Tit For Tat Chapter 04
The next morning, Adrian arrived at my family’s house right on time.
The canceled engagement party was already front-page news.
“Cole-Hart Engagement Abruptly Canceled “
“Who Sent the ‘Secondhand Fiancée’ Email? “
“Harbor Dock Project at Risk as Family Relations Sour “
Sloane had been busy the night before.
First, she posted a statement to her personal account:
“Some people care more about their image than anything else. It’s their past, but they won’t even let the people close to them mention it. “
Second, she uploaded a seven-second video.
The clip started with me snatching her phone and ended with me throwing the ring. The webpage, the laughter in the room, and Adrian’s role in sending the email were all edited out. All that remained was me, cold and violent, injuring my fiancé.
She deleted it quickly.
But not before it had been downloaded and reposted.
A new narrative began to form in the comments:
“Maybe the email was too much, but does that make it okay to hit him? “
“Is this just a publicity stunt for the rich? Neither of them is innocent. “
“I heard she was never really over her ex-fiancé. “
When Adrian came in, he looked like he hadn’t slept.
Sloane followed a step behind him.
She wore an off-white sweater, her eyes red and swollen, and clutched a stack of printouts.
My father sat in the center of the living room, my mother beside me.
Adrian spoke first.
“Mr. and Mrs. Hart, I mishandled what happened last night.”
“The engagement party can be postponed, but Hart Real Estate’s statement links a private matter to our company systems. That has a major impact on the project for both sides.”
My father gave him a look.
“Are you here today to talk about the project, or my daughter?”
Adrian paused.
“The two can’t be entirely separated.”
My father smiled, a cold, thin line.
“You didn’t seem to remember that when you hit send.”
My mother threw the printed email onto the coffee table.
“Adrian, Evelyn being jilted three years ago was not her fault.”
“Back then, you smashed a window at the Bennett house and made the whole city believe you’d do anything for her.”
“Now that you have her, you let your friend label her a ‘return’ and send it to clients and reporters?”
Tears immediately welled in Sloane’s eyes.
“Mrs. Hart, I made the page.”
“I grew up with Adrian and his friends. We joke around more than most people do. I didn’t realize Evelyn would mind so much, and I never thought anyone would share the page.”
My mother looked at her.
“You work in brand communications at Cole Capital, and you didn’t think an email sent to 327 people might get forwarded?”
Sloane’s face went pale.
“I just wanted to make everyone laugh.”
“At whose expense?”
My mother pointed to the yellow tag under the photo.
“Didn’t your mother teach you not to turn other people’s pain into merchandise?”
Sloane’s lips trembled as she glanced at Adrian.
He didn’t immediately jump to her defense.
My father placed a notice from the bank on the table.
“This morning, Harbor United Bank suspended the loan committee review for Harbor Dock.”
“The reason cited was ‘data governance and management reputation risk’ among the project’s joint parties.”
“That is your joke.”
Adrian’s expression finally shifted.
“I’ll have Cole Capital issue a guarantee.”
“We don’t want it,” I said.
“Starting today, Harbor Dock’s financing structure will be redesigned. Hart Real Estate will no longer accept any support from Cole Capital that is predicated on an engagement.”
He whipped his head toward me.
“You’re kicking Cole Capital off the project?”
“You’ve already proven that in your hands, there’s no boundary between private access and project access.”
“Until the investigation is complete, suspending joint permissions is basic risk control.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Evelyn, do you know how much time it will cost to replace a financing partner?”
“At least six weeks.”
“Then how can you—”
“So the losses are real,” I cut him off.
“They don’t just vanish because you take the page down. And the bank isn’t going to pretend it never got the email just because you say it was a joke.”
The living room fell silent.
In a small voice, Sloane said, “I can apologize publicly.”
I looked at her.
“You can.”
She seemed to relax slightly.
“Your apology will need to include the full webpage, the number of recipients, the source of the photos, the backend permissions, and the secretly recorded video. You will clarify the misunderstanding in exactly the same way you created it.”
Sloane’s head jerked up.
“How am I supposed to work after that?”
I smiled faintly.
“Did you consider how I was supposed to face my clients and employees before you sent it?”
Her tears came harder now.
“But Adrian sent it too! Why are you only coming after me?”
“I’m not,” I said, turning to Adrian.
“He’s losing the engagement, and my trust.”
“If the investigation proves Cole Capital’s company accounts or employee credentials were used to spread the content, he will bear that responsibility as well.”
Adrian stared at me, his eyes like a gathering storm.
Sloane clutched his sleeve.
“Adrian, I really didn’t know the bank would see it. I thought everyone on the list was someone we knew.”
He lowered his eyes to her.
“Did you post that edited clip last night?”
Her hand stiffened.
“I was just aggrieved.”
“Where’s the original video?”
“I deleted it.”
For the first time, Adrian shook her off.
“I asked you where the original video is.”
Sloane looked startled by his tone.
“There might be a backup in the cloud.”
His face grew colder.
I felt no satisfaction.
Only a profound sense of lateness.
When my private photos were displayed for the world, he thought I was being too serious.
Only after the bank suspended the project did he finally decide Sloane had gone too far.
Apparently, the knife twisting in my gut hadn’t been enough.
It had to cut into Cole Capital’s balance sheet before he understood it wasn’t a toy.