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The entrance to the conference room is getting swarmed. Divisional heads from Finance, IT, Loan management, Sales, Communications, Customer strategy, Operations, and of course, me, Marketing. We exchange brief greetings and make it inside, where Harrison is talking with Wade and Victoria’s PR team.
He looks up when we’re all seated.
I don’t want to get edgy, but it’s probably a waste of time trying to get my hormones to relax at the sight of Harrison. He’s exactly what my body needs to ease off some tension right now. He’s looking just as tired as I feel, but even with the shabbily combed hair, on a button-down shirt and slacks, he still looks pretty dreamy.
Harrison clears his throat. “Thank you everyone for showing up. I know it’s under such short notice and you all have busy schedules to attend to. But we have a serious situation at hand. Please, pay attention to the screen, even though I’m sure you’ve all seen the news as of this morning.”
His assistant takes the cue and switches on the projector screen.
Apparently, fresh evidence has been provided, or perhaps, falsified, against Building Bridges and we’re getting dragged through the mud all over again by the media.
A new document was outsourced by Garfield Hayes to a popular tier-one publication, claiming that Building Bridges requested an application fee of five thousand dollars from him before he could be considered for a loan. Also, he claimed we demanded fifty percent of all his profits for the first six months before the repayment plan would kick in.
None of this ever happened. We still have no idea who the guy is or who could be sponsoring his allegations. Building Bridges charges zero dollars for applications and we have a very parallel process. We would never make a demand of profits in any way. Our repayment rates are some of the fairest and most reasonable in the entire district, and I wonder how this media house ran this story without calling us first.
I’ve already seen all of this, and somehow, it shocks me all over again.
Other publications, news websites, social media blogs, and even traditional media houses have run straight with the story, plastering the words “reportedly” and “allegedly” all over their headlines to dissociate themselves from the falsehood.
The comments from millions of readers are vile and ruthless.
People are ripping us to shreds and de-marketing our company from the very foundations. It seems like there’s only one party anyone cares about in this case, and it’s the anonymous Garfield Hayes.
Harrison looks like he’s struggling to speak. He swipes a hand across his jaw. “As you can all see, this is probably the worst it has ever been. We’ve weathered terrible storms of unimaginable slander and defamation in the past few weeks and it seems like we’re stuck sitting on our hands. Well, not anymore. This is the last straw. I am done taking this bullshit.”
The rage in his body is controlled, but it’s propelling him, nonetheless. Am I a weirdo for getting turned on at the sight of his creased brows and the sound of this three times lower baritone? Oh goodness.
Harrison takes the screen’s remote control from his assistant and presses a few buttons.
“I’ve seen a few things in this document that our accuser sent to the media. There are a lot of discrepancies the normal eye wouldn’t notice, but I’ve been running numbers and details since I was seventeen. I’ve handled endless business loan documents from investors whose portfolios are managed by Bridges, Inc. I’ve seen a lot of what these digits are supposed to look like, and there are a few tells here that show this job was a plagiarized rush-through.”
He swipes through a few more slides.
“The paperwork seems perfect and anyone would believe it actually came from us. Heck, it looks too perfect, but that’s where they’ve made a few solid mistakes. As I’m staring at it now, I can see the traps they’ve set for themselves. This Hayes character is suddenly ten times more suspicious to me. We have to find him, and fast, before any more damage is done.”
Harrison begins to list the phases in his coordinated counter-attack plan. It seems as if he’s speaking to an imaginary team rather than us, because he’s talking in such a flurry that I almost miss when Marketing is called up.
“Charlee, please coordinate with the external PR team to organize as many interviews as possible. I’ll show up whenever you need me to speak. Please direct your team to put out press releases twice a day if necessary.”
He’s not looking at me as he speaks. Even though he’s addressing Charlee Fox, his eyes remain fixated on his tablet.
In other news, I’ve been assigned to work with Victoria Mendoza.
My skin immediately starts heating up in embarrassment as she nods at me from across the table. I haven’t gotten over the scene at the coffee shop where too many things happened at once.
That day, I discovered she’s actually gay and in a loving relationship, and all that time I spent being envious of her connection with Harrison was for nothing. I suppose I should be happy about that, but then I just feel plain stupid.
Again, she declared having knowledge of my ‘affair’ with Harrison. It’s so weird calling it that. Anaffair. It feels decadent, shameful, and grossly… wrong.
I wonder what she’ll say when she eventually finds out I’m pregnant. What would people accuse me of? The ambitious marketing executive who got in her boss’s pants to climb up the corporate ladder? Or the girl from a humble background who’s trapped a billionaire with a pregnancy?
One thing is for sure. The rumors won’t be cute.
Harrison finishes off with the assignments and the meeting comes to an abrupt end. He has no time for questions. No time for comments. No patience for confusion. He just sends everyone on their way to get started executing their tasks immediately.
There’s a different energy to him today.
Despite his tired appearance, he seems… invigorated. Pissed as hell, but ready to pull walls down at this point. Hayes has probably struck the final chord with his inconceivable lies.
