Chapter 13

“There she is, that's her.” 

  Emily's brows furrowed in confusion as she watched the young ladies scurry off with whispers.

Were they talking about her?

  “No, it can't be.” She thought to herself.

From the elevator ride to the hallways, it kept feeling like people were giving her stares and whispers.

  As soon as she stepped into the office, it went dead silent  with all eyes fixated on her.

  Emily's heart felt heavy and her steps became hard.

  What had she done?

 

  The whispers began.

  “She has the guts to show her face here.” 

“It knew there was something incredibly off about her.” 

  “There's no way she's not getting fired. So many people have lodged complaints about her.” 

Just as she took her seat, Sean rushed to her.

  “Is it true?” he asked with eager eyes and alarmed ears.

  “What are you talking about?”  Emily asked in genuine confusion.

  Sean handed her his phone.

  Emily's hands trembled as she stared at the screen. 

 

It was the company's anonymous gossip forum and someone had posted a whole set of lies about her.

  She was accused of sleeping her way into the company. And also being enstranged ftom her family because she tried to seduce her sister's husband.

   No one bothered to confirm the authenticity of the story and they were calling for her to be fired.

A sudden surge of rage made her tremble.

  From a distance, Lydia watched with a satisfied grin on her face. Memories of her meeting with Sophie flashed through her mind.

****

  “So, how long have you been working with my sister?” Sophie casually asked while they waited for their meals.

  Lydia shrugged. “It's been a couple of weeks now.” 

 

She eyed Sophie's reaction and slowly added. “You two don't seem close.” 

Sophie, the forever actress took a deep breath.

  She batted her lashes and spoke in a soft tone.  

  “Yes, Emily has…” She broke off like she was struggling to say the words.

Lydia sat up and get dad's perked up for the piece of gossip she had come for. 

  “She's been estranged from the family for a while now.” 

  “Why?” Lydia responded with fake concern.

  Sophie's eyes began to water up while she acted like she was hesitant to speak.

Lydia waved her off like she was dying to hear it. “Forget it. You're clearly uncomfortable about it.” 

  “No..no, it's not that. You see..” Sophie took a deep breath. “It's complicated.” 

  Lydia brow's raised up in anticipation.

  “Emily has always been spoiled. And I must admit, I insulted her alot– we all did.”

  “She was the baby of the house so my parents and I made it a point to always give her everything she asked for without thinking twice. No one would have expected it would turn her into an entitled spoiled adult.” 

  She looked pitiful as she continued.

  “Emily has done a lot over the years but the final straw came when she tried to seduce my husband.”  

  She took a pause while Lydia almost exploded with joy.

   “For the first time we criticized her for her actions. I said some….” she sighed.

  “It said some ugly things that I shouldn't have. And since then, she has basically cut us off. We haven't seen her until the elevator.”  

  

  Lydia felt her body trembling with excitement although she tried not to show it.

  Sophie continued, “Look, I'm not trying to tell my baby sister but we're very worried about her. She's never worked a day in her life. How was she even hired by such a reputable company like Hasting?”

  Lydia ceased the opportunity. “About that, I didn't want to say anything at first but..” 

  “No, please tell me everything. My family is genuinely worried about my sister. We don't want her to ruin her reputation or perhaps bring a scandal upon Hasting.”  

  “There's already been rumors that your sister got into the company by sleeping with one of the higher ups.” 

  

  Sophie gasped like she wasn't dancing for joy inside.

  “Oh Emily, what have you done. My poor parents will be heartbroken. What do we do? And if people know she's in any way related to Wesley, it might affect his career at Hasting. My poor husband has worked so hard to get there.”

  “Honestly, I would be at much more peace if she wasn't working at Hasting. Of course, the family will support her and get her another job at a different company. Can you help me?”

  At long last, Lydia let her smile slip and widen across her face.

  “I know exactly what to do.” 

Spreading the news to a few friends in other departments was easy peasy. From then, it didn't take long for it to get on the gossip forum.

****

  “So, is it true?” Sean asked eagerly.

  Emily was pissed. She didn't know how but she was certain Sophie was behind everything.

  

  “What do you mean if it's true? Of course it is.”  someone yelled out.

  Emily snapped and rose to her feet. 

  “I don't know where these lies came from and who is responsible for spreading them. If any of you have a problem with how I was hired, take it up with the management. If you can't, shut the hell up and let me do the work I am paid to do.”  

  She stormed out , leaving everyone in the office in shock.

  She was still shaking with anger and found herself roaming through the company without any direction.

She settled on one floor and began to search for the bathroom.

   Heaven knows she needed to splash some water on her forehead before she ran nuts.

  She thought luck must have decided to elude her for the day as she set her eyes on Wesley.

  Emily ignored him and tried to walk away but he grabbed her arm.

  “You're still stalking and following me around, Emily.” 

  “ Let go of me” she said, yanking her hand free.

Again, she tried to walk away but he blocked her path.

“I submitted my manuscript for review and they're gonna love it. I bet you thought I could never have a career without you?  You wait, you're gonna see how great of a writer I'll be. This book will be groundbreaking, nothing like those silly ones you wrote.” 

  Emily eyed the ungrateful fool before her, wondering how she was ever in love and married to such a man.

She chuckled. “Goodluck with that.”  

  Before he could react, she had already shoved him out of her way and walked off.

   Neither of them knew that from one of the corners, someone had taken a quick photo of both of them…