"What is this I'm hearing about the company being in crisis?" He asked, without a word of greeting. Well, I was no longer surprised about that fact.

"What are you talking about?" I turned on the TV, and my jaws went slack. "I'll call you later."

"Whatever you do, just know that you're not going down alone." He muttered and dropped the call.

I didn't have the time to mull on his words. I had an emergency on my hands. A knock sounded on my door, and Danielle entered, looking frantic.

"Sir. There's a problem." She saw what was playing on the TV and moved closer. "You already know about it."

"Schedule a meeting with the legal team and the PR. I want that taken down in the next hour."

She nodded. "I've done that already. The legal team is waiting for you, and the PR team is already working to take it down."

I nodded. "Alright. I'll soon be there. You can go."

She bowed slightly and left the room, and I turned to the TV, not really believing what I was seeing. The news was on the video I'd been shown barely twenty minutes ago. If this was what Julia meant, then it felt like she was winning. I picked myself up and went to join the meeting with the legal team. When that one was over, I would have another one with the PR. Hopefully, by then, the damage will have been contained.

********************************************************************

I entered the office I'd made sure not to go to and entered without knocking, knowing what to expect inside there. Julia didn't bother glancing back to see who had entered. None of the employees could enter her office easily, being the queen she had made herself to be.

"Already regretting it?" She asked, her voice filled with excitement.

She turned to me, and her voice had given her expression justice. She looked absolutely ecstatic.

"Of course not. I guess you forgot something important. As much as you know about me, I know more about you. The club pictures? The addiction? I know everything. This is your first chance. The next time something comes out, you can expect I'll be making it equal."

She clapped, still looking victorious. "But we're in two different positions. The way people will care about you will be a lot different. You also seem to have forgotten that I know about your marriage agreement with your secretary." She said, gesturing with her fingers at the phrase marriage agreement.

I smiled. "You're right. We both have two different things we have to protect. I have my reputation and the reputation on the line, but you also have a relationship with someone important to protect. I don't think he'll find it very funny when these things get revealed. You also have his reputation to protect. We can fight fairly and see who will win, but at the end of the day, can you guess who people will believe more? A vindictive ex or someone who has already made a name for himself who is even in a very healthy marriage?" The smile had left her eyes now, and she now had a furious and scared look. Now, that was what I liked to see.

"We'll see."

"Of course, we will. Make sure you tell your father that I've dealt with his type before, and it's not morally right that he uses his insecure and illegitimate daughter to make things easier for himself and protect his name." I informed her and watched the blood drain from her face.

"I'll also joyfully inform the people who are standing curiously in front of your office of your termination. You're welcome." I said and left her office, slamming it behind me.

I opened the door and recognized the attempt of my employees to make themselves look busy. "Julia has just been fired from her position. I'm sure you're also curious about the board of directors meeting that took place a little while ago. The board came together to discuss my dismissal… " I heard a few gasps at that. "...but thankfully I was able to keep my seat. Since that has been resolved, I'll appreciate it if we all ignore whatever news we see about the company, field all calls, ignore all mails, and concentrate on your jobs. We still have a long way to go to get to our quarterly goals." I finished and watched as they all went back to their offices and seats, looking confused.

I sighed and went back to my office. According to the legal team, since I wasn't ready to share the whole thing. They knew Julia was involved because of possession and jealousy, and she would be sued for damages if anything happened to the company, but I didn't tell them she was mainly a pawn that was used in somebody's game. When I had still believed myself to be in love with Julia, we'd shared so many things with each other. Like the fact I'd struggled to build my reputation and be known as myself, as opposed to Ethan's brother or Ethan's parents' son. She, on the other hand, had not only shared the fact that she had been an addict, struggling with earning her father's love, and that she had done so many ridiculous things in high school, but I had helped her get clean. She knew what my weakness was, but I knew hers as well, and I knew how best to use it so it hurt. That was the reason we'd stayed together even after Ethan's death. When we decided to work against each other, the result could be catastrophic, but she had drawn my hands by acting first.

I picked up the minute of the meeting Danielle had given me. What had she been thinking? Speaking up like that. It wasn't like I believed it was what she had said that had impacted the vote, but it was difficult not to feel impressed. In a room where they all looked like they were in agreement with the plan to dismiss me, and even speaking as my employee rather than my wife, I was really impressed with her courage.

There was another knock on my door, and Danielle entered. "I have the report from the meeting you had with the legal team and the PR."

I motioned her closer, and she dropped the files on the table. "All the articles that were published about the news have been taken down, and the news station is currently under fire for spreading false news. What we're dealing with now is the spread on social media, but they say it will be resolved by this evening."

"Thanks." I smiled at her, and she looked at me weirdly.

"Are you okay? Today has been a long day of unexpected events."

I shrugged. "I'll survive. This will all die down in like a day or two. I'll meet with the board of directors very soon and make my stance known that they can't pull something like this again. If they insist, I'll offer to buy their shares or what I can. The next best thing will be to remove the company from its public status and revert to private."

She looked doubtful. "Will that work, though? Will they want to give up their shares? The company is doing well, so they will continue to get increased dividends."

I smiled. "Thanks." and she rolled her eyes. "This is a serious discussion, you know?" She knew exactly what I was thanking her for.

I nodded. "I'm also having a serious discussion. Thanks for speaking up at the meeting, even though I would rather you keep quiet in events like that. You speaking up will not help me at all."

She frowned. "How do you know? Not that I'm taking the credit for it, but it's possible my words could have made a difference in some of their opinions."

I laughed. "I doubt it. It's obvious the person who planned this only met with the people he thought would have more impact because of the number of shares they have, but he ignored the people he should have met with. That was what made them unconvinced of the board's decision."

"Really? So do you know who is involved? What exactly does the person want? Surely it cannot be that they want your company. You were the one that put in the work and made it this big."

I shrugged. "Possibly, and that's why I'm going to do all I can to make them sell their shares. Did our partners get wind of what happened?"

She nodded. "I received some calls, but I called saying I would call them back when things had been sorted and for them not to worry about it."

"Alright. Thanks. We'll be able to return their calls tomorrow after I go for the press release this afternoon."

"Alright. I should get back to work then." She said, and turned to leave my office when I called her back.

"Oh, and Danielle, the guy in the video is fine. I didn't cause any damage. It just looks worse because it's a picture."

She nodded, and I could see the relief in her face. She left my office, closing the door gently behind her. I put everything out of my mind and began preparing for the press release. I wasn't going to lie and deny what they had seen, but I was going to let them know the reason I acted like I did, and when I was done, I was positive they would see reason and realize how inconsequential the video was. I was going to make sure of that.

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