for ten. So, for the next three years they can fuck with you, but only if you’re affecting Langford Holdings in a negative way.”

So, I have to keep my nose clean for the next three years.

“Unfortunately, the negative attention doesn’t start and end with you,” Emily says. “Any attention Ella gets is a direct reflection of you, therefore it’s counted in your metrics. So, we need to get this timeline straightened, and we need to counter Kyle’s story. That should get us sympathy for Ella as the victim in this case, and that will hopefully swing public opinion back into her favor.

“But . . . circling back to the earlier point with the email, I agree that something feels off. Why was it leaked to the executives? I understand leaking it to the PR team, but why the executives? There’s no reason for that unless RTZ somehow knows the board is invested in Asher and Ella’s relationship, which would mean they know it’s a PR stunt.”

I still, processing her words. “Fuck, do you think it’s possible that they know?”

She sighs. “Between the PR team, the Langford family, and the board, at least two dozen people know the truth about this.Everyone has signed NDAs, but that doesn’t always keep people’s mouths shut. And if that’s the case we’re in much bigger trouble than a timeline issue.”

“But if they knew about the relationship being a PR stunt, they’d print about that,” Matthew says. “That is a much more salacious story than an ex-boyfriend’s tell-all.”

I run my hand over my jaw as I mull over all the information. It’s all just too convenient. And if Matthew’s theory is correct, then it makes perfect sense.

“I think Matthew is right on both counts,” I say, as things click into place. “I’m already suspicious that someone on the board is out for blood because of another issue.” I give Matthew a pointed look and his eyes light in understanding. He knows about Declan’s theory that a board member is working to sabotage Greenspan. “I think someone on the board wants me to fail, and they could be feeding RTZ information, and then making sure the bad press they write gets back to the board members because they are the ones who have the power to bring me down.”

Anger burns through me. First Greenspan, now Ella. Whoever this is they’ve gone too far. And they’re a fucking coward. They know they can’t hurt me straight on, so they’re using other people as cannon fodder to get to me. When I figure out exactly who it is, they’ll wish they were never born. Hurting and threatening my employees is bad enough, but hurting Ella?

Un-fucking-acceptable.

44

ELLA

Isnap my laptop shut and drop my head in my hands as I fight back tears. How dare Kyle do this. Was it not enough for him to steal from me? Was it not enough for him to assault me? Was it not enough for him to burn my things?

What the hell did I ever see in him? And why did I stay with him for so long?

I let out a shaky breath and do my best to collect myself. My coworkers were all pretending to not be watching me read the email, and they all failed. I knew the second I got off my call with Lennox Rose that something was wrong by the way they were all looking at me. It didn’t help that Daphne looked smug. I don’t even know why she’s still on the team since lately she seems to revel in my misfortune; not the best quality in a PR team member.

I want to snap at them all to mind their own goddamn business, but this is in fact their business since we now have to handle this. We knew these types of articles would come out about whoever Asher dated, but it’s getting harder to face them when those articles are about me, and we’re all struggling to separate them between work and personal. This situation isgetting more complicated by the day, and I wish they were better at hiding their reactions to it.

Emily texts me, asking me to come into Asher’s office to discuss the article, and I grab my laptop and head there, doing my best to ignore the looks my coworkers still shoot my way.

The tension in Asher’s office isn’t much better. Asher, Matthew, and Emily are all quiet as I pull up a chair next to Matthew. I’m trying to put on a brave face, but I’m sure I’m not hiding the hurt on my face well. Just when I thought my ex-boyfriend couldn’t go any lower, he did. I honestly don’t care that the article focuses on me being a gold-digger. There have already been a dozen similar articles written. What has me so upset is that Kyle is just outright lying about everything. I never even mentioned Asher’s name to Kyle because I’d never even met him before I broke up with Kyle—I worked as a marketing rep for God’s sake—so I never in a million years thought I’d meet the CEO of the company. But because Kyle is a small, insecure little man, he’s manufactured some ridiculous story and the world just might believe that story because he was my boyfriend.

Emily walks me through her thoughts on disputing Kyle’s claims by showing the truth and publishing the texts and videos between us, and the thought of it makes me shrink in my seat. Do I really want to throw all that out into the world? Do I really want to publish my text messages and videos of my burning clothes for the world to see? The thought makes me sick.

“What do you think?” Emily asks.

“I . . . don’t know,” I say, my voice quiet. “It’s already humiliating to go through that. I still can’t believe that it happened to me, and I don’t know if I can share it with the world.”

“Okay, we can set that aside for now,” Emily says in a comforting voice. “Let’s discuss the timeline and how to fi?—”

“I don’t know if we’re going to have another choice,” Asherinterrupts. “We can’t let the media run away with this story. We have a definite way to clear it up, so we should take it.”

My stomach twists. “I understand that, but this is personal.”

“You’re going to have a hard time keeping your personal life quiet. This will at least exonerate you.”