A CONTRACT ENGAGEMENT

Nina put her hands over her face. “I was stupid, Camille. I knew how this was going to turn out. I knew what was going to happen if I did this and I went through with it anyway. I was stupid, and now I have to pay the price.” She said,

The sound of someone clearing their throat had Nina looking up toward the door. Evan Banks stood there, an indecipherable expression on his face.

“Camille,” he said. “Would you leave me and Nina for a moment?” he said.

“Of course,” Camille murmured as she hurried away.

Tears burned Nina’s eyes. She was holding on by a sheer thread.

“Want to talk about it?” Evan asked her.

It was that question that did it for Nina. If he’d been angry or if he’d been indifferent, she could have handled it, but the simply worded request broke her down. Her shoulders shook, and she lowered her head as a sob welled from her throat. It appalled her that she’d cry in front of her boss. But there was no holding back the release of the crushing pressure that had been building over the course of the last few weeks.

Evan didn’t say or do anything. He just stood there while she gathered herself together again. When she looked up, he sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk and waited for her to speak.

“It’s not how it looks,” she said as she wiped tears from her cheeks.

He glanced at the spread out paper on her desk. “Well, it looks like you were wearing his ring, but you’re not now. What happened between the both of you?” he asked.

With a sigh, she explained the whole sorry tale about how she’d come to stay with Abby and how she’d found out she had to get Julian’s account for Standard Gate. She told him about her trip to the island with Julian and how she hadn’t felt like she could refuse when he was short on time and ready to move on his campaign.

She left out the mushy details she’d shared with Camille. Evan Banks was, after all, A. her boss and B. a man. He didn’t need to know that she’d stupidly fallen in love with a man she’d be working with for a long time to come. It made things entirely too messy. What if they broke up? Would Julian feel weird about continuing the relationship with Standard Gate or would he take his business elsewhere?

There were a million reasons why she should have never ever gotten involved with Julian, and yet, she hadn’t heeded any of the warning signs. She’d ignored them all.

“I overheard what Camille said about how it shouldn’t matter to me how you got the account. I won’t lie. It doesn’t. Furthermore, it’s none of my business unless you broke the law or did something to damage the reputation of Standard Gate. I don’t think this qualifies. My concern is for you and your reputation. I know how devastated you are by what happened.” Evan said gently. “I meant what I said when I told you that you had my support. That hasn’t changed. I’ll make sure to put an end to any speculation going on in the office, but I can’t control what people think or say outside the work area. I don’t imagine this is going to be easy for you to deal with in the next little while, but Standard Gate Communications stands behind you.”

“Thank you, Evan,” she said in a shaky voice. “That means a lot to me. You have no idea how much”

Evan nodded. “It’s fine Nina. Any idea who would have done this?” he asked.

She frowned and stared down at the pictures. Then she looked back up at Banks.

“These pictures were on my company computer. Julian’s mom sent them here.

They’ve only been here. I don’t imagine Julian’s ex has any love for me, but she and Sam left immediately on their honeymoon. They haven’t even seen the photos yet. So other than me, and maybe Julian, if his mom showed them to him, the only other person who’s seen them is his mom. These weren’t taken by the professional photographer. Julian’s mom shot these with her digital camera, and I don’t believe for a minute she’d go to these lengths to discredit me. She was too damn excited over our supposed engagement.”

Evan swore long and hard. “Are you sure this is the only place you had them?”

Nina stared back at him. “You don’t think….. surely not. No one here would do something like that.” She said,

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out,” he snapped.

He rose and stalked to the door. Then he paused and turned back for a moment.

“Don’t let this get you down, Nina. I have a feeling that whoever did this intended just that. You did a damn good job on this account. No one can take that away from you unless you let them. So just try to ignore it all.. It will pass.”

Then he was gone, leaving Nina sitting there like a deflated balloon. She was supposed to meet Julian in just a few hours. Their evening was already planned, complete with the sleepover at his hotel and his driver taking her to work in the morning. She’d already had reservations about it all, but now the idea made the knot in her stomach grow even larger.

Who the hell had released those pictures? It made her furious. Why would anyone even care or go to such lengths to discredit her?

She wouldn’t put it past Frank Benjamin. He’d made it a point to tar Standard Gate Communications any way possible, but how would he have gotten his hands on those pictures? Did some go through her computer to get them?

The idea that one of her coworkers was responsible made her want to puke. She couldn’t believe it and work here another minute. She had to push that possibility out of her mind or go insane.

How sick was it that she didn’t even want to venture out of her office now? She couldn’t face everyone knowing that they’d seen that damn article.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

She laid her head on her desk and tried to ignore the painful ache that had developed around her temples. She knew what she had to do, and it hurt far more than those damn pictures. But she hadn’t worked this hard to build her reputation and her career to have it go down the toilet over one torrid affair.