Page 30 of Pride

Did you think your article would scare me?

Wrong.

So fucking wrong.

You just poked the bear... again. And this time, he’s hungry for more than blood.

Watch your back,Emma.

S.K.A.M. (I’ll give you a clue what my name stands for. The K is for killer)

I wasn’t taking any chances this time, I deleted the email that made me feel sick to my stomach, and then flew out of my chair and across the office to Mr Gold’s door. I didn’t even bother to knock; I just burst into his office and found him on the phone, laughing.

He saw me, and without wiping the smile off his face, he said, “Mike, I’ll have to call you back. There’s a slight issue I need to deal with first.”

A slight issue?

That’s what he thought this was?

Fuck him.

He put the phone down, but as he glared at me, that smile was still on his face. I wanted to smack it off.

“What. The hell. Did you do?” I seethed.

“I just did you the biggest favour of your career.” He beamed, then leaning in his chair, he said, “Close the door behind you. You don’t want the rest of the office to hear this.”

I turned to close the door, noticing how Dan huffed from his desk that he wasn’t going to get a front-row seat to what was about to happen.

“I didn’t want any of this,” I hissed, staying on my feet despite Mr Gold gesturing for me to take a seat. “Did you hack into my emails?”

Mr Gold sat forward, placing his elbows on his desk and steepling his fingers as he regarded me.

“You know that’s illegal, right?” I went on. “I could go to H.R. right now and report you. You invaded my privacy.”

“You’d have to prove it first,” he replied, his eyes narrowing on me with evil intent. “And I don’t think you want to go down that road, Emma. I could make life very difficult for you.”

“Are you threatening me?” I scowled back at him, and he leaned back in his chair and held his hands up.

“No one is threatening anyone. This is all just a misunderstanding. One which could benefit both of us.” He leaned forward again. “Do you know what a story like this could do for your career?”

“It wasn’t my story, though, was it? I didn’t write that and yet, I’m the one hurting from the fallout.”

“Did he email you again?” Gold raised his brows. He was hungry for this to go on, to spiral out of control until he could bleed every drop of this story dry like some kind of twisted puppet master.

“No.” I lied. I’d never tell him anything again. I needed to work smarter to survive this jungle of an office.

“Well, if he does, you need to tell me. We need to run with this, Emma. The nationals are starting to show an interest. And who knows, if they pick it up, you could get some television interviews off the back of it, too.”

“And be known as the girl who was trolled and stalked? No thanks.”

“Is he stalking you?” Mr Gold pressed.

“That’s what you said in the article you wrote for today’s edition, isn’t it?” I countered, and he smiled and nodded.

“I don’t think I want to work at a place that’s corrupt, or for a boss who thinks he can use any means necessary to exploit his workers, even if it means...”

Mr Gold held his hand up.