Chapter Four: The Scandal

Elena's POV 

I shove a spoon of soup into my mouth. I remembered everything as my head that was in a mess began to clear up. I had met with him at an event, he was the CEO of the Blackwoods Conglomerate. While in my thoughts I got a call from Maggie, my sister. I watched as the phone rang on the table, slowly vibrating. 

I was hesitant at first but at the third ring I picked up. 

“Where have you been?!” Maggie yelled. I could feel the anger and urgency in her voice. Something was off. 

“I told you I was off to cover an event among the elites last night. I had a really bad night and an awful morning so I'm not in the mood for your early morning rants today.” I said, resting my head on my hands. 

“This isn't about how your night went or how your day is going, have you seen the news? What have you been up to? Were you only covering the event or covering the CEO of the Blackwoods Conglomerate?” Maggie said, bluntly. 

“What do you mean?” I asked, I wiped my eyes with my hands as I sat upright. “What news are you talking about?” 

“How are you even a reporter and you're asking me this! I'll send you a link to the post. You better clean up this mess Elena, you better do something about this.” Maggie said as she hung up. 

Ding! Ding!

A notification popped up on my screen. It was a message from Maggie. I was hesitant about opening the message as my fingers were hovering. Anyways, I tapped on the message and it revealed a blog with the headlines blaring at me. 

"The Desperate Bride: Elena Carter's Shameless Pursuit of Wealth!"

"Billionaire's New Obsession: Elena Carter's Hidden Scandal Revealed!"

"Rags to Riches: Elena Carter's Rise to Opulence"

My jaws dropped. I scrolled through the series of demeaning articles that had my names on them. Beneath them were different pictures of Adrian and I, at the bar after the event, while we were entering into the car going to the hotel, when we were entering the hotel and in a compromising way. I stared at the picture wondering who could be responsible for this. 

I read through the lines of one of the articles and I was seething with anger. How dare these blog writers formulate lies about me? Do they even know me? It was more annoying that these blogs were getting a lot of attention garnering over three million reads and thousands of comments. The comments! I wouldn't even dare go there. 

As I was scrolling through the article a call came in, it was from work. My boss had never called me before, he had always dropped any information he wanted me to know about in my email. I was scared of picking it up as I allowed it to ring for a while. He called the second time and I picked up. 

“Elena Carter!” Lucian yelled, his voice vibrating through my ear drums. “What have you done? Are you trying to bring down our publishing firm or what?” 

“I'm sorry sir but all of this is a misunderstanding. None of this was meant to happen, it was all under the influence of alcohol.” I pleaded. 

“Don't blame it on alcohol! Why were you drinking in the first place? You were sent to cover an event and you went about covering the CEO, I might even start to think you're a gold digger.” Lucian said. 

“Please, I'll solve this, I promise.” I pleaded. 

“Enough of your pleading. The board of directors had suggested that you were fired but instead a six months suspension has been put in place. You better use that time to reflect on yourself.” Lucian said. 

“I'm sorry….” 

Beep! Beep!

Lucian hung up on me. I stared at my phone, anger brewing inside of me as my grip on my phone tightened, knuckle whitening. 

Ding! Ding! 

I received another notification. It seems the trolls from the blog post have found my account as they kept on dropping malicious comments on my post. I had to private my account and limit who could comment. 

My eyes darted to the comment section beneath the post. It had thousands of comments from people who know nothing about me but had a lot to say because of the privilege of owning a smartphone. My grip tightened on my phone as I read through the comments. 

While reading through the comments a call came in. It was from an unknown number, I was hesitant about picking it up as I let it lie there for the first two rings but on the third, I picked it up. I was quiet waiting for the caller to speak up first. 

“Hello.” The voice at the other end of the phone said, he was a man. 

“Hello.” I responded. 

“I believe I'm speaking with Elena Carter, journalist and New York Times?” The mysterious man at the other one on the phone asked. 

How did he know my full name and where I worked? “Who are you and how do you know my name and where I work?” I asked 

“It's good to know it's you Elena. Let's meet up.” The man said. 

Meet up? With a stranger? Who was dumb enough to meet up with someone they didn't know before just because they asked them to come? Definitely not me. 

“I'm sorry I don't know you so I can't see you.” I said. 

“You need to come right now. It's very important…” 

I hung up on him, not letting him finish whatever he had to say. I packed up my purse and paid for the hangover soup as I walked out of the restaurant. My phone kept buzzing as the mysterious man kept on calling and calling, he was hell bent on meeting with him but how the hell was this man? I had no idea who he was, even his voice seemed masked. 

I was lost in my thoughts that I was unaware of the incoming vehicle, the next thing I heard was a loud honking o

f a vehicle and the scream of the people by the roadside as I blacked out.