Chapter Thirty-Five Sabotage
RYLEE
“I’m just glad you’re all right! When you left Denver and we couldn’t reach you, I was worried something had happened.”
I wince at Grace’s anxious tone over the phone. After getting of the phone with Dad, I called up Grace, who pulled the rest of the girls in on a conference call.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur. “I was just freaking out and needed to get away… ”
“I mean, we get it, really we do,” Skyler sighs. “But a proof of life text would’ve been nice.”
“I know,” I groan. “It was really shitty of me to leave you guys in the dark.”
“How are you doing?” Stacey asks, thankfully moving the subject away from my total asshat move.
“Awful,” I confess. “I broke Zander’s heart and I have to try and fix things. I have to make it right.”
“So you really didn’t write that article?” Sutton questions. “I read it, and… woof. It was brutal.”
“Oh, I’m aware,” I grumble. “No, that wasn’t the article I meant to write, but I did write a journal entry with a lot of the terrible things in the magazine. I need to find out how it got included in the publication instead of what I originally wrote.”
“That’s some shady shit,” Skyler murmurs. “I wonder if someone got into your computer somehow and made the switch.”
I frown. “How would someone be able to do that?”
“It’d be easy if they have your password,” Skyler explains. “Could someone access that information?”
I think about it for a moment… it wouldn’t be impossible. Someone would just have to say the right thing to IT and they could potentially get it.
“Guys, I gotta go,” I say as this idea tumbles through my mind. “I need to go check something out at my office.”
“Okay,” Grace replies. “Be careful, Rylee, and keep us updated on how you’re doing, please!”
“I will, I promise.” And I mean it. I’m not going to block my girls out again. “I love you all and will talk soon.”
“Love you!” they all declare in near unison.
I hang up the call and quickly get ready for the day.
When I leave my room, I’m dressed and filled with a new determination. I find her back in the kitchen, but she’s not crying this time, thank God. She’s cooking French toast and has syrup, powdered sugar, and a bowl of berries set out on the kitchen table.
She looks up at me when I walk in and gives me a tentative smile.
“Perfect timing,” she says, sounding hopeful but cautious. “I was just about to come find you. Breakfast is ready.”
“Great,” I reply with a reassuring grin, though it falters for a moment.
Mom gives me a concerned look, because of course she catches it. “Are you okay?”
I hesitate before answering, “Mom, I’ve decided I’m only staying here today. I need to get back to Colorado and fix things… and I need to do it the right way.”
Mom stares at me a moment, eyes wide, but then her expression softens and her smile becomes tender.
“Oh, I’m glad to hear that, sweetheart.” She turns the stove off and hurries to me to wrap me in a hug. “You’re not running away. I’m proud of you.”
Pulling back, she meets my gaze and asks, “What’s your plan?”
“Good question. I need to figure out why my journal entry was published as the article in ICON. I know I must have accidentally put the entry in my work folder instead of my personal one, but it wasn’t labeled as the article and I emailed Juliet letting her know which file specifically to use.
It makes no sense that she would use the wrong one. ”
Mom furrows her brow and nods. “I think that would definitely be worth looking into. Maybe a trip to your office to ask your boss directly.”
“It’s Monday, but the office is closed until the afternoon on Mondays since we work so many weekends to get the magazine released on time,” I murmur as I consider my options.
“But I should still go over and see if there’s anything weird on my computer there.
I have access to the company’s drive on my laptop, but something could’ve happened on my desktop.
I’ll have to take a raincheck on shopping. ”
“Of course, sweetheart. You go take care of business.”
When I get to the office, it’s empty and quiet. I use my keycard to get access and quickly make my way to my desk. Turning on my computer, I bring up my email and the share folder and double check that everything is labeled correctly and that my instructions to Juliet were as clear as I remember.
So what happened? How did they end up with the wrong article?
Who edited my journal article in the first place?
When I first wrote it, it definitely wasn’t as well-written and put together on my computer as it appeared in the magazine.
I was drunk for fuck’s sake. Could it have been my editor?
No… no, that doesn’t make any sense. The editor only receives what Juliet gives them, and they have strict instructions not to lie or change the meaning of things in the article.
Any serious edits are briefed with the writer.
Damn it. I might have to talk to IT to figure out if anyone messed with my files, but since no one’s here right now, I can’t go question them.
Who knows how long I’ll even have access to all this stuff.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Juliet fires my ass.
Did she rewrite my drunken rant into whatever the hell this article was?
Why would she do that without even contacting me about it?
Letting out a long sigh, I turn my computer off and make my way back out of the office and onto the sidewalk in front of the building. Resigned, I start heading toward my car, but I barely make it two steps before something catches my attention on the other side of the street.
It’s Blaire. She’s walking down the sidewalk, her long black hair loose down her back, wearing a short blue sundress. She’s not alone.
She’s with… Miles.
What the fuck?
He has his arm around her and they look way too cozy together, even though she only comes up to his shoulder. His head is bent towards hers and his fluffy blonde hair falling in his face. He’s whispering in her ear, and she’s grinning and giggling.
Again. What. The. Fuck?
This can’t be a coincidence. What are the chances that Miles just happened to stumble across Blaire after he and I broke up?
Does she realize who he is? She has to, right?
Something about this is shady as fuck, and I’m not the type to slink away and hide from a confrontation, so I hurry across the street to cut them off.
“Hey!” I snap, coming to a stop in front of them. “What the hell is this?”
They freeze, both looking startled to see me for a moment. Miles looks nervous but is obviously trying to hide it. He plasters on a too-wide smile and puts on a surprised act..
“Oh, Rylee, good to see you again!” He chuckles, the sound strained. “Me and Blaire, we are… um… ”
I roll my eyes. “Even if you’ve never presonally met each other before, you fucking knew we work together, Miles. Why are you two together? How?”
Blaire scowls. “We met on Cloak, not that it’s any of your business. What are you doing here, anyway? Haven’t you been fired yet?”
Her question catches me off guard, and then my hackles rise.
“What does that mean?” I demand to know in a low, cutting tone.
Blaire flips her hair and looks disgustingly smug. “After your disaster of an article, I figured Juliet would kick your ass to the curb faster than you can say dumpster fire.”
I stare at her, stunned. She’s acting completely unlike the friend I’ve had all these years. All of her professional insecurities are manifesting in this mean girl behavior that feels so forced, yet is coming from this terribly genuine place. Why? What happened?
Slowly, realization dawns on me. The article.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” I gasp.
“What are you talking about?” she scoffs.
“You’re the one who messed up my article,” I hiss, rage bubbling up inside me. “You’re the one who swapped it for my journal entry!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Blaire insists. “You’re being paranoid, Rylee. I’m sorry the article didn’t turn out the way you hoped it would, but you know the editing process can get messy… ”
“Cut the shit, Blaire,” I snap. “There’s no way that piece should’ve even made it to editing. It’s not the one I sent to Juliet. Someone else had to interfere, and given that you’re hanging out with Miles, I can’t help but suspect that you had a hand in this. So spill! What did you do?”
For a moment, she looks like she might try to deny it again, but then she lets out a long groan “Okay, fine, yes!” she replies.
“I convinced IT to give me your password and I found the journal entry. I edited it and cleaned it up then submitted it to Juliet using your email, saying it was a rewrite you forgot to include. After that, I deleted the email so you wouldn’t see it in your sent folder. ”
It feels as if the ground is crumbling from beneath my feet.
“Why?” I shake my head. “Why would you do that? I thought we were friends.”
She at least has the decency to look guilty.
“You might have thought we were friends,” she growls.
“But what did you expect? You joined ICON and Juliet just started giving you all the best assignments. All the exclusives with the most well-known athletes, and all I got was scraps. The Night Hawks article was just the last straw for me. Then I met Miles and he promised to give me exclusives with his clients if I could kind of, you know… push you out. At first I wasn’t sure, but after I heard his side of your breakup, I realized how full of yourself you really are—”
I jerk my gaze to Miles and back to her. “His side of the break up?” Back to Miles. “What the fuck are you talking about? You cheated on me!”
He glares at me and hisses, “I wouldn’t have had to if you’d put out more.”
"I would put out more if you knew how to please a girl and not just yourself, you selfish prick!” I snap.
"Yea well, when you dumped me I needed a new in with ICON, so I made sure Blaire found me… or, should I say I found her?”
“Miles!” Blaire gasps, eyes widening. “Are you serious right now?”