Trapped In Lies Chapter 08
The email chain clearly showed Dan’s own replies.
[Revise according to Hayley’s feedback. Results to be shared.]
“Shared?” I snorted.
“Stella, all of us felt it was unfair to you,” Andrew said. “Everything you worked yourself to the bone for ended up building her career.”-
I copied every email. As I was leaving, Andrew hurried after me.
“Stella, be careful. The Hill family has deep roots in this city.”
I nodded.
The most ironic discovery came next. Hayley’s second child was not Dan’s either.
A nurse at the hospital turned out to be married to one of the guys I had worked with on the desert project.
She told me privately, “While Hayley was pregnant, there was this man who came to see her all the time. He wore glasses, and he was well-dressed as well as very polished. I overheard them say that they would run away together once they got the Hill family’s money.”
Then, she pulled out a blurry photograph.
It was a screenshot from a parking garage security camera. The man’s face was turned slightly to the side, but his profile was unmistakable.
I recognized him immediately.
It was Nathan Bart. He was the sales director of Adler Group, Hill Group’s biggest competitor.
I sat in my rented room and spread out the evidence piece by piece across the table.
There were falsified academic credentials, stolen project results, a forged paternity test, a malicious transfer order, and even marital infidelity.
Every document represented a piece of what had been taken from me.
I organized everything into a file and made three copies.
One was mailed anonymously to Hill Group’s board of directors.
One went to the state business and regulatory authorities.
The last went to the three largest newspapers in the city.
The day I dropped the packages in the mail, I stood outside the post office staring at the blue collection box.
After everything was done, I felt nothing.
There was no satisfaction or relief, just exhaustion that settled into my bones.
One week later, explosive headlines dominated every front page.
[Senior executive accused of falsifying academic credentials, stealing intellectual property, and extramarital affairs)
[Scandal rocks Hill Group as CEO’s wife faces mounting allegations]
[New evidence reveals key technical employee was deliberately exiled from headquarters five years ago]
Hayley was fired.
As the scandal spread across the internet, people began digging into what had happened years earlier
[Holy moly! Stella was the victim this whole time!]
[Hayley is absolutely disgusting! She stole her work and her man!]
[Was Dan blind? How could he fall for a woman like that?]
Public opinion turned.
I sat alone in my apartment and calmly read the news on my computer.
My phone rang, and it was a call from an unknown number.
I did not answer.
It rang seven or eight times more, and I silenced it.
Dan began calling me obsessively. He called hundreds of times a day.
Every time I blocked a number, he would call from another one.
Eventually, I turned my phone off.
That was when he started contacting people from my past. He asked if they knew where I was and even filed a missing-person report.
Officers came to my door to verify. After finding me very much alive in my rented room, they gave Dan a few words of reprimand and left.
One week later, the board of Hill Group issued a public statement. They had suspended Dan from all duties pending an internal investigation.
As more details emerged about my transfer five years earlier, employees began questioning whether he had abused his authority for personal reasons and retaliated against someone under his supervision.
His father flew back from overseas overnight and slammed his fist on the boardroom table. He rebuked Dan for being a failure.
“You’ve turned the company into a circus all because of a woman! How did I ever raise such a fool?”
Susan relayed all of this to me, as she was still working at Hill Group.
“Stella, you’re incredible.”
