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Speaking of Dax. He’s supposed to come up to my office any minute. He texted me a little while ago and said he needed to see me. I have no idea what it’s about, but I’m hoping it doesn’t have to do with one of the deals we are working on.
“Hey!” Dax strolls into my office. “How’s it going?”
Something about the way Dax comes in makes me wonder if something is wrong. I can’t put my finger on it, but he looks nervous.
“You know, busy. I have a bunch of calls to return and a meeting at three.”
“Well, I won’t keep you long. But I need to show you something. I have to warn you. You aren’t going to like it.”
“That’s not what I want to hear right now. What’s wrong?”
Dax hesitates for a moment before placing his tablet in front of me. There, looking at me from the glowing screen, is Amanda. In the photo, she has her arm around a man’s waist as she leans into his side. The caption reads, “Cheated on by her fiancée, but that won’t keep her down.”
“What the actual hell?” I roar. “I didn’t cheat on her.”
Barely controlled anger explodes inside of me as I look at the photo of Amanda and the man next to her. I hope that poor guy knows what he’s getting into.
“You really have a way with the ladies, brother. What did you do to her? I thought you broke up with her weeks ago.”
“I did! I broke up with her almost a month ago, actually! At first, I told her that we just needed a break. She got upset, of course. But, as usual, she wouldn’t listen to what I was saying. She wanted to stay together, yadda, yadda. I gave her some time to think about it, hoping she’d realize that it wasn’t working out with us.” I take a breath before continuing.
“Then, I texted her a few days later, and she came to my house. She had a few of her things that she usually would keep at my place, but I had it all boxed up. When I tried to give her back her things, she cried and tried to convince me that we could work it out. But I just couldn’t do it anymore. And I told her that. Honestly, I’d just had enough. I explained to her that we were done and that nothing could convince me otherwise.”
Dax shakes his head. “Well, apparently, she either didn’t believe you or is pretty bitter about it. Considering that she went to that tabloid, I’m thinking that you really pissed her off.”
“She knows how much I value my privacy. I have no doubt that she did this to purposely get back at me. There’s no other reason for her to pull this stunt.”
“It could have been worse. You could have married her,” Dax reminds me. “You never told me that you were engaged. I’m feeling kind of hurt that you left me out of your big news.” His smirk lets me know that he didn’t believe her lie for a second.
Fiancée.” I spit the word in disgust. “Thankfully, I never made the mistake of asking her to marry me. I’m grateful for that, at least.”
“I have some more bad news, I’m afraid.”
“If it’s worse than this, I don’t want to hear about it.”
“Oh, it’s most definitely worse. And you are definitely going to want to hear about it.” He takes the tablet and scrolls down to the article. I haven’t bothered to read it because I have no interest in what Amanda has to say. With trepidation, I take the tablet from him and begin to read.
“Oh, my God. Please tell me that this is a joke,” I plead. “Fuck. If Lana reads this, I don’t know what she will do.”
“Is it true?” Dax asks curiously. “Are you really sleeping with Lana?”
“You know my policy on relationships with employees. How can you ask me that?” I hedge, hoping he will let it drop.
“That’s not exactly an answer.”
“No, I didn’t sleep with her.” I carefully avoid looking at him, afraid he may realize that I’m hiding something.
I continue reading the article; the more I read, the worse it gets. Amanda names Lana in the article. She accuses Lana of being the reason Amanda and I broke up and said we were going behind her back for months. She then claims Lana only got the job because she slept with the boss.
When I finish reading the article, I drop the tablet onto the desk in disgust. This is going to wreck Lana. I can’t let her see this.
“Dax, we need to find a way to get rid of this article.”
“You know that the internet is forever, brother. This is bad,” Dax says, shaking his head regretfully. “I can try to get it taken down, but I’m not sure how much good it will do. You know that people are going to eat this up. They’ve probably already forwarded it and shared it on social media. You divulge very little of your personal life with the media, so they are going to swarm on this like vultures.”
I never would have believed that Amanda could be so vindictive and heartless. I know she’s angry, but to make up an entire story to fit hernarrative is going too far. It’s sickening to know that I spent years with this woman. Years! And she was able to hide this side of herself. It must mean that I am insanely naive or blind that I never realized the type of person she is.
“Lana will be destroyed if she sees this, Dax. Is there anything we can do, at least until you figure out how to have the article removed?”
