Chapter 14 - THE SECRET WASN’T AN AFFAIR, BUT IT COULD STILL DESTROY VICTOR
Victor did not care about being exposed as Jacqueline’s lover.
That surprised Gunther.
“What are they threatening?”
Victor handed him the envelope.
Inside were photographs.
Jacqueline entering Victor’s apartment.
Leaving.
Eating dinner together.
Holding hands in a parking garage.
Nothing criminal.
Nothing scandalous.
Then the last image.
Victor meeting a former federal investigator named Thomas Baines.
Gunther recognized him.
Baines had worked the Northstar reopening.
“What is this?”
Victor sat down.
“I hired him privately.”
“To do what?”
“Find out who leaked the old Anthony Vega file to Caleb.”
Gunther’s face hardened.
“You investigated federal evidence?”
“Not federal evidence.”
“People around it.”
“That sounds dangerously similar.”
“Yes.”
Kayla stood beside the window.
“Why not tell Gunther?”
Victor laughed once.
“Because I was trying to find out whether one of his own attorneys sold him out.”
Gunther became still.
“Did they?”
“I don’t know.”
The blackmailer did.
Someone had photographed Victor meeting Baines and was framing it as witness interference.
That could destroy Victor’s security-consulting license.
Potentially violate his compliance terms.
Worse, it could reopen questions about whether Gunther’s cooperation had been manipulated.
The five million was almost irrelevant.
“This isn’t about money,” Kayla said.
Victor looked at her.
“No.”
“Then why demand it?”
“To make us react.”
Gunther nodded.
“Payment creates leverage.”
Victor looked at Jacqueline.
“I should have told him.”
“Yes,” Jacqueline said.
Victor frowned.
“You’re taking his side?”
“I’m taking the side where you stop treating secrets like a profession.”
Kayla almost smiled.
Gunther noticed.
“This is becoming hostile.”
Jacqueline looked at him.
“You deserve it too.”
Fair.
They brought in attorneys.
No private retaliation.
No threats.
No men in parking garages.
Gunther hated lawful procedure with renewed intensity.
The FBI advised controlled nonpayment.
Preserve communications.
Trace delivery.
Victor complied.
Then something else happened.
A photograph of Kayla and Elias appeared online.
The hug from weeks earlier.
Cropped tightly.
The headline:
WOODS’S GIRL GETS CLOSE TO REHAB DIRECTOR WHILE EX-LOVER VISITS HIM AT NIGHT
Kayla stared at it during breakfast.
Gunther sat across from her.
Neither spoke.
Finally Kayla said, “We are extremely photogenic when misrepresented.”
Gunther almost laughed.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Me neither.”
She looked at him.
“Do you think something is happening with Elias?”
Gunther answered carefully.
“No.”
That surprised her.
“You hesitated.”
“I was making sure the answer was true.”
“And?”
“I think he likes you.”
Kayla looked down.
“So do I.”
Gunther’s jaw tightened.
“But I’m not doing anything with him.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because you told me.”
Simple.
Kayla looked at him.
Trust was strangely anticlimactic.
No dramatic declaration.
No evidence.
Just choice.
Then she asked, “Do you still have feelings for Jacqueline?”
“No.”
“Did you ever love her?”
Gunther thought.
“No.”
“Did you care about her?”
“Yes.”
“Did you use her?”
He did not answer immediately.
There.
More difficult.
“Sometimes.”
Kayla’s face changed.
Gunther continued.
“I was honest that I didn’t want commitment.”
“But honesty doesn’t make every imbalance disappear.”
“No.”
“She was useful to me.”
“In what way?”
“She didn’t ask for mornings.”
That sentence hurt more than Kayla expected.
Gunther saw.
“She also liked the arrangement.”
“At first?”
“Yes.”
“Later?”
“No.”
“And you knew?”
“Eventually.”
“What did you do?”
“Ended it.”
“With the watch.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“That was cruel.”
“Yes.”
Kayla looked at him.
“I don’t need you to have never cared about another woman.”
“I know.”
“I need you not to rewrite your past because you love me now.”
Gunther’s gaze lifted.
“That may be the most terrifying requirement anyone has ever given me.”
“Good.”
Later that day, Elias asked Kayla into his office.
He closed the door.
“I need to tell you something before you hear it somewhere else.”
Kayla’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
“The board received an anonymous complaint.”
“About me?”
“About us.”
She stared.
Elias handed her a printed message.
It alleged Kayla had received promotions because she was romantically involved with Elias.
False.
Completely.
But believable enough to trigger internal review.
Kayla laughed in disbelief.
“This is because of Gunther.”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“The complaint includes internal compensation data.”
Kayla stopped.
Only staff or board members could access it.
Someone wasn’t merely attacking Gunther.
Someone was attacking her career.
May you like
And suddenly the misunderstanding stopped being gossip.
It became strategy.
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