Page 46 of Isolated (Harper Security Ops #21)

Georgia eyed me in a way that indicated she didn’t exactly buy what I was selling, but she decided against calling me out on it. “Sure. No problem.”

I walked away and made a beeline for Robert’s office. I’d always been respectful, and I intended to be as such now, but I was going to demand answers. With my bag slung over my shoulder, I came to a stop in front of his closed office door. I took a deep, settling breath and knocked.

Robert barely got out the words to indicate I could walk in when I flung the door open and barged inside. “Robert, I just talked to…”

My voice trailed off as I realized what I’d just walked into. Robert was sitting at his desk, but he was not alone. In the office with him were Bryan and Howard, and none of them looked pleased to see me.

“Oh, I... I didn’t know you were having a meeting.”

“Is there a problem, Iris?”

I swallowed roughly, my stomach roiling. “Well, it’s just that I had a meeting scheduled with some members of my team this morning, and nobody showed up. I saw Georgia, and she told me that she’d received an email from you that the meeting had been canceled. I don’t understand why.”

His eyes narrowed, and I could sense a hint of disappointment in him. “Are you sure about that?”

Was he serious?

“Robert, I realize there were a few things that were a problem a couple of weeks ago, but those were technical glitches. I’m here to do my job, and I can’t do that if I’m being undermined.”

He studied me for a moment, the silence so thick with tension. “Did you enjoy your time off at the end of the week last week?”

Blinking in surprise, I jerked back. “I… No. I had a family emergency, and I needed to head home to Grouse to deal with it.”

“That’s interesting.”

I was beginning to think I’d missed out on some insider information. “Sir?”

“We got a call Friday afternoon that Horizon Solutions has decided to go with Turnkey Strategies for their marketing needs.”

My jaw fell open. I was shocked, saddened. We deserved to get that account. “But I thought Horizon Solutions was giving Mono Mark the opportunity to pitch a campaign to them.”

His disappointment turned into something else. Bitterness, maybe?

“They were. We were supposed to be doing it later this week. But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

And that’s when I realized this was going to go from bad to worse. I’d just revealed that I had knowledge of Horizon Solutions contacting Mono Mark. I didn’t want this to come back on Steph or Kasey. “There was… Sir, there were murmurings of the opportunity around the office.”

“And did it upset you to learn that we hadn’t asked you to take part in this campaign?”

“Of course, it did. I feel like I’m qualified and could have gotten us that account with the support of my team. ”

Robert’s brows shot up, and Bryan looked at me with such a sniveling smirk on his face. Like he was thrilled to be watching this. I almost wondered if he had any relation to Nova or Madison for the way he was reveling in this.

“Your team, Iris? Or you?”

“Pardon?”

He sighed and turned his computer monitor around to face me. “The CEO of Horizon Solutions was kind enough to share the campaign that was proposed to them. Here it is.”

I stared at the screen. And with each passing second, my stomach felt like it was being hollowed out. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening.

My fingers began to tingle, and I was certain I was going to pass out.

But I couldn’t respond.

I couldn’t react.

“Are you okay, Iris? You look a little unwell.”

I tried to breathe deeply, to suck in some oxygen in hopes of settling my nerves. “I ran out of the house in a hurry this morning. I didn’t grab a good breakfast,” I lied.

“Oh, I see. I thought you were concerned about how great this campaign was.”

It was a massive effort to swallow past the boulder in my throat. “It isn’t bad.”

He let out a laugh. “I imagine you would think so, considering we found this campaign on our servers.”

I clutched my stomach. My heart was hammering so loud, I was convinced they could hear it.

“We always had high hopes for you, Iris. I thought you were the absolute best we had. But I never expected a betrayal like this. I never imagined you would go behind my back and sabotage this company’s success.”

Shaking my head slowly in utter disbelief at what I was hearing, I stammered, “I… I didn’t?—”

“You didn’t what? Are you denying that this is your work?”

I pressed my lips together, continuing to shake my head.

This didn’t make any sense. How did they get a hold of what I’d been working on?

I was careful. Since I knew that I wasn’t supposed to be working on a campaign for Horizon Solutions, I never saved any of the work to the company server. I kept it strictly on my laptop.

“Stalling to come up with a story or an explanation, Iris?” Bryan chimed in for the first time since I’d entered Robert’s office.

My eyes cut to his. “This is… This is…”

“I’m sorry, Iris.” Robert’s voice urged me to look in his direction again. He looked truly disappointed. “But after this level of betrayal, I’m afraid we cannot continue to allow you to work here.”

The room was spinning. “But I swear, I didn’t do this?—”

“You shouldn’t be upset about this,” he clipped. “I’m sure Horizon Solutions will be thrilled to have you on board. Now, if you’ll return to your office to gather your things, I’ll call security to escort you out.”

“Robert, I?—”

“There’s nothing left to say, Iris. Please leave before you embarrass yourself further.”

My chin trembled. The sweat beaded on my upper lip and my neck.

It pooled at the base of my spine. I backed away slowly, stepped out of the room, and willed myself to keep it together until I got out of the building.

As quickly as I could, barely able to breathe, I gathered my belongings, tossed them into my bag, and looked up to find security waiting for me.

I didn’t think things could get any worse than they already were, but on the way to the exit, I saw my friends. Steph and Kasey had their eyes on me, and I wanted to say I saw a hint of surprise and shock on their faces, but it was probably wishful thinking.

They stood there, watching me until I was at the door, and neither one of them approached to see if I was okay.

My friendship with them was no longer splintered. It had fully fractured, and there was no hope of repairing it.

I made it to my car and burst into tears.