CH 19
Harmony
She walked into Garrett’s office and sat where she was told to go, and watched him walk over to his desk to get his laptop, and wondered if this, whatever had been published in the newspaper this morning, was going to affect her job here at Owens Construction.
Was it so very terrible that Garrett himself would see fit to release her from her contract, for creating bad publicity for his company? She’d heard the expression all publicity is good publicity, but it wasn’t and she knew it. Some publicity could be very detrimental to companies, even if it wasn’t directly related to them.
If their employees were involved in scandals that involved police or illegal issues, it could in fact reflect badly on the company they worked for, or management themselves. As they were seen not to be diligent in their hiring process, all of these things could affect stock prices, and shareholders would be screaming at the CEO to explain or fix it.
She’d seen companies go under and fold completely from bad press, and if this was about her and Damien’s break–up, she was his new secretary. It had been announced in the papers on Saturday morning, Garrett himself had sent her a link to see it, along with a text that read ” We’re in the paper, .” And she’d clicked the link, there had been many company photos of the Christmas party and the gift giving that had gone on. It had been a nice read and for once she’d not cringed at seeing herself in the paper. Though she’d not gone online to read any of
the articles, comments or threads either.
Now here she was sitting in his office none the wise as to what had gone on around her, because she didn’t see a need to check the society pages on a daily basis. She wasn’t interested in seeing Damien’s happy smiling face splashed in there alongside Chloe’s from
whatever they’d done on the weekend together.
They’d betrayed her trust in the worst way, and she knew Damien enjoyed being seen in the papers, he liked being known by all, called it good public exposure. He’d also hugged her once a long time ago and told her ‘I love being seen with you on my arm. Another time he’d stated, ‘ The world is jealous of me, because I have a perfect beauty at my side.
She wondered now if he’d ever even loved her at all, and thinking back on his words to her over
the years, some of them were actually all about just having her next to him, the way she
looked, especially when she was all dressed up in things he’d bought her.
Maybe she wasn’t someone he loved, maybe she was just a thing to him, just a trophy he got
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+8 Point
to show off to the world on his arm. Maybe she was just going to be his trophy wife in his
eyes, and he’d always intended to have Chloe on the side. Maybe that was all she ever actually was to Damien, and maybe Chloe had always been in his bed.
She suddenly felt nauseated at that thought. Was she in fact the mistress all those years?
And Chloe was who he was in love with. But she didn’t fit his idea of the picture–perfect wife to
be seen out in public with, so he had found something suitable to put on his arm. Dangle out
there for the public to see, all the while he was in love with someone else.
“Harmony, are you alright?” Garrett asked her as he finally brought up the article on the screen
for her to see. “You’ve gone a bit pale, all of a sudden.”
“I just had a horrible thought occur to me.” she muttered, and it was more than horrible, disgusting in her eyes. “It made me feel sick to my stomach is all.” she murmured and turned
her eyes to the article in question.
One she knew nothing about, but had been hounded by Damien this morning, and then found
herself faced with the press outside of her new workplace because of it.
Now she got to see the real truth of what was going on, why those reporters were out there
waiting for her, asking her all those questions. There were many pictures in the article of the
Blackwell Christmas party at the Triple Moon Nightclub, a party she only recalled so much of,
but was now splashed in the society pages for all to see and read.
She was actually getting to see Damien’s true betrayal, and it was in full colour. Certain parts
of the photos were highlighted and circled, pointing out for all to see his betrayal of their
relationship.
She was looking at the time stamps on them all as she realised these weren’t just random
photos of the night, these were security camera footage from the club itself. Just like what
she had received on her mobile phone. She felt bile rise up in the back of her throat, at the
sight of him going from her to Chloe, and back, touching her and Chloe, kissing one then the
other.
Everything was laid out to a timeline. He’d been doing this all night long, and she’d been none
the wiser, Loved and trusted him, and he’d used that to betray her, and keep her in the dark.
Her hand snapped to her mouth and she shot to her feet, fled the office, was going to vomit
and, she knew it, couldn’t keep it down any longer. Was never going to make it to the other end
of the hall to the ladies‘ room, rushed to her desk and threw up in the bin, he was a vile, cruel
and disgusting man,
She stood there holding onto that bin, staring blankly at the wall as her stomach rolled and
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heaved until there was nothing left inside of her. She wished she’d never seen any of it, and have it burned into her brain to cause more painful memories. But at the same time she knew
a part of her needed to see it. How far back it went, to know she’d done the right thing in leaving him.
The bin was removed from her hands and a glass of water replaced it. Her eyes moved absently to the person handing it to her, and she found Ryan standing there. He had a hand on
her shoulder and smiled gently down at her. “Drink this,” he encouraged her softly. “It’s just
water. Everything will be alright, you’ll feel better in a minute.”
She stared at him and wondered if he’d always had that slight southern accent. She’d not
registered it before. “I didn’t know you had an accent?” she murmured as he tilted the glass to
her lips himself.
“Occasionally it rolls out of me.” he smiled “You’ll be alright.” He told her.
She just nodded a little numbly and drank the water, needed it to get rid of the acrid taste of vomit in her mouth. She was escorted back into Garrett’s office and gently pushed back down
to the couch.
“I guess that.” She indicated to the article “Explains a lot. Why Damien also tried to call me.” she sighed as she finally managed to pull herself together. “He probably thinks that I did this
to him.”
“You didn’t,” Garrett stated “It reads from Rachael Greenbay. I think if you did this, in
conjunction with her, you’d be brave enough to let her put your name on it.”
She sighed because she didn’t know about that, but he was probably right. Harmony took a
deep breath in, and made herself read the articles that were there to go with the pictures. None of it showed her in a bad light, it was all negatively targeted towards Damien and Chloe.
The author of the article, Rachael Greenbay, it appeared, had dug into both Damien and Chloe’s past, found out that he had known Chloe since childhood. It stated she had been clinging on to the man over the years, with obvious designs of becoming his girlfriend, and
breaking him and Harmony up.
One could almost believe that it was Chloe who had reported this, to help keep them apart
even
That it had been seen over the years that Chloe was supposed to be Harmony’s friend, when all along she was just there in the background, trying to insert herself between her and Damien. There was a question about how long Damien and Chloe had been having an affair
behind Harmony’s back.
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+8 Points
There was not one bad word about herself in that article, it was all about how Damien was a
cheating bastard. She watched as Garrett scrolled the screen and realised there was more to
come. Did she really want to see it? No, not really, she thought to herself absently, but knew
she had to at the same time.
As she realised just how very blinded she had been by her love for him, but now her eyes were open to his betrayal, and she had to know how far back it went, how long had he treated her that way. How long had Chloe gone behind her back and still played at being her friend?
That second page was all about herself and Damien, there were pictures of them over the course of their three–year relationship, past articles and even family photos with his mother and father. But in nearly half of them, there was Chloe in the background, looking at Damien or
glaring at them as a couple.
Harmony sighed and reached out and closed the laptop. She’d seen enough. “I didn’t do this, but I dare say Damien or maybe his father thinks that I did, to get back at him for cheating on me… Am I causing your company trouble?” she finally asked Garrett.
“My company?” he frowned at her. “No.” he shook his head “I’m more concerned about you, actually. You and Damien have been over for weeks now, I imagine, since this night.”
She shook her head. “No, it was the following Monday morning,” She answered absently.
“Monday?” Garrett frowned at her now, seemed confused to her. “It happened on a Friday, why wait to end that relationship until Monday?” he asked.
“I’m not getting fired then?” she asked him.
“No, but I would like an answer to my question.” He stated, looking right at her.
She sighed “I guess it can’t hurt, and you already know the horrid details.” She indicated the closed laptop. “I didn’t know what to do and…” she shrugged “I couldn’t remember anything. Was too drunk and blacked out.” She muttered, knowing it wouldn’t show her in a good light. “I don’t drink anymore.” She put right to him, and she wouldn’t be.
“Someone left me footage on my phone, security footage of me walking in on them. But Damien also knows that I black out when I drink too much. So he was betting on me not
recalling anything at all.
“That was also how he played it in the end, as though I’d not seen him and Chloe. He didn’t admit it even when I confronted him about it, not until I waved that footage at him, myself.”
She sighed heavily “He lied right to my face, and then had the hide to tell me I was the one that cheated and called me…not so nice names, that’s when I slapped him.” She murmured. It
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was all the truth.
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