At that exact moment, one of my encrypted phones began to vibrate violently on the glass table. The screen displayed an incoming call from an unlisted private number, accompanied by a frantic string of text messages attempting to reach my primary phone. I tapped the speaker button, allowing Arthur and the legal team to listen.
“Victoria! Where are you?!” Ethan’s voice boomed through the speaker, completely stripped of his usual polished confidence. His tone was frantic, laced with anger and utter panic. “What on earth did you do to the board chat?! My phone hasn’t stopped ringing for an hour! Board members are threatening to remove me, the security team locked me out of my corporate email, and reporters are already calling my public relations manager! Have you gone completely insane?!” ✉️
I remained completely serene, leaning back against the leather armchair as I took a slow sip of warm water. “Good morning, Ethan,” I replied calmly. “I see you finally woke up in your hotel suite. How was the champagne?”
There was a sudden, sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. In the background, I could hear Vanessa crying softly, her voice filled with high-pitched panic as she realized the catastrophic consequences of her late-night message. 👤
“Victoria, listen to me,” Ethan stammered, his arrogant posture rapidly evaporating into desperate pleading. “It… it isn’t what it looks like. Vanessa took that picture while I was asleep! She manipulated the situation! I was stressed, I had too much to drink after the conference, and she took advantage of me! You know how much we’ve built together. You can’t let them ruin my career over a stupid mistake! Call the board members back right now and tell them it was a misunderstanding or a hacked account!” 🌲….
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