Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
EMMA
A few days later, I walked into the office feeling like a strange aura was following me. It was as if I had toilet paper stuck to my shoe or food on my face. I checked my reflection in the glass as I headed to my desk, and I looked fine, but I was getting the side-eye from way too many people for it to be a coincidence.
“Good morning, go-getter,” Dan said as I sat down and turned on my computer.
Go-getter?
He’d never called me that before.
Something was going on.
“What’s happened?” I replied, giving him a blank look that told him I wasn’t in the mood for bullshit today.
“What hasn’t happened.” Dan smirked, making my irritation rise at the fact that he wasn’t answering my question at all.
“I don’t know,” I stated plainly. “I’ve only just turned up. So how about you just tell me.”
Dan huffed through the smirk that was still painted on his smug face and said, “Touche, Emma. Touche.”
“Seriously, Daniel. Cut the crap and tell me.”
He clicked his mouse a few times, then swivelled his screen to face me, and when I saw what was on there, I had to resist the urge to grab my wicker paper basket off the floor and throw up.
S.K.A.M.
The Man.
The Legend.
The troll who likes to target vulnerable women...
My eyes scanned the article that was written underneath the damning headline as my pulse throbbed in my ears. An article that accused him of being a hypocrite and a bully. Saying that since the initial article with the review of his performance, he’d targeted me in an online campaign that made me fear for my life. That I was scared to leave the house and was seeking protection from the authorities. There were also direct quotes from the email he’d sent to me written in there.
‘Before today, I had no clue you even existed. After I’m finished with you, neither will anyone else.’
I hadn’t shown anyone that article. So either Mr Gold had hacked into my emails, or someone else had done it for him. But that wasn’t the worst part. At the bottom of the vile article was my name, printed in bold like I was proud of what I’d published. Anyone reading this would think I was trying to incite a media war with this guy, despite writing about how terrified I was. Yeah. So terrified that I was plastering it all over the internet and in every edition of our newspaper that’d gone out this morning. Only I hadn’t, had I?
And then it struck me.
That’s exactly what Gold wanted.
He was goading him. Forcing him to react so he could make it into a story for his paper. To get the attention of the bosses, the wider media, and anyone who could further his career. He didn’t care what this would do to me. He wanted to create a media circus. He did all this in my name without me knowing a damn thing about it.
The urge to crash through his door into his office and grab him, slam him up against the wall and take my anger out on his podgy, dour face was overwhelming. But I had to see if I’d received another email first. I needed to know what the fallout was. And sure enough, there was another one waiting for me in my inbox.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Game on...
YOU STUPID FUCKING BITCH!
Did you think your article would scare me?
Wrong.
So fucking wrong.
You just poked the bear... again. And this time, he’s hungry for more than blood.
Watch your back, Emma .
S.K.A.M. (I’ll give you a clue what my name stands for. The K is for killer)
I wasn’t taking any chances this time, I deleted the email that made me feel sick to my stomach, and then flew out of my chair and across the office to Mr Gold’s door. I didn’t even bother to knock; I just burst into his office and found him on the phone, laughing.
He saw me, and without wiping the smile off his face, he said, “Mike, I’ll have to call you back. There’s a slight issue I need to deal with first.”
A slight issue?
That’s what he thought this was?
Fuck him.
He put the phone down, but as he glared at me, that smile was still on his face. I wanted to smack it off.
“What. The hell. Did you do?” I seethed.
“I just did you the biggest favour of your career.” He beamed, then leaning in his chair, he said, “Close the door behind you. You don’t want the rest of the office to hear this.”
I turned to close the door, noticing how Dan huffed from his desk that he wasn’t going to get a front-row seat to what was about to happen.
“I didn’t want any of this,” I hissed, staying on my feet despite Mr Gold gesturing for me to take a seat. “Did you hack into my emails?”
Mr Gold sat forward, placing his elbows on his desk and steepling his fingers as he regarded me.
“You know that’s illegal, right?” I went on. “I could go to H.R. right now and report you. You invaded my privacy.”
“You’d have to prove it first,” he replied, his eyes narrowing on me with evil intent. “And I don’t think you want to go down that road, Emma. I could make life very difficult for you.”
“Are you threatening me?” I scowled back at him, and he leaned back in his chair and held his hands up.
“No one is threatening anyone. This is all just a misunderstanding. One which could benefit both of us.” He leaned forward again. “Do you know what a story like this could do for your career?”
“It wasn’t my story, though, was it? I didn’t write that and yet, I’m the one hurting from the fallout.”
“Did he email you again?” Gold raised his brows. He was hungry for this to go on, to spiral out of control until he could bleed every drop of this story dry like some kind of twisted puppet master.
“No.” I lied. I’d never tell him anything again. I needed to work smarter to survive this jungle of an office.
“Well, if he does, you need to tell me. We need to run with this, Emma. The nationals are starting to show an interest. And who knows, if they pick it up, you could get some television interviews off the back of it, too.”
“And be known as the girl who was trolled and stalked? No thanks.”
“Is he stalking you?” Mr Gold pressed.
“That’s what you said in the article you wrote for today’s edition, isn’t it?” I countered, and he smiled and nodded.
“I don’t think I want to work at a place that’s corrupt, or for a boss who thinks he can use any means necessary to exploit his workers, even if it means...”
Mr Gold held his hand up.
“I’ll stop you there, Emma. I suggest you take the day to think about this. Because if you think I’ll stand by and let you slander my name in this profession...”
“Like you’ve done with mine?” I added, but he ignored me.
“If you make waves,” he said, glaring menacingly at me. “If you quit this job and threaten me, I’ll make sure you never work again. You won’t even be able to scrub floors for a living when I’m finished with you.”
I stood for a moment, my body shaking with anger, my mind a jumble of hatred, loathing and confusion.
I needed this job.
I needed the money.
I barely made my rent payments every month as it was. Okay, I could’ve sofa-surfed for a week or two, but I had no savings. If I didn’t get another job, and let’s face it, in this economic climate, jobs weren’t easy to come by, I’d be destitute. I had to bide my time. Play smarter. Mr Gold’s luck would run out sometime. It had to. And when it did, I wanted to be here to grin at him, like he was grinning at me right now.
“Emma,” he tilted his head, faking empathy. “Enjoy the notoriety this story gives you. It’ll be fleeting, trust me. They soon move onto another car crash.”
And that’s exactly what it felt like. A car crash, and I was hanging out of the vehicle with every degrading part of me on show for people to gawp at.
“And maybe turn in a story of your own that’s worthy of the next issue. You have been promoted to junior reporter, after all.”
I swallowed, not sure how to respond. I doubted Alex Kingston would invite me to Sunford after this to write a piece on his art collection.
Mr Gold flicked his hand at me and went on, “I have work to do. Close the door on your way out.” And then, with his eyes on his computer screen, as he waited for me to leave, he said, “Oh, and I have a board meeting at two, make sure you’re not late to take the notes.”
I huffed and shook my head.
Promoted to junior reporter, was I?
Yeah, right.
How many reporters in this office took minutes at meetings?
None.
I hadn’t been promoted. He was just saying that to placate me. And knowing that, made me more determined to write something that’d blow his shitty trolling story out of the water.
I turned and walked out of his office, even though I had so much more that I wanted to say.
“Tough morning?” Dan asked as I sat down and started to work.
“Tough fucking life,” I couldn’t help but respond.
After a few hours of burying myself in my work and trying to ignore the jealous stares from around the office, I heard my phone buzz in my handbag. I reached down to take it out and see who’d messaged me. The screen told me it was from an unknown number. I had to admit, my nerves spiked a little as I tapped to unlock the screen. And then I opened my messages, and when I saw the first line, my nerves exploded.
Emma, it’s Alex Kingston. I wondered if we could talk?