Hide and Seek

19 hours...

'"Was it you Eli?" An associate of mine asked over the phone. "I haven't read the whole thing but the article says E.L."

"What? What are you talking about?" My heart pounded. I instantly thought of Ezra and what he had said. Since he knew something, I was afraid he had exposed me, so I panicked. I drove to the mansion first, but he wasn't there, so I went to the company. I found him in dad's office.

"You couldn't wait to get me exposed could you? What did you do?" I grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against a wall. "Just because I'm happy and you're stuck sucking up to dad. Is it even that big of a deal?"

Ezra huffed, rolling his eyes. "Relax. It's not about you," he drawled.

"What- what do you mean?" My grip on him loosened.

"You're not E.L. It's me."

Before I could ask him to explain further, Dad and everyone else began to file in one by one. Seth was the last one to enter the office. I let go of Ezra and dad slammed a newspaper on top of the table.
I walked over to the window and opened it. I had to breathe and calm my pacing heart. I loosened my tie a bit as dad yelled at Ezra none stop. I could barely make out what he was saying, something about Ezra being stupid. Then, just as I was calming down, dad did something none of us would have ever thought he would do. He actually slapped Ezra. If dad slapped Ezra, THE Ezra, over whatever that was, what more could he do to me?

"Eli." I heard dad say and had to adjust my posture and stand up straight.
"Have the media take these articles down. Seth..."
Of course I had to fix whatever mess this was. Speaking of which, as I walked out of that door I had a thought. No article about our company or us, has ever been published without my knowledge since I started working there. Though I couldn't care less about what would happen to Ezra, I had to know who had the nerve to publish something about us without my permission. So, I dialled the number of the editor.

'Goodmorning Eli,' he answered.

"It isn't," I gritted. "Who gave you permission to publish that article?"

'Eli relax, I told him you were going to react like this but he said I should do it anyway.'

"Who dammit?"

'Your brother... Ezra.'

"What?"

'Ezra sent me the article and told me to publish it as it is.'

I hung up without responding to him. "What is this kid up to?" I muttered and paced back to dad's office. Everyone had left besides Ezra and Seth who were talking. I could not make out most of what they said because their voices were low. I pushed the door just a crack open and I heard Ezra speak.
"You don't seem very happy. One would say you look rather guilty. Like you did something wrong."

"Like what?" Seth responded.

I wanted to listen further, but I felt my phone buzz in my hand and moved away from the door.

"What?!" I hissed over the phone. "This better be important because I told you not to call me."

'It is important sir. It looks like someone went through some files in the finance team. Thoroughly.'

I removed my phone from my ear and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying my best to keep calm.
"How can you let... Who was it?" I whispered.

"I'm not sure sir. We did not see anyone come in."

"Then obviously it's someone on your team. Find them and bring them to me if you know what's good for you."