“You wouldn’t be my in with ICON, so I found someone who would!” he exclaims. “I thought it’d be a win-win for both of us.”
I’ve never been so furious in my whole life. I want to lunge at them and beat the shit out of the two of them right here and now, but I force myself to stay still, though I flex and unflex my fingers at my side. Taking a deep breath, I tell myself that this isn’t the way I want to solve my problems. It was still my fault for putting my journal entry in the wrong folder… for writing it to begin with.
In the end, Blaire and Miles don’t matter. All that matters is Zander and showing him how much I care about him. How sorry I am. How much I don’t want to lose him.
I need to talk to Juliet and clear this all up - but I don’t want Blaire to get to her first. So, I decide to throw her off for a bit by making her think she got what she wanted.
“Well, jokes on you,” I taunt. “I may be fired, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t need that job and will land on my feet no problem. So, enjoy your shitty victory while you can, because karma’s a bitch and will come knocking. You two deserve each other, and I hope you’re fucking miserable together.”
Turning, I throw up my middle finger and walk away from them, not bothering to look back to see their response.
I have more important things to do now - reach out to Juliet, clear Zander’s name, and fix this whole fucking mess.
Later that afternoon, I go back to ICON’s office when I know Juliet will be there. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me as I make my way across the newsroom, winding around desks and cubicles to get to her office, but luckily Blaire is clearly out for the rest of the day. The door is open so I go on inside.
Juliet is sitting behind her desk and looks up as I enter.
She gasps, eyes going wide. “Rylee! What are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting to see you until after New Year.”
I move to take a seat in front of her desk. “I know, and I’m sorry for barging in like this, but I really have to talk to you about my article.”
She leans back in her chair with a cautious look. “Yeah… I have to say, it’s not what I expected from you.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I meet her gaze. “That wasn’t my article, and I didn’t submit it.”
Blinking, Juliet shakes her head. “What are you talking about? It was sent through your email.”
“I know, but I didn’t send it. I actually came back to figure out what happened, and ran into Blaire … who thought I was fired and confessed that she was the one who sent it to you.”
She looks skeptical. “How and why would she do that?”
“She got my password from IT,” I explain. “Call them and ask if you don’t believe me.”
Juliet regards me for a moment before nodding. “All right. Just a moment.”
Reaching for her desk phone, she hits the quick dial for IT and puts the call on speaker.
“IT department, this is Ted.”
Juliet glances at me before replying, “Hey Ted, it’s Juliet. I had a quick question for you. Did Blaire Roberts ask you or anyone else in your department for the password to Rylee Benson’s computer?”
“Uhhhh, hold on,” Ted answers. “Let me ask around quick.”
Juliet and I sit in silence as we wait for Ted to come back on the line. It’s several minutes before his voice crackles back through the phone.
“So, turns out yeah, Brian did. He said she gave him some explanation about helping Rylee with something while she was out of town and needing to get on her computer right away.”
Juliet’s jaw clenches and her gaze darkens with anger. “Thanks, Ted. Appreciate it.”
“No problem.”
She ends the call and meets my gaze across the desk.
“Okay. So what happened to the real article?”
“It’s on the drive still, clearly labeled.”
She turns to her computer screen and grabs her mouse, clicking it a few times as she presumably searches for the file. After a few moments, she nods.
