Chapter 5 – Trust Broken
510 Words
The weekend dragged like a shadow.
Emily didn’t return any calls. She ignored Jake’s texts. She even skipped Sunday’s emergency staff meeting—something she’d never done in her seven years at the company.
Because for the first time… she wasn’t sure who she could trust.
By Monday morning, rumors had started spreading. Whispers in the hallway. Sideways glances. The unspoken question hung in the air:
Did Emily Carter sabotage her own campaign?
She kept her head down as she walked into the office. No smiles. No greetings. Just quiet stares and awkward silence.
Jake was waiting for her outside her office, arms folded, looking like he hadn’t slept.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said.
She brushed past him, unlocking her door. “I’ve been busy.”
“With what? Beating yourself up alone in silence?”
She froze. “Don’t act like you know how I deal with things.”
He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “Then tell me. Talk to me. Let me help you clear this.”
Emily faced him. “Why do you care, Jake? Because you think I’m innocent? Or because you feel responsible?”
Jake’s jaw clenched. “Because I trust you.”
She laughed bitterly. “You didn’t trust me in that boardroom, though. When West blamed me, you just stood there.”
“I defended you!”
“Not loud enough,” she said, her voice cracking. “Not when it mattered.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Jake sighed, stepping back like her words had physically pushed him. “You really believe I would just stand by and let them destroy you?”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” she said quietly. “Not about them. Not about you.”
Jake looked at her like he wanted to close the distance between them—but didn’t.
“I looked into the file logs,” he said. “Someone used your credentials from a different IP address. It wasn’t you.”
She blinked. “You found that?”
He nodded. “But IT won’t release the full logs unless you request it yourself.”
For a moment, Emily didn’t speak. The weight in her chest lifted slightly—but the damage to her trust still throbbed.
“Why did you do all that?” she asked.
Jake shrugged, his voice softer. “Because I know what it’s like to be blamed for something you didn’t do. And because… I care. More than I probably should.”
Their eyes locked, something raw between them again—something too dangerous to name.
Emily looked away. “Help me get those logs. That’s all I need from you right now.”
Jake gave a slow nod. “Okay.”
As he walked out, Emily leaned against the door, breath shaking.
He was trying.
He believed in her.
But she couldn’t afford to let herself fall… not yet.
Not when the knives were still out—and one of them had her name carved into the handle.
- Writer
