32 #2
"The woman in the video. The woman he cheated on me with. My ex-roommate and now, his ex because he cheated on her too."
Wyatt rolled his eyes. "It was a single hookup. Hardly what I would call cheating, but Billie is just like you. So cloying and clingy."
Thompson closed his eyes. "Wait, wait. So what you're saying is that the other woman in the video might have a grudge against you as well? Why aren't you blaming her?"
"Billie is too dumb to pull this off. This bitch, on the other hand," Wyatt pointed a finger at me.
"Call my wife, bitch, one more time. And I will fuck you up.
" Levi's stone called voice shut down every sound in the room, including David's background typing.
His commanding voice boomed out, "Now, Thompson, I know for a fact Elvira Edwards had nothing to do with this.
She was with me the entire weekend while I was sick in hospital, and then she nursed me back to health at home.
And unless you are implying that she was multi-tasking writing up such a detailed email and designing a website while also taking care of me. "
"No, that's not what I mean." Thompson got flustered again. "And sorry about that. You were sick?"
"An allergic reaction."
Thompson frowned as he reached out to touch Levi's hand over his desk. "I hope you're well."
"I am."
"Can we please get back to the topic at hand?" Wyatt jumped in.
Thompson sat back in his chair and cleared his throat. "As I was saying, she might have compiled the email before and then sent it."
"I didn't do that." My gaze darted to Christine and David, hoping they had some professional help for me on this. "Like I said, check the IP address."
"It's obfuscated," David said.
"But we all know whoever sent it is from here because it's about me," Wyatt said.
"I don't know," David said, his eyes on his laptop, "Maybe you have some foes in Russia.
" He tapped his laptop twice and swung it around and showed it to Thompson.
Thompson leaned over, peering at the screen, a furrow marking his brow.
His gaze scanned the screen, and he adjusted his glasses, then, seeming to give up, he said,"What am I supposed to see? "
David pointed at the far right corner of the screen. "You see this RU here? That's the ISO for Russia. It could be from there or it could be from anywhere. Any hacker worth their salt would obfuscate their location."
Thompson blanched. "Was the email, you know, containing hacker material?"
"Hacker material?"
"You know, a Trojan horse or whatever you people call it."
"No, it was a pretty safe email." David slid the laptop over to his side of the desk. "The user used Proton email as their server, so it's going to be hard to trace them, but other than that, I don't think it was harmful. "
"But it was still harmful to me. And she's the one who sent it." Wyatt pointed at me. "I don't care if it says Russia on your little computer, Dave, what matters here are the lies being spread. Lies about me."
"Are they lies?" Levi said, his much quieter voice somehow having more force than the shouting that Wyatt was doing.
"As far as I can tell, there's a video of you and your girlfriend talking to one another and claims, with proof, of you cheating.
I think a man like Thompson here is much more concerned with the second one.
If true. It shows that you lied to the university, and that you defrauded a hallowed institution such as ours. Right, Professor Thompson."
"Right? Right! It's uh," Thompson shuffled in his seat, straightening his tie. "It's very concerning that you might have cheated, if true. These are serious accusations that are being made."
Wyatt broke down in laughter. "So now I am the one at fault here? Me? How the fuck do you all suddenly believe blatant lies! You stupid, little small minded—" he got up. Straightened his ruffled hair and tie. "You'll be hearing from my lawyers. Again!"
"I wouldn't be so quick if I were you," Levi said.
Wyatt, who had already marched to the door, turned on his heel. "What did you just say?"
"I said I wouldn't just rush out just yet.
We don't know if you're a fraud or not. If the accusations are true, who knows what might happen next?
Plenty of students that you taught might demand refunds and compensation from the university.
And that's just the students. Let alone the college itself, which hired you under the assumption that your degree is real. Isn't that right, Christine?"
The HR manager nodded. "If he faked his doctorate, we might have to look into it."
"I didn't fake my doctorate you bastard, you know this!
We fucking went to the same fucking school!
" Wyatt raked his fingers through his hair.
"Oh, my god. You did this. Of course you did.
" A strained chuckle came out of him. "Of course," he scoffed.
"You have always been obsessed with Elle from the very beginning, and it bothered you so much that I was with her.
And one slight against your precious little queen, you act like this. You try to destroy my life."
My heart hammered against my chest. Obsessed? Levi? With me? When my gaze went to him, Levi's face was as stone cold as it was when we came here. He was portraying zero emotion, but Wyatt must have seen something because he said, "Fuck it, I am right. I knew it was you."
"He's accusing me now," Wyatt said to Thompson, "Everyone else except the truth."
"Professor Carrington, is it true? Is what the email alleges true? You can submit proof that debunks the allegations, and we will investigate it."
Wyatt sighed, exasperated. "Now I have to prove my actual fucking thesis because a stupid website says I paid someone to do it."
"I said we will investigate it."
"Fuck you, Thompson," he said and marched out of the room, banging the door on his way out.
Thompson made a loud and rumbling exhale. "That was, is, insane. He's going to sue the school again, isn't he?"
"Uh, I think he will reconsider after he cools off." Levi said. I glanced at him, wondering if he had other information we all weren't aware of. The Wyatt I knew would not take this lying down. Heck, he was suing me for throwing tea at him.
"I don't know, Levi," I said. "I think he's serious."
Levi took my hand from under the desk and squeezed it. "Trust me, babe. He'll come around."