Chapter 4 - The Report That Kept Me Late
That Monday, I stayed late to finish a report.
The words on my screen went blurry as the sun dropped behind the trees at the edge of the parking lot. I'd promised Diane the client summary would be on her desk by morning, and I was close. So close.
Up above the filing cabinet, the little black dome of the security camera blinked its steady red light, the way it had every day since Diane showed me around on my first morning and mentioned, like it was nothing, that the insurance company required it. I'd stopped seeing it months ago.
Then the office door opened.
Greg walked in wearing that same loose grin, the one that used to look friendly and now made my skin crawl.
"You've been ignoring me for weeks."
I didn't lift my eyes from the monitor. "I have to work, Greg. This is due tomorrow."
He didn't go. He drifted closer instead, hands in his pockets, relaxed, like we were two old friends catching up.
"Come on. You used to laugh at my jokes."
I saved the file, pulled my bag off the back of the chair, and stood.
"I'm leaving. You should go too."
I stepped toward the door. Greg shifted his weight — not quite blocking me, but close enough that I had to swing wide around him.
"You're overreacting, Megan. I'm being nice."
Before I got past him, his fingers closed around my wrist. Not hard. Just enough to stop me moving.
"Please. Just give me five minutes."
I opened my mouth to tell him to let go of me. Nothing came out. I was so angry the words wouldn't form — my throat felt packed full of sand.
Then the door opened again.
Diane stood in the doorway, laptop bag on her shoulder, a manila envelope under her arm. Her eyes went straight to Greg's hand around my wrist, then up to my face.
The room seemed to tip sideways.
I couldn't get out one word.
She didn't shout. She didn't gasp. She just shut the door behind her with the same soft click she used every morning at eight.
"Diane," I finally whispered. "I didn't — I never —"
"I know, honey."
She crossed the room toward us, slow and steady, like she'd already run through it in her head a dozen times. Greg dropped my wrist so fast his hand snapped back against his leg.
"Diane, this isn't what it looks like. I came by to see if you were still here —"
She didn't even look at him. She reached into her purse, took out her phone, tapped it twice, and turned the screen so I could see.
A folder. Screenshots. Dozens of them.
Every message he'd ever sent me. The friend request. The line about my smile. The one about not telling her. All of it saved, all of it time-stamped.
I couldn't move.
"About six weeks ago, Greg fell asleep on the couch with his phone unlocked in his hand," she said. "Your name was at the top of the thread. I forwarded every message to myself that night, and I've forwarded every new one since."
I stared at her. My hands were shaking, and I honestly couldn't tell if it was Greg or the fact that the woman I'd been terrified of hurting had been quietly holding an umbrella over my head this whole time.
"Why didn't you say something?" I asked.
"Because I needed him to do it somewhere with a camera." Her eyes went to the blinking dome above the cabinet. "I gave you that report tonight because I knew it would keep you here. I told Greg I had a client dinner across town. You were never in danger — I was parked one block away with the office feed open on my phone."
Greg made a small sound, like the air had gone out of him.
"The second he walked through that door, I started the car. I needed you acting naturally. If I'd warned you, his lawyer would've called you a liar and called me a woman who set the whole thing up." Her jaw went tight. "I watched you shrinking, Megan. I gave myself a deadline. If tonight hadn't worked, I was telling you first thing tomorrow — camera or no camera. I wasn't letting you carry this any longer."
Greg's face had gone the gray of cold oatmeal.
"Diane, sweetheart, whatever you think you saw —"
"I didn't leave my old firm three years ago for a better offer, Greg. I left because you did this exact thing to my assistant, Nicole, and the partners closed ranks around you." Her voice didn't rise. That was somehow worse. "I promised myself that next time I'd have proof."
She turned back to me, and her voice changed, went soft in a way that undid something in my chest.
"Megan. I'm so sorry I let you sit in this by yourself. Tonight was the only night I could be certain."
I couldn't talk. I just nodded while the tears finally spilled over.
Diane slid the phone back into her purse and lifted the manila envelope. Greg looked at it, and for the first time since I'd met him, the man looked scared.
"Divorce papers. Already filed. The locks were changed this morning. A friend of mine moved your things into the garage while you were at the gym."
His mouth opened and shut. He looked at me like he expected me to speak up for him.
May you like
I didn't say a thing.
He figured out there was no room left to stand in, and he walked out without another word.
