Chapter 6
Six
Elias
“ Y ou wanted to see me?” I asked my boss, who’d summoned me to his office.
After a disastrous return home from vacation, I’d been exhausted going into the office lately. I’d been spending most of my time getting my house back in order. There was still much to do, but I’d made some progress with the cleaning company that Officer Benson had recommended.
“Close the door and have a seat.”
“Oh, this must be serious. What’s up?” I closed the door and sat in the chair in front of his desk.
“I assume you haven’t checked your email?”
“I just got here, and you know I don’t check my email from home.”
Robert Brentwood looked at me with stern eyes.
He was an older Black man who didn’t have a welcoming spirit or demeanor.
He was one of those niggas who was by the book and very unwilling to take risks.
While I understood he didn’t want to do anything that would cause him to lose the company he’d built, he was a bit over the top in my opinion.
He called me into his office almost as soon as I stepped into the building, as if whatever he needed to tell me was life-threatening. I would bet my last dollar that whatever the reason, it wouldn’t be as serious as he made it seem.
“I don’t have time to beat around the bush or curate my words. You’re on paid leave until further notice.”
I frowned because confused wasn’t enough to describe my thoughts.
“Paid leave? Why?”
“A series of emails were sent to everyone in the company.”
“Okay. You said you didn’t have time to beat around the bush, but you’re doing a lot of stalling.”
“The emails were videos of you and a woman having sex.”
“What!”
“They were very graphic, and it’s obvious it’s you.”
“There must be a mistake. I’ve never recorded myself having sex.”
“Well, someone did. Elias, I don’t care what you do in your personal life as long as it doesn’t affect your work. These emails not only go against company policy, but they’re also a huge distraction for everyone in the company.”
“I apologize for that. I didn’t send any videos, nor did I knowingly record myself, or give anyone else permission to do so.”
“While that may be true, I have to put you on paid leave until we can figure out who sent them and this situation blows over.”
“You’re sending me home for some shit—you know what? It’s cool. I’ll see my way out.”
I left Brentwood’s office fuming and had to stop myself from knocking some shit on the floor on my way back to my cubicle. As I walked past everyone else, I felt eyes on me. They could look all they wanted, as long as they didn’t say shit.
The company employed twenty people, seventeen of them being Black Americans. I was cool with everyone, but not cool enough for me to discuss this situation. If I learned nothing in my forty-two years, I learned all skin-folk ain’t kinfolk.
I only considered two of my co-workers friends. One of them hadn’t arrived yet, and the other was on paternity leave. We definitely needed an emergency meet-up as soon as possible because this was some straight bullshit.
After grabbing the items I wanted to take home for my forced hiatus, I headed toward the elevator. As I got closer, the doors opened, and my boy Javon stepped off. Before he could get too far, I put my hand on his chest and pushed him back inside.
“What the fuck?” he questioned, not angrily, but he was definitely confused.
“We need to talk.”
I pressed the button for the lobby, and we both stood with our backs against the back wall. I didn’t speak until we were outside in front of the building.
“How much cash do you have immediate access to?” I asked him.
“What?”
“Have you checked your email?”
“You know I only look at work shit at work. Wassup? Why do you need money?”
“I might need bail money.”
“Nigga, stop talking in circles and tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“Raven hacked into my email and sent videos of us having sex to everyone in the company.”
Javon stared at me briefly, as if he was waiting for more. When I didn’t continue, he said, “Oh, you’re serious?”
“Yeah, nigga. I haven’t checked my email and didn’t see the videos, but I know she sent them.”
He pulled out his work phone and swiped across the screen a few times. Seconds later, I heard a woman moaning and screaming my name.
“Oh, shit!”
I snatched his phone away to see for myself. At first glance, the man on the screen looked like me. The woman in the video wasn’t Raven, but I’d never seen her before in my life. The longer I watched, the more something seemed off.
“This shit ain’t real,” I said, more to myself than Javon.
“It looks real as hell to me. Who’s ol’ girl?” he questioned.
“I’ve never seen this woman before.”
“Damn. I remember you saying Raven worked in technology, but what exactly does she do?”
“She’s some kind of tech consultant. She’s into the shit, but that’s all I really know.”
“And you’re sure she’s responsible for this?”
When I returned from vacation, Javon’s vacation started.
We didn’t talk much outside of work unless we met up for food and drinks.
I may as well had been under a rock since everything happened.
I’d been so busy getting my house back in order that I hadn’t updated him or Dutton on what happened.
I took out my phone and went to the videos and pictures I’d taken.
“Just keep swiping to the left.”
“What the hell? Is this your house?”
“Yeah. That’s what I walked into when I got home from Punta Cana.”
“Damn! You think Raven did this?”
“I’m positive, but the police are investigating.”
“Y’all broke up months ago, and she’s still on this bullshit?”
“She’s been quiet for a minute, but I should’ve known she was up to something. The restraining order has kept her away from me physically, but when she can touch me without coming near me, that restraining order don’t mean shit.”
He handed me my phone. “How do you plan to handle this?”
“I don’t know. The police are already involved, but this has been a long, slow process. I’ll let them know about this, but I’m sure it’ll take a while to prove this is AI.”
He shook his head. “I hate you’re going through this, bruh. Let me know if I can do anything.”
“Brentwood put me on paid leave until this is solved.”
“Word? You told him it wasn’t you and you didn’t send the emails?”
“I did, but he thinks this is best.”
“At least you’re getting paid.”
“True, but I’m still pissed he doesn’t believe me.”
“I’d be pissed too. Hopefully, this shit will be solved quickly.”
“All I can do is hope and pray at this point. I’ll use this time to finish getting my house in order. It feels like an impossible task right now, but it has to be done.”
“Have you told Dutton?” I shook my head. “I’ll hit him up and update him. I can come through to help you after work, and I’ll see if he can get away.”
“Appreciate you, bruh.”
We connected our fists and went our separate ways.
I couldn’t believe the series of events that had occurred over the past few weeks.
Something had to give because I was about to lose my mind.
About thirty minutes later, I arrived home.
I’d given the cleaning company access to my home so they could work while I was away.
They were inside, working diligently as I greeted them.
After changing into some sweats and a T-shirt, I joined them.
A few hours later, the cleaning crew was gone.
It had taken several days, but my house was livable again.
I still had a lot to do, but since I couldn’t go to work, I had plenty of time to get it done.
Javon and Dutton were on their way over, so I ordered a few pizzas, turned on the basketball game, and waited for them and the pizzas to arrive.
Dutton was the first to arrive, but Javon and the pizzas weren’t too far behind.
After grabbing several slices of pizza and a few beers, we sat in the living room in the chairs I’d gotten from my garage.
All of my furniture was ruined, but I was waiting to get my insurance money before replacing everything.
“Before my hands get greasy from this pizza, let me see the pictures. He said Raven fucked your shit up,” Dutton said, referring to Javon.
“You can’t tell how bad it was because he’s cleaned up, but it was bad,” Javon said.
I picked my phone up from the floor, went to the pictures, and gave it to Dutton. His reaction was much like Javon’s was earlier. He looked around, as if comparing what he saw in the pictures to the space's current appearance.
“Damn. She didn’t leave a room untouched. How does it look upstairs?” Dutton asked.
“A lot better. I had to get rid of the furniture, so it’s pretty much empty, but it’s clean.”
“A woman who does shit like this because you don’t want her is certifiable. Are you sure you didn’t do something to make her spiral out of control?” Dutton questioned.
“You never did tell us why you ended things with her,” Javon added.
“There were a few reasons, but the one that did it for me, I’d never be able to forgive. Remember when I went to Houston on the work trip and came back earlier than expected?” They nodded. “When I left the airport, my first stop was her place. I saw three rubbers in the bathroom garbage.”
“Damn!” they said simultaneously.
“My sentiments exactly. Thank God I went to the bathroom before we reacquainted ourselves with each other. I didn’t mention seeing that shit. I broke up with her and dipped. Before I made it to the car, her number and social media accounts were blocked, and I moved on with my life.”
“Aww, hell. No wonder she’s stalking your ass,” Javon said.
“You can’t break up with a woman and not tell her why,” Dutton added.
“She was fucking another nigga. I don’t owe her shit.”
“I agree, but look around, bruh. Your house is fucked up, and you can’t go to work because of some shit she did,” Javon said.
“That’s true, but nothing you say will make me feel like this is my fault. Raven is off her rocker, and she’s the only one at fault here.”
We went back and forth about it while we ate pizza and drank beer.
They tried and failed to convince me to reach out to Raven to explain why I ended things.
I may have been wrong, but I didn’t think she was owed an explanation.
Hopefully, the authorities could prove that she was responsible for everything she’d done to me, and I could finally leave her in the past.