Keaton
“Helen?”I gaped, looking past Olly’s formidable shoulders to the silver-haired woman now facing us.She was immaculately dressed as she had been the last time I had seen her, in sharply tailored clothing that maintained a sense of the professional secretary.
And from the way she was talking to Olly, I realized, that was exactly what she thought she was.
“Why would you call me a car?”Olly asked.There was a strange note in his voice, a kind of strain, that made me think he suspected just what I did.
“Well, sir, I couldn’t leave you alone in your hour of need,” Helen said.Every vowel was enunciated just so, and her deferential nod of the head did nothing to diminish the fiery spirit in her eyes.“Now that you need a new secretary, I’m right here for you.I’ll forgive you for firing me so unjustly before; we need never speak of it again.Let’s just move forward and deal with this crisis.”
“Crisis?”Olly repeated.He squared his shoulders even more.“You mean the press scandal that you just created.”
Helen tilted her head to the side slightly.“You can’t be seen to continue working with him, sir,” she said, which was not exactly a confession but not a denial either.“You need a new secretary.”
“What the hell?”Brody said.Helen’s gaze snapped to him like a whip.“What is this?You didn’t tell me about any crisis.What’s going on?”
“Oh, shut up, Driver,” Helen said calmly.“This no longer has anything to do with you.You’re no longer employed in this industry.You should leave before I call security to have you removed.”
From the way Brody stared at her with his mouth open, it was clear that something much deeper was going on here.
Brody had been the one to drop off the fake contract.But Helen…
Helen had been the one to actually drug Ridley.Like Brody didn’t want to get his hands dirty, but she had no problem with it.And Helen had worked for Mr.Harvey.Right there in his office.She was his secretary, so just like me, he probably left her alone at her desk when he was out at meetings.Granted, her desk had been in the hall, but…
“It was you,” I said, speaking my hunch out loud.“You put a secret camera in the office.”
She turned her nose up towards me.Her stare sliced through the distance between us like an actual knife.She was not the kind of woman to be easily messed with – I could see that now.And she felt that Olly had shunned her.But it seemed more than that: like she really believed her place was at his side.Not as a lover, surely.Maybe more like a motherly figure.
“I had to keep an eye on Mr.Harvey,” she said.“I have noticed that his judgment is somewhat impaired when I am not around.No matter.I’m here now.All of this will be sorted out in no time at all.”
I felt sick to my stomach thinking about how long that camera had been there.Since my very first day.She had seen everything.
The two of us getting to know one another.All of the war cabinets Olly and Ace had held, trying to get to the bottom of things.She must have known, even, that we’d caught her and Brody out.
And the kiss.The first kiss and the second.All our private moments in that office.Not just the sex: every single moment of our relationship that had begun to blossom in that room.
She had watched it all.
That wasn’t supposed to be for an audience to see.It was supposed to be for just me and him.
The muscles in Olly’s neck clenched in my peripheral vision.“Sorted out?”he repeated.“You just outed me to the world.”
She waved a hand.“Such a thing is easily explained.That kind of deviant behavior isn’tyou, Mr.Harvey.You’re all about the work.I’m sure once we have everything straightened out, you’ll be back to your old self, and we can pass this off as some kind of deepfake.Yes, don’t be fooled – even this old lady knows all about that sort of thing.It will be the work of a moment to restore your reputation.”
Olly made an incoherent choking noise in the back of his throat.I stepped forward and laid a hand gently on the side of his shoulder to remind him that I was there, that he wasn’t alone.“You outed me so you could get your job back?Is that really what we’re saying here?”he demanded.
“And that’s not all,” Brody spoke up.He had his arms crossed over his chest and a foul look on his face.Clearly, he was ready to turn on his co-conspirator.“She was the one who set all of this up.She told me about the sponsorship deals you had lined up right before you fired her, so it was easy for me to fake the paperwork for another brand you could consider.”
“And what were you getting out of this?”Olly scoffed.“I can’t have two secretaries.”
“No, you cannot,” Helen said primly.“That’s why I had to make sure you had an incompetent one, so that you could easily replace him.Would you like me to prepare Mr.Dunbar’s exit papers when we return to the office?”
Everyone ignored her last question.“I got a good offer,” Brody said.He was glowering sideways at Helen.“Quijada said he’d give me the top job at his new firm.If she really just outed you, I want you to know I had nothing to do with that.I would never do that to someone.That’s fucking low.I mean, I’m an asshole, but lady – you’re afuckingasshole.”
“Quijada?”I said faintly.I hadn’t wanted to hear his name.I had wanted to believe he had nothing to do with all of this.He had to be telling the truth about just going to the bar for a drink.He was dating my sister.He couldn’t be involved in this.
He couldn’t.
“Yeah,” Brody said carelessly, tipping up his chin.“He’s the one that started this whole thing.It was his idea to ruin Ridley’s reputation.I wasn’t fully on board with the doping thing, but Quijada said he would be watching the whole time to make sure Ridley didn’t get into any actual danger.He had to get the footage, after all.”
