4: 4
4.
Randolph Whitney's face was hard, and every one of the people who'd been gawking a second ago went quiet.
They scurried back to their desks like rats caught in the open.
Only Zachery, Wendy, and I were left standing.
"Mr. Whitney, there's something I need to say."
Before I could finish, Sylvia cut me off.
"Mr. Whitney, here's the incident report on what happened. Take a look."
He opened the file she handed him.
"Mr. Whitney, I only spoke up because I care about the company. I took the risk of making enemies to expose her, and Polly went and called me incompetent, called me two-faced, said I had some hidden agenda."
I was the one being smeared.
And yet Zachery looked like the wronged party.
Whitney closed the file and smiled at him.
"Zach, I understand the whole thing now. You've done well."
I stared at him, stunned.
Wendy twisted the knife right away. "Mr. Whitney, we're about to partner with Fox Corp. At a moment like this, we absolutely cannot afford any kind of scandal. We can't let certain people wreck something this big for the company."
He nodded thoughtfully and gave me a once-over.
"Polly, you're new to working life. You're in a hurry, looking for shortcuts. I can understand that."
I fired back, hard. "On what grounds do you say that? Do you have proof? His word alone?"
Sylvia pointed at the videos that were spreading everywhere. "Polly, the photos and videos are all out there. Are you still going to keep lying?"
"Mr. Whitney just stepped in to save you face, and here you are questioning him."
Randolph reined in his anger. "Polly, for the good of the company, we've already pulled your confirmation announcement."
Zachery hurried to my computer and refreshed the link.
The instant he saw the blank page, a satisfied little smile crossed his face.
"This isn't fair. You never investigated anything, and you're going on his word alone?"
"That confirmation was mine because of the countless nights I stayed up, the countless versions of the plan I scrapped, the Stonebrook project I landed. I earned it."
"It has nothing to do with anyone else."
As if something had just occurred to him, Randolph added, "Seal all the Stonebrook materials and hand them over to Zachery. The person running this project has to be honest and clean."
The pride in Zachery's eyes swelled.
Randolph pointed at me and told Sylvia, "You make sure the handover happens, and make it fast."
"Polly, you're moving out of the Operations Department for now. Go to support staff."
Then, as if he were handing me some enormous act of mercy, he patted my shoulder.
"With everything in such an uproar, the company is doing this to protect you."
The moment he turned to leave, I didn't explain, didn't argue.
I pushed the smug Zachery aside.
And sat straight back down at my desk.
They thought I'd caved, and started on the handover.
Randolph looked at me, pleased. "Polly, a young person who knows which way the wind blows—that's the right attitude. When the handover's done, come by my office. There's something I want to discuss with you."
The three of them saw Randolph off like a pack of fawning lapdogs.
Then Zachery pressed me to hurry up and transfer everything.
But once he saw what I was actually doing,
the color drained right out of his face.
