Chapter 2
"Ryan?" Elaine's voice returned, laced with precisely the right measure of confusion and innocence.
"Her year-end bonus? How would I know anything about that? Darling, I never meddle in company affairs. You know that better than anyone."
Her voice remained velvet-soft, yet it coiled around Michael's nerves like a slick, cold serpent.
I watched his hand clench around the phone, knuckles blanching white.
"David says he transferred a sum of money to your account."
Michael's voice was leaden, the sound of a man fighting to preserve his last shred of composure.
"Money? Oh..." Elaine drew out the syllable, as though rummaging through her memory.
"Now I remember. David did send me something. He said the company had an account that was tricky to process, and asked if I could hold it temporarily for turnover purposes.
"Don't worry, darling. I've been keeping it safe for you.
"Does the company need it back urgently? I'll transfer it right now."
Her story was seamless. The portrait of a considerate, sensible wife, one who even helped her husband manage gray-area finances, materialized between her words.
If not for David's earlier call, Michael might actually have believed her.
But now, the performance only grated against his ears like nails on glass.
"A tricky account?" Michael repeated the phrase, his voice dripping with a derision he barely contained.
"Elaine, do you think I'm a fool?"
On the other end, Elaine seemed genuinely startled by his tone. "Darling? What's wrong? Why are you speaking to me like that?"
A thread of wounded innocence wove through her voice. "Is she... Is Ryan there with you right now?"
Her attack pivoted without warning, the blade swinging straight toward me.
"Darling, don't listen to that woman's lies. Don't you see what she's really after?
"A young, pretty subordinate hovering around you every single day. What else could she want but to climb the ladder?
"Did she run to you with some sob story? Told you I've been bullying her?
"God as my witness, Michael, I saw a young girl struggling alone in the big city and I went out of my way to look after her. How can she slander me like this out of thin air?"
Elaine's voice grew increasingly agitated, cracking into a tearful tremor.
This brazen reversal of black and white pressed the air in the office even thinner.
Michael's expression turned grim.
He stared at me, his gaze a tangled mix of fury, suspicion, and the raw anguish of betrayal by someone closest to him.
I understood he was trapped in the eye of an enormous storm.
One was a fiercely competent, straight-shooting lieutenant who had generated immense value for his company.
The other was the wife who shared his bed, who was gentle, virtuous, devoted.
He didn't want to believe his wife capable of this. So somewhere in his subconscious, he was already wavering, wondering whether I was the one stirring the pot, driving a wedge between them.
Human always leaned toward what was closer.
I couldn't expect Michael to convict his wife on nothing more than David's word, with no hard evidence in hand, especially not after Elaine had played the "homewrecker" card.
It was the most devastating weapon any boss's wife could deploy against a female employee, and the one with no clean defense.
"Ryan is right there. Put her on the phone." Elaine's command rang from the speaker, dripping with the authority of a lawful wife.
Michael glanced at me, a question in his eyes.
I didn't move. I simply looked back at him, calm and still.
Then I shook my head gently.
Confronting her was meaningless.
It would only devolve into a graceless shouting match.
I refused to drag myself down to her level.
"Mr. Reed," I said. My voice was quiet, but every syllable carried. "It appears this is a family matter.
"That being the case. Please approve my resignation.
"As for the withheld bonus, I will pursue recovery from the company through legal channels."
I turned and walked toward the door, ready to leave this suffocating theater behind.
My objective was already accomplished.
I'd laid the truth bare in front of Michael.
How he handled it was between him and his wife.
All I wanted was my money back, and then to walk away.
"Stop." Michael's voice cracked like a whip behind me.
I halted, but didn't turn around.
"Until this is sorted out, you're not going anywhere." His tone left no room for negotiation.
I turned slowly, fixing him with a cold stare.
"Mr. Reed. Is there something else?" I asked.
"Do you believe that she's slandering you?" He jabbed a finger toward the phone, still live on the call.
"What the facts are, you should already know in your gut." I replied.
"I need proof." Michael's eyes were threaded with red. "Ryan, I know you. You never do anything without a plan. You wouldn't have walked in here with a resignation letter if all you had was a bank statement.
"Give me something that makes it impossible to doubt you."
He was nearly shouting.
He was pushing me, and pushing himself.
He was begging for the sledgehammer that would shatter his illusions once and for all.
I looked at his agonized, torn expression and felt nothing.
I reached into my briefcase and produced a second phone, an old push-button model, the kind I only kept for receiving verification codes.
I pressed a single key.
A recording, crisp and unmistakable, spilled from the tiny speaker into the room.
Elaine's voice, no longer cloaked in telephone sweetness, was stripped bare, vicious and dripping with contempt.
"Ryan, let me make this crystal clear for you today.
"Michael's company is my company. I decide who gets paid, and how much.
"Two hundred thousand dollars? You think you deserve that?
"You're nothing but a dog under Michael's heel. I toss you two hundred dollars worth of scraps and you should be thanking me."
The recording echoed through the office.
Michael's expression shifted, from torment to something final. The ashen stillness of a man watching the last pillar collapse.
On the other end of the phone, Elaine, mid-sob, mid-performance, went dead silent.
She'd heard it too.
"Ryan, you cheap little bitch! You dared to record me!"
Elaine's shriek tore through the phone speaker was unhinged, feral. The gentle mask had been ripped to shreds, revealing the grotesque face beneath.
Michael swayed as though every ounce of strength had been siphoned from his body. He caught himself against the edge of the desk.
His eyes, hollow and unfocused, fixed on the old phone in my hand. His lips trembled, but no words came.
The recording continued.
My voice was calm and measured. "Mrs. Carter, the year-end bonus is my lawful compensation, protected by labor law. You have no authority to withhold it."
Then, Elaine's reply was sharper, crueler than before.
"The law? In here, I am the law. You think I can't make one phone call and have you out of NovaTech without a single cent? Believe me, I can.
"Don't think that running a few projects for Michael makes you somebody. Let me tell you. In his eyes, you're no different from any other replaceable part.
"I suggest you take the hint. Grab your two hundred dollars and get lost. Make a scene, and the only one humiliated will be you.
"By the time I'm done, the entire industry will know that Ryan is a woman who'd do anything for money, including trying to seduce her boss."
The recording ended there.