CHAPTER SIX

ONE OF YOU HAS TO GO

Imogen’s POV

Arriving at the office the next day, Mr Greg had already scheduled another meeting at the conference room.

He was sitting at the edge of the long table while Edan took the seat across from me. Between us, a tablet was laying face-down like a loaded weapon nobody wanted to touch first.

“I have spent the last ten minutes on the phone with Belvane’s legal team,” Greg said. His voice was flat like the voice of a man who had already decided the worst and was now just confirming it. “They saw the video of yesterday's brunch and they are asking questions relentlessly.”

He turned his tablet over as the screen showed a message thread from the Belvane’s head of communications which was timestamped eleven minutes ago and it read:

“Is this the team we’re trusting with a cancer treatment launch? We need you to get back to us by noon.”

“The brunch was bad and the video even worsened the whole situation. But I cannot explain what the situation is and I don’t understand the reasons why two of my most expensive assets are trying to destroy each other in public.” Mr. Greg continued.

“Mr. Greg, she is the one….” Edan leaned forward.

“I didn’t ask you to point fingers. I asked you to explain ” Greg’s hand came down on the table.

Just then the door opened and a woman in a grey suit walked in carrying a folder. She didn’t introduce herself because there was no need to as the Belvane logo on her badge said everything.

“I’m Mara Voss from the Belvane legal team. I’m here because my team is one signature away from pulling the entire campaign.” She said, setting the folder down.

The air left the room.

“What do you mean by pulling?,” I repeated.

“Yes, pulling. We signed on for a unified front with two distinguished faces and one message. But what we got was a leaked private video, a staged public humiliation, and a comment section that has already turned this into a tabloid story. Our investors are asking whether the people representing this device can be trusted with anything.” She explained opening the folder.

“Mara, we can fix this. A statement to the press can go a long way.” Grey’s face had gone grey.

“We don’t want a statement. We want to know which one of you is the liability. Because one of you will be walking away today.” She looked at me, then at Edan.

The words landed like a stone in still water.

“What do you mean by us?” Edan asked slowly.

“Yes, one of you. Belvane has been reviewing both your backgrounds, your histories and entanglements.” Her eyes lingered on me for a fraction of a second. “So we need one clean face, then another becomes an off-brand consultant.” She said tapping the folder.

“So I need an answer by noon, I’ll be in the lobby.” Mara said and left.

“Imogen and Edan. I don’t care what happened between you. All I care about is the device, the launch and the fact that my company just lost forty-three minutes of credibility. One of you has to go. Who is it?” Mr. Greg said, rubbing his face with both hands, whilst looking up.

The silence that followed was different from the one before.

“It should be me.” Edan spoke first.

“What?.” I turned to him so fast my chair scraped.

“I’m the public face,” he said. His voice was steady, but his hands were flat on the table, fingers spread, like he was holding himself in place. “If I step back, the campaign loses a TikTok star. But if you step back, the it loses the person who built the pitch. The pitch is the campaign, so you should stay.”

“No no . Don’t do that by playing the hero here.” I said. My voice came out sharper than I intended. “You don’t get to stand there and sacrifice yourself after all you did.”

“I’m not playing anything, instead, I’m being practical. You need this more than I do.” He said.

The words hit harder than they should have because he couldn’t have probably known about my mother’s ailment. But the way he said it was like he could still see through me after four years and that made my throat tighten.

“You don’t know what I need.” I retorted.

“I know you didn’t walk into this company by accident, I know you fought for this account and if Belvane walks away, the pitch dies with it. So yes. It should be me.” He replied.

“Is that the decision?” Mr. Greg’s eyes moved between us.

“No. You don’t get to erase yourself and call it noble. And you don’t get to decide for me.” I turned to Greg. “If one of us leaves, the campaign still looks unstable. The story becomes ‘which one of them was the problem.’ Belvane will smell the weakness and they’ll pull the funding anyway.” I explained.

“Then what’s your solution?” Mr. Greg frowned.

“We both stay. We are going to work together publicly without any other sabotage or private wars. We will give them the unified front they paid for.” The words surprised even me, but once they were out I didn’t take them back.

“Are you volunteering to work with me?.” Edan’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m volunteering to save the only thing that matters.” I didn’t go further with my explanations, especially not about my mother’s treatment window closing or the five thousand pounds, rather I just held his gaze and let the silence do the rest.

Greg exhaled. “You’re both staying under one condition.” He tapped the tablet. “From this moment, every public appearance is joint, every statement is approved by both of you. Any further incident from any of you and Belvane gets the termination clause. We will lose the account and you both will lose the compensation. Are we clear on that?” He asked.

“Yes we are,” Edan answered while I nodded in agreement.

“Mara is waiting. I’ll tell her the decision. Don’t make me regret this.” Mr. Greg stood leaving us alone in the windowless room.

For a long moment neither of us moved as the air between us was feeling charged, like the second before lightning decides where to strike.

“Why did you do that?” Edan spoke first in a quiet tone now.

“Because the alternative was worse.” I replied.

“That’s not an answer.” He insisted.

I turned to look at the man who had once been the center of my world and then the reason it ended. At the same eyes that had told me it wasn’t that serious while another girl was sitting on his bed.

“You don’t get answers, rather you get a truce which will be temporary and professional. And the second this campaign is over, we go back to being strangers.” I said.

He studied me for a beat longer than was comfortable. Then he nodded once, like he was accepting terms he already planned to break.

My phone started vibrating in my pocket, I pulled it out without thinking only to see a new message from an unknown number.

But the preview made my blood go cold, it read;

“Still think you can win this, Imogen? Ask him what really happened that night. Or better yet ask him why he never told you.”

I locked the screen, looked up and Edan was still watching me.

“Everything okay?” he asked. I didn’t answer.

Outside the door, Mr. Greg’s voice carried down the hall as he spoke to Mara.

Inside the room, the clock on the wall was ticking towards noon.

And in my hand, the message was sitting like a fuse already lighted.