Everyone looked at him. His eyes widened slightly, as though he realized he had volunteered a defense nobody requested.
“I mean these messages were jokes.” Victoria’s expression hardened.
“Bad jokes, sure.” Aaron lifted both hands. “But jokes.”
Helen opened another folder. “Is offering a subordinate a nonexistent bonus in exchange for personal access also a joke?”
Aaron stopped speaking. Paul stared toward him.
Victoria noticed. “Mr. Mercer?”
Paul shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Paul.” His eyes stayed on the table.
Helen slid a document toward him. “You approved two hotel reimbursements for rooms never associated with legitimate company travel.”
Paul stared at the paper. Derek turned toward him.
“Don’t say anything.” Helen smiled without warmth.
“Thank you, Derek.” He realized his mistake too late.
Paul looked toward Derek. “You told me accounting cleared those.”
Derek said nothing. “You told me they were client entertainment.”
“Paul.” “No.”
His chair scraped backward. “You stop.”
The room changed. Whatever unified front the three men planned had begun collapsing.
Paul looked at Victoria. “I want my lawyer.” She nodded.
“That is your right.” He stood.
Then he looked toward Derek. “You said no one would ever see that chat.”
Derek turned almost white. Paul walked out.
The door shut. Aaron stared at the table.
Derek looked as if he wanted to leave too. He stayed.
Victoria exhaled. “Lauren, you don’t need to remain for the rest.”
I stood. My knees felt weak.
Mark stood too. I nearly told him not to follow me. Instead, we walked together toward the elevators.
Neither of us spoke. I pressed the call button.
After a few seconds, Mark said, “You should change.” I stared at the glowing floor numbers.
“Don’t tell me what I should do.” “Okay.”
The doors opened. We stepped inside.
For six floors, neither spoke. Then I asked, “Did you enjoy it?”
He looked at me. “What?”
“Being right.” His expression changed.
“You think I enjoyed that?” “You smirked.”
He looked toward the elevator doors. “I smirked because Derek spent the entire night acting like he owned everyone around him, and I knew corporate security was already preserving his devices.”
“You could have stopped me.” The words left my mouth before I understood how terrible they sounded.
Mark turned. “Stopped you from what?”
I said nothing. “No, Lauren.”
The elevator continued upward. “Say it.”
“You could have pulled me away.” “And then what?”
“I don’t know.” “You would have accused me of controlling you.”
I could not answer. Mark’s voice remained quiet.
“You made that clear this morning.” The elevator doors opened.
He stepped out. I stayed inside.
Mark turned. “Lauren.”
“I need a minute.” He nodded.
The doors closed. I rode down two floors.
Then back up. I do not know why.
I simply needed several minutes in a moving box where nobody knew who I was. When I finally returned to the room, Mark sat beside the window.
Arizona lights stretched across the desert. My suitcase remained open on the floor.
Nothing had been packed. For one irrational second, I expected his clothes to be gone. They were not.
I changed in the bathroom. When I came out, Mark handed me water.
I took it. “Are you leaving me?”
His face did not change. “I don’t know.”
The answer hurt more than yes. I sat across the room.
“I didn’t sleep with him.” “I know.”
“I wasn’t planning to.” “I know.”
“I thought I could control the situation.” Mark nodded once.
“That is what I’m struggling with.” I looked at him.
“You knew he was crossing boundaries.” “Yes.”
“And instead of stepping back, you decided you should control exactly how far they moved.” I looked down.
“Because I wanted the promotion.” “I know.”
“You keep saying that.” His voice sharpened for the first time.
“Because I do know.” He rubbed both hands together.
“What I don’t understand is when my wife started believing her dignity was one more negotiable item in a compensation package.”
I flinched. Mark saw it. He did not apologize.
Neither did I. Not then.
We slept separately. Or Mark slept.
I stared at the ceiling until sunrise. At 6:11, my phone began vibrating.
Messages. Emails.
Missed calls. Crescent had distributed a company-wide notice saying three senior managers had been placed on administrative leave pending investigation.
Names were not included. Nobody needed them. Employee group chats exploded.
Someone said Derek had been escorted from the resort at midnight. Another person claimed federal investigators were involved.
That was false. At least then.
Someone else said the rest of the conference was canceled. That was true.
Then I saw a direct message from Kelsey Warren. I had not spoken to her in almost two years.
Five words. He did it to you too?
I stared at the screen. Mark was awake.
He saw my face. “What happened?”
I handed him the phone. He read it and said nothing.
I typed, Can we talk?
The typing indicator appeared immediately. Disappeared.
Then reappeared. Finally Kelsey wrote, Not on company phones.
She sent a personal number. I called from our hotel room.
Kelsey answered on the second ring. Neither of us spoke for several seconds.
Then she asked, “How bad?” My mouth went dry.
“What happened to you?” She laughed quietly.
It was not a happy sound. “That’s not an answer.”
“Neither was yours.” Silence.
Finally she said, “Derek promised me Seattle.” I closed my eyes.
“Operations planning director?” “Yes.”
I remembered. Everyone believed Kelsey was getting it.
Then an outside hire appeared. “What did Derek do?”
“He kept saying the process was delayed.” Exactly what he did to me.
“He invited me to dinners.” Kelsey paused. “Then drinks.”
“Then Palm Springs.” I swallowed.
“You remember.” “Everybody remembers you leaving after.”
Kelsey went quiet. “He had pictures.”
My stomach tightened. “Pictures of what?”
“Nothing that mattered alone.” Exactly like the SIDE BETS photographs.
“He made everything look worse than it was.” Kelsey’s voice became flatter.
“Angles. Timing. Captions.”