Turning to Stone (Heart of Stone: Book 2)

Chapter 9: Protection

Although he said nothing, Mark's jaw clenched as a flash of anger lit up his green eyes. His fists scrunched into tight balls, and for a split second I wondered if he'd lean across the table and deck Ed.

As for Helen, she sat there with her lips slightly parted, like she couldn't quite believe what her golden boy had just confessed.

With both of them stunned into silence, Ed ploughed on.

"I was worried the girl might have evidence. CCTV or something. So I spoke to the journalist and agreed to do a tell-all interview. In exchange, she'd pay the girl an exclusivity fee to stop her going elsewhere, but then she'd not publish the story. Only, I knew I couldn't do a proper tell-all interview because of the NDA, so I asked Lacey how much she'd be comfortable with me sharing. That's what we argued about. That's why she's upset. That's why it's nothing to do with Sophia."

I stared at the table, scared that if I looked up I'd give us away. Ed didn't need to protect me like that, especially when we'd parted ways this morning on such bad terms, but he'd promised he'd always have my back, and he was coming through for me on that.

"I'm sorry," Ed said when the silence still dragged on. "I panicked. I was trying to save my own arse. I should have come to you instead."

"Did you know about this, Sophia?" Helen finally spoke, forcing me to lift my gaze.

"Of course she did," Mark said, before Ed could cut in again. "That's why Lacey was so hostile downstairs."

"Lacey's hostile because she's jealous of how close Soph and I are."

"Close enough to lie for her?" Helen raised an eyebrow at Ed. "It's funny. Only yesterday Sophia was telling us that the pair of you don't have a relationship outside work."

Ed bobbed one shoulder to shrug. "We don't have a relationship outside work. But we were very close once, and Lacey—"

Helen held up a hand to silence him. "Stop digging. Quite frankly, I don't care what the two of you get up to in your spare time. What I do care about is how it affects the work we all do together. I made that very clear when Sophia accepted the job. So you can sit there and lie to me about the extent of your relationship, but don't expect me to believe that your friend, who has very close links to journalists through her job, hasn't played a part in this cover-up."

I opened my mouth, knowing I needed to make some kind of contribution to this rapidly deteriorating situation, but Ed's hand tightened on mine in warning.

"This is my fault, Helen. I'm not lying about that. I swear." Ed kept his voice calm and steady, but his foot tapped frantically against the floor next to mine.

Helen pressed her lips together before swinging her impatient gaze onto me. "Sophia. I don't believe for a second that you're not involved in this, but if he's going to take the flack for you, then so be it. You're suspended for a week."

Ed released my fingers and leapt up, planting his palms against the table as he leaned across it.

"She's nothing to do with this!"

"And that's the only reason she's not fired. A suspension should be a sufficient warning. Just in case she ever thinks about doing something like this in the future."

Helen had obviously seen straight through the bullshit, so I had to appreciate her leniency. She could have fired me quite easily—I wasn't even out of my probation period—but instead she'd shown mercy.

"As for you," she said, her eyes landing on Ed, who slowly sank back into his seat. "I don't even know where to start, but a meeting with our legal team seems as good a place as any. There will be no tell-all interview. We'll pay off the girl. End of story."