She looked up from the screen. Mr. Walker, I need to ask you something directly. What's your goal here? Are you seeking revenge against your wife and her against these employees?
Or are you genuinely concerned about company policy violations? I considered the question. The honest answer was complicated. It was both revenge and principle, hurt, injustice, personal pain, and legitimate concern about workplace ethics. My wife had an affair, I said slowly.
That's personal and it's painful, and yes, I'm angry about it. But she also used company resources to conduct that affair. She claimed work trips that were actually vacations. She used office time for personal communications. She and Derek created a situation where their colleagues had to cover for them, had to lie about their whereabouts, had to be complicit in something that violated your company's ethics policy.
I leaned forward. So yes, this is personal, but it's also a legitimate workplace issue. And I think your other employees deserve to work in an environment where people follow the rules, where married colleagues don't use company time and resources to conduct affairs, where professional boundaries actually mean something. Allison studied me for a long moment. You're very articulate for someone in your situation.
I've had time to think about how to articulate it. She turned back to her computer, clicked through more files. This footage from the parking garage. When was this taken? Multiple dates from July through October.
The timestamps are in the file names. And these hotel receipts, they show charges to Derek Collins's personal credit card, but some of them are from afternoons when both employees were supposedly at client meetings. Yes. Did you verify with the clients whether those meetings actually happened? No.
That felt like overstepping, but I'm sure your records show whether they build those hours as client work. She made a note on her legal pad. They did. We've already pulled their time sheets. Something in her tone told me Claire and Derek were in deeper trouble than they knew.
Billing personal time as client work wasn't just an ethics violation. It was fraud. Is there anything else you can tell me that might be relevant to our investigation? I thought about the birth control deception, about the fertility treatments, about all the personal betrayals that had nothing to do with Cascade Text policies. No, everything else is private between Claire and me.
I appreciate your discretion. She ejected the flash drive, slid it back across the desk. Keep this. We've copied everything we need. And Mr.
Walker, for what it's worth, I'm sorry you're going through this. Workplace affairs create victims beyond just the spouses involved. They damage team dynamics, create liability for the company, and force colleagues into uncomfortable positions. I appreciate that. We'll be conducting our investigation over the next two weeks.
I can't tell you what the outcome will be, but I can tell you we take these matters seriously. If employees violate our ethics policy, especially if they commit time sheet fraud, there are consequences. I stood to leave, shook her hand. Thank you for your time, Mr. Walker.
She walked me to the door. I've been doing this job for 15 years. I've seen a lot of workplace affairs. Most of the betrayed spouses who come in here are angry, vengeful, looking to cause maximum damage. You're not like that.
I'm angry, I said. Honestly, I'm very angry, but I'm trying to channel it into something constructive instead of destructive. Well, you're doing a remarkable job. I hope you find peace with all of this. I rode the elevator down 14 floors, walked through the lobby past employees who might have known about Claire and Derek, who might have covered for them, who might have watched my marriage dissolve in real time while pretending ignorance.
Outside, the November air felt sharp and clean. I stood on the sidewalk for a moment, letting it clear my head, trying to process what I just done. I'd potentially cost Claire her job, her career, the financial independence she'd fought so hard for. I waited to feel guilty, waited for remorse to hit me, for second thoughts to creep in. But all I felt was tired, and maybe underneath that, the smallest flicker of satisfaction.
My phone buzzed, a text from an unknown number. This is Derek. We need to talk now. Meet me at the coffee shop on 5th. I stared at the message, debated ignoring it, then decided why not.
One more conversation, one more chance to hear him try to explain the inexplicable. I texted back 30 minutes. Derek was already there when I arrived, sitting at a corner table with the two cups of coffee going cold in front of him. He looked terrible, unshaven, rumpled, like he'd slept in his car. His leg was bouncing under the table, nervous energy radiating off him in waves.
"Thanks for coming," he said as I sat down. You have 20 minutes talk. HR called me in yesterday, asked me questions about Claire, about our relationship, about work trips and client billing. They're investigating us, Ethan. They're looking at time sheet records and expense reports.
And he ran his hands through his hair. Did you talk to them? I answered their questions honestly. You gave them evidence. Security footage, credit card receipts.
You're trying to get us fired. I'm trying to get divorced. What your employer does with information about your ethics violations is their choice, not mine. Ethics violations? He laughed bitterly.
That's what you're calling it? We fell in love, Ethan. That's not a violation. That's You fell in love on company time. You build personal hours as client work.
You used office resources to conduct an affair. That's not romance, Derek. That's fraud. He slumped in his chair. Claire is going to lose her job.
They basically told her that yesterday. And I'll probably lose mine, too. We'll both be blacklisted in the industry, unable to get references, starting over from nothing. Consequences, I said simply. For what?