My gut was doing it again—that feeling of something terrible happening. There was no reason for that feeling. Isabella was sitting across from me at her desk, and the day was going well. She and I were going great. We had hit a point in our relationship where it felt like there was no outside interference. There were no factors that made it seem like what we were doing what’s wrong other than us working together. But in the grand scheme of things, that seems like small information. That didn’t seem like anything I needed to worry about because she and I were on the same page.
I sat at my desk, wondering why I felt like impending Doom was hovering over me.
“You’re right? You look a little sidetracked.” Isabella asked me. But before I could say anything, in came Leo. I hadn’t seen Leo for a good while. It was almost like he was avoiding me. And there was the second where he stopped in his tracks, the second that he barged into my office. Talk about sidetracked; he looked a little sidetracked.
“Sorry to disturb you, Jack.” He looked at Isabella. “Can I have a moment of your time Jack? Alone?”
It was I who looked at Isabella next. “Yeah, of course. Do you mind stepping out for a second, Isabella?”
“I don’t mind.” She said with a bit of hesitation.
The curiosity that I had over what Leo was about to tell me was crazy. Never had I anticipated something so much. “What’s the matter, Leo? Why does everything seem so we’re doing right now?”
He looked at me with a long face, shut the door, and sat at my desk. “Are you in a relationship with Isabella? I mean, I already know the answer to that. I just don’t know how to approach this to you. There’s an audio, Lee, where you made a dirty comment in this office with Isabella. It’s been leaked.”
I ran it through my head. I had to work all my moments with Isabella as there were two that stuck out to me in the office. “You’re going to have to be more specifically off. It’s really okay; you’re my brother. What audio?”
My adrenaline was pumping, waiting for his answer. “I don’t know if it’s something about you telling her to suck your cock.”
I swallowed. I instantly regretted hearing him say those words. But it was all about the first time. That first time, she punched me in the face. Somehow I knew that it would come back to haunt me. But how?
“This, unfortunately, did happen, Leo. And I’m sorry you had to hear this. I would never want something like that to reach the ears of those I care about. You know?”
“I know. But that’s beside the fact right now. I don’t care what your sex Life entails. It’s the public image, though. That’s what I’m concerned about. Even though I know this is the furthest from the truth, people are associating this with the other scandal.”
One question popped into my head. It was burning there. Because I wanted to trust Isabella, I didn’t want to ask it or put it into the universe. But it needed to be asked. “Do you know who leaked it? Or how the audio was recorded?”
Leo shrugged. “The internet is saying that Isabella did it. Newspapers aren’t speculating. And if they’ve not done that, then it means that they don’t have a source. It could honestly be anyone with a recording device. That means anyone. But at the same time, the chances of Isabella saying something are pretty high. She was the second one in the situation, after all.”
Fuming. That was how I felt after contemplating it all. Of course, I didn’t want to get mad at her. I didn’t want to put the blame on her at all, but all signs pointed to the fact that she was the one that leaked the information. There was no one else in the room. I just couldn’t figure out how she could have anticipated that I would have done something like that.
“Are you all right?” Leo asked me.
“I’ve seen better days, Leo. This is a serious situation. And I don’t take any of it lightly.”
Leo let out of sigh and leaned back in his chair. “I know you’re going to start blaming yourself, but we’re all only human. We’re filled with flaws, and sometimes they come out. I know if I did something like this, you would never look at me like that.”
“I mean, this is something that could have been avoidable. I put myself into this situation. And now people are going to talk. People are going to make me out to be the bad guy. Just like dad.”
“You’re nothing like dad in that respect. Dad was a great man, but whatever was in his closet, I don’t think you come close. But can I ask you a question?”
“Of course you can, bro. You might not have the best answer given today’s circumstances, but I’ll try my best.”
“If I ever did have something come out that was weird or something you didn’t expect, would you judge me for it?”
His sentence made me wonder if I hadn’t had enough on my mind circling like a racetrack for NASCAR. “It all depends on how strange or weird it would be. I have to admit you have me thinking now.”
I couldn’t tell if Leo liked my answer or not. He did seem a little uncomfortable. And then he changed the subject. “Don’t worry about it. Back to the other problem, I know it doesn’t look good for the company. And things could get terrible. But we’ll go through it all right. We have enough minds in this company to turn things around.”
I nodded. “Send Isabella back in here.”
It looked as if Leo wanted to say something. If he was thinking about defending her, he definitely had second thoughts, given that she would be someone who did everything in my mind, at least.
It was half a minute of alone time in my office before Isabella had come in. I had used that time to simmer myself down and not flip out at her when she walked through the door. But it was definitely hard to do that. I felt a grave sense of betrayal.
She walked in with her beautiful blue eyes and looked at me. I had to ignore her beauty. If I didn’t, I would be swayed. “What the hell did you do?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Close the door.” She listened to me and did just that.
“There’s leaked audio of me telling you to suck my dick. The first time, remember? It’s out there. And now I look terrible. I don’t know what I’m going to do. How could you have leaked that? What was the purpose of everything? Were you just trying to–”
“Jack, whoa, slow down. I didn’t do anything of the sort. I would never leak anything like that. Why would I record that? How would I know the record that?”
“You were the only one in the room at the time.”
You looked at me with amazement. But it wasn’t the type of amazement similar to someone looking at an animal juggling. It was the type of amazement where she was offended by me. You made me question whether or not she did have something to do with all of it. But I held my ground. “I can’t believe you’re accusing me of this after everything we’ve been through.”
“Well, who the hell else am I supposed to accuse? You were the only one in the room with me.”
She stormed out after that. She had not said a word to me, but her face was covered in tears.
Again, I stood my ground. Because I knew it was her who had betrayed me.