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“Which isn’t the biggest problem,” Charlie assured everyone. “Besides, Miss Song is one of the faces of our company! I’ve heard nothing but good things about her performance in all facets of her position. Wouldn’t you agree, Ms. See? Miss Tan?”

Rachel shrugged. “Her performance as an employee has always been perfunctory.”

“Miss Song has never had a complaint registered,” Esther said. “I’ve never once had to scold her during a flight. I can’t say that about any of the others under my charge. If anything, I should scold her for working too much and too hard. We have to consider how much…”

“You are only here as a matter of custom, Ms. Tan.”

Esther immediately bowed her head at Albert’s reprimand. Arianna did not envy her position at this table.

“What does this mean for my career?” Arianna asked.

“That will be decided at a later date, once our official investigation is concluded.”

“Is Elle going to get in trouble too?”

“Elle?” Albert repeated back to her as if that name were more foreign than Greek. “Do you mean Ms. Sabin? That is not up to me or my colleagues to decide. But, if I were a betting man… quite frankly, no. She is C-suite and nothing illegal has occurred. This is a matter of setting a proper example to your colleagues and not going against your contract as a flight attendant. Directors are held to an entirely different standard.”

Arianna sat in silence. There was no plotting in her mind. No thoughts at all.

This was it. The moment she had prepared her whole career for.

Its inevitable end.

Chapter 27

Elle had no idea what the fuss was about when she logged on to a video meeting with whom she expected to be the marketing director and Isaac. Because why was the entire board suddenly on her screen?

And why did they know about her relationship with Arianna?

Everyone was cagey and sympathetic. Everyone except for Ollie, who bemoaned that this was going to cost him if he lost the pretty Singaporean model whom everyone was excited about on social media. “Now I know why you wanted me to use her!” His mic was cut before he could finish saying, “Because you were fucking her!”

Elle kept her cool long enough for Isaac to call her on the phone once she logged out of the meeting. “I’m doing you a favor,” he insisted. “Because they’re all trying to call you right now, so I’m tying up your line. Talk to me.”

What was there to say? There was only one thing on Elle’s mind now that the truth was out. Arianna. What would happen to her? Had she heard about this yet? She was here a couple of days ago. Was that when they were discovered? How had Elle fucked up?

Isaac didn’t know much, since this wasn’t his wheelhouse. But he was the one who figured out that someone must have reported them to HR because that was where the story trickled down until they were all called into the meeting so Elle could be made an example of before they went back to business as usual.

“Only a few people knew about it on my end,” Elle said. “Including…”

Fuck.

She spent the rest of her day on the phone with HR trying to smooth things over, where she also learned of Arianna’s fate. Yes, she had been informed the day before. Why didn’t she say something? Yes, she was on unpaid leave. Does she need money? Yes, she might be fired if not seriously demoted to a non-customer-facing position. Is she going to be okay? There was nothing Elle could do, no strings she could pull in a company that put oversight above all else in those early days of its life.

All Elle could do was announce she was going on a few days’ leave – which HR agreed might be a good idea – and booked a non-Royal Asia flight to Singapore as soon as she could. She was leaving in the morning, and Arianna was not responding to any of her messages.

As if that would stop Elle from getting to the bottom of this.

She took an Economy flight on Singapura Airlines, scoring a window seat at the last minute due to a cancellation. Yet the modicum of privacy did nothing to keep her from sweating over the fact that Arianna wasn’t returning messages. Did they tell her I work for Royal Asia? Was this why Arianna wasn’t talking to her? Because she felt betrayed?

Elle rehearsed her reasons for not telling Arianna sooner. “I tried, but it was never the right time.” “I tried, but we kept getting distracted.” “I tried, but it turns out I’m too chickenshit to tell you the full truth.” More than once, her male seatmate asked her if she was all right. When Elle let slip that she was off to console her girlfriend in Singapore, the older man expressed shock that she was so dedicated to her relationship.

What he didn’t know was that she was a board member of a rival airline. Or that she might not have a girlfriend when she landed.

By the time she lined up for Global Entry at Changi Airport, she had worked herself into a fervor. What else was she supposed to do? Arianna won’t talk to me. It was already evening in Singapore when she was released to the Arrival’s wing, her carry-on the only thing she had bothered to pack since she didn’t need any of her business clothes. She opted for a standard room at the Lion Orchard, and the only reason she booked a room at that hotel was because she knew this was the middle of a layover for the American crew from Los Angeles.

And she knew where they were staying this week.

“Whoa…” Riley put down her phone when she saw Elle strutting up to her in jeans and a flannel shirt. “That’s my look. What are you doing here? You weren’t on the manifest.”