Later, Vivian requested to see us one more time.
The moment she sat down, she pulled out a file.
They were records she’d kept from when she used to help Colin with the company’s internal systems.
She looked at Colin with a cold smile.
“You’ve been trying to distance yourself from everything. Let me remind you—you weren’t exactly following the rules either.”
“You let me bypass procedures and access the company’s systems to pull files for you. If this comes out, what do you think you’ll have left?”
Colin stared at the file. His face went dark.
“You kept all of this?”
“Of course.”
She watched him.
“I never actually trusted you.”
“You have a wife. A home. A job.”
“What do I have? Just the ‘genius’ label you all gave me.”
“If I didn’t keep something, what would I have to stop you with the day you decided to cut me loose?”
Colin looked like he’d been slapped.
He’d always thought Vivian’s dependence on him meant trust. That he was special to her.
But it had been calculation all along.
He asked quietly, “So helping me was just you keeping leverage?”
She smirked. “What else?”
“When you needed me, you called me brilliant.”
“When Elara asked for boundaries, you told me to just deal with it.”
“When things went wrong, your first instinct wasn’t to protect either of us. It was to make both women protect your image.”
Colin’s face grew darker. “You never treated me as a friend.”
She shot back instantly. “You never treated me as one either.”
“You treated me like a convenient tool.”
*****
After the investigation, Colin admitted to the company-side violations.
The company fired him for good.
Vivian faced more serious consequences. Illegal distribution, bypassing restrictions, and years in prison.
After the trial, Colin was waiting outside for us.
He wanted to drive us home.
Margaret refused.
He didn’t move. Then he asked her, “Will you ever forgive me?”
She looked at him. Her voice didn’t waver.
“When she was about to step off that ledge, you went to protect Vivian first.”
“That’s not something that turns into a misunderstanding.”
She led me away.
I walked out without looking back.
But I knew Colin would still be standing there.
He finally saw what he’d done.
Just too late.
*****