Chapter 10:Damage control

Elliot's POV

PR released their statement by noon. I read it on my phone while sitting at my desk trying to look normal even though nothing felt normal anymore.

"Mr Blackwood and Mr Hayes are close colleagues who share a professional working relationship. Any suggestion otherwise is false and irresponsible."

The statement did not help. Within an hour every business news site was talking about it. Some said the denial proved something was going on. Others posted more photos from the dinner zooming in on every look and touch between us.

My phone would not stop buzzing with notifications.

"Ignore it," Aiden said when he walked past my desk. "They will move on to something else by next week."

But they did not move on. By Monday morning three different talk shows were discussing whether a CEO dating his assistant was unprofessional. A blogger wrote a whole article about power dynamics in the workplace using us as an example even though nothing had actually happened between us.

Rachel from PR came to Aiden's office looking exhausted. I could hear them talking through the door.

"You need to do an interview," she said. "A proper one where you address this directly. The silence is making it worse."

"Fine," Aiden said, sounding annoyed. "Set it up."

Two days later Aiden was scheduled for a live interview on Business Today which was a show that CEOs went on to talk about their companies.

I watched from my desk because the whole office was watching on their computers.

The interviewer was a woman named Sandra Chen who smiled too much. She asked Aiden normal questions about Blackwood Tech for the first ten minutes then her smile got bigger.

"Let's talk about the photos that have been circulating," Sandra said. "You and your assistant Elliot Hayes were photographed at a business dinner looking quite close. Can you comment on your relationship?"

Aiden's face stayed calm but I could see his jaw tighten. "Elliot is my assistant. We work together."

"But the photos suggest something more," Sandra pushed. "Your hand on his back. The way you look at each other."

"The photos show two colleagues at a business dinner," Aiden said. "Nothing more."

"Some people are questioning whether it's appropriate for a CEO to be so close with an assistant," Sandra said. "What do you say to those concerns?"

Aiden leaned forward and his eyes got hard. "I say those people should mind their own business. Elliot Hayes is invaluable to me and to this company. He is smart and hardworking and frankly better at his job than most of the executives I employ.

If people want to create drama where there is none that says more about them than it does about us."

My face felt hot listening to him defend me like that on live television. Sandra looked surprised by how firm he was being.

"So you are saying definitively that there is nothing romantic between you two?" she asked.

"I am saying my personal life is not up for discussion," Aiden said. "Next question."

Sandra moved on but the damage was done. Defending me that strongly just made people more convinced something was going on. Social media exploded with clips of Aiden calling me invaluable.

People analyzed his tone and his body language and decided he was obviously lying about us just being colleagues.

I put my head in my hands because this was a nightmare. My phone rang showing Liam's number but I declined it, the last thing I needed was my brother calling to say he saw me on the news.

Aiden came back to the office an hour later looking angry. He went straight to his office then slammed the door which he never did. I waited a few minutes before knocking.

"Come in," he said. I walked in to find him staring at his computer with his jaw clenched.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"My father just called," he said without looking at me. "He wants me to come to dinner tonight. With you."

My stomach dropped. "What?"

"He saw the interview," Aiden said, then finally looked at me. "He wants to meet the person causing all this trouble."

"I should not go," I said. "That will just make things worse."

"He was not asking," Aiden said. "He was demanding. If I do not bring you he will come here."

I sat down in the chair across from his desk because my legs felt weak. Meeting Richard Blackwood was the last thing I wanted to do. From everything Aiden told me his father was cold, controlling and cared more about the company than anything else.

"Okay," I said quietly. "I will go."

Aiden looked at me for a long moment. "You do not have to."

"Yes I do," I said. "This is my fault. I should not have gone to that dinner."

"Do not say that," Aiden said sharp. "You did nothing wrong."

But it felt like I did everything wrong. I should have kept my distance. I should have been more careful. Now the whole world was watching us and Aiden's father was getting involved and everything was spinning out of control.

My phone buzzed again but this time it was an unknown number. I looked at the screen to see a text that made my blood go cold. "Your family is not the only one looking for you."

Across town in her office Vivian sat watching the interview on her laptop. She had already watched it three times because each time got better. Aiden defending his little assistant so strongly was perfect. It proved what she already knew which was that Aiden cared about Elliot way more than he should.

She picked up her phone then opened the text thread with the private investigator she hired. He had sent her some interesting information about Elliot Hayes or whoever he really was because that was definitely not his real name.

"Keep digging," she typed. "I want everything."

She hit send then smiled at her computer screen where Aiden's face was frozen mid sentence defending Elliot. This was going better than she planned. Soon she would have enough information to destroy both of them.

Her phone buzzed with a response. "Found something big. Call me."

Vivian's smile got wider. Finally things were going her way.