Loving With A Heavy Heart 56 Scandal

On Monday Elle woke up feeling well rested but also resentful. She had given her department the morning off, but as a result she went in an hour early to try to make up for the lost time. Although she wasn't happy about having to go in so early something about the empty desks made Elle smile. She got into her office and sat down behind the stacks of paperwork thinking that her team members better thoroughly enjoy their morning off.

Elle settled in quickly and got to work, slowly hacking away at the mountain of paper. There were dozens of reports to read, even more to write. Not having anyone else in the department meant there was no one to help her, but no one to distract her either. Taking advantage of the few quite hours she would have, Elle quickly lost herself in her work. She was so focused that she didn't notice the time go by. So focused that when her phone pinged the noise startled her.

She jumped in her seat as the sound of her phone broke through the silence. It was a text message from Adam.

"I'm not sure if you've seen the news yet," He wrote. "Ignore it when you do."

Elle frowned. "What news?" She asked.

"It's nothing important but I thought it might worry you. I'm just letting you know now that there's no reason that it should."

It was too late; Elle's curiosity was piqued. She opened a popular social media site on her phone and sure enough all anyone was talking about was Adam. At first Elle was mortified to see the photo. It was a photo of them from dinner on Friday night. Elle recognized the intimate decor of the restaurant. The photo was taken from behind her, so all that was visible was the back of her, but still everyone had recognized her as the model from MK's event. More importantly, Adam's face could be seen as clear as day.

As Elle read the article her mortification quickly turned to amus.e.m.e.nt.

The article suggested that Adam Hayes had been 'seduced' by the mystery model from MK's event, and that the two were now dating which is why MK wouldn't release her name.

Elle had to force herself to not laugh. The idea of anyone managing to seduce Adam Hayes was hysterical, never mind the fact that Adam would never compromise his or the company's integrity for a woman.

"I saw the photo." Elle wrote to Adam.

"I told you it's nothing."

"It's not nothing." She wrote back.

"Are you upset?" Adam was worried about how she was feeling. Elle specifically wanted to be kept out of the media after all. "Do you need me to come see you?" He asked.

"Aren't you worried that if you come over I'll use my powers of seduction to get you to transfer some of MK's shares to me?"

Adam let out a breath of relief when he read the text. If she was teasing him it meant she didn't mind, right?

"Very funny." He wrote back. "You're not upset?"

"There's nothing for me to be upset over. No one knows it was me, they just know it was MK's model. I'm just sorry you were implicated in such a way because of me."

"Don't worry about it. In a few days everyone will forget all about it."

"If you say so." Elle replied. There wasn't much she could do anyway, if Adam said it was fine all she could do was go along with him.

Of course, at the time Adam truly believed it would be fine. MK would probably do some PR work, and after a few days everyone would forget all about it as they moved on to the next scandal. Unbeknownst to Adam things wouldn't tide over that smoothly.

Mrs. Hayes had already seen the photo, and she didn't intend for Adam to worm his way out of this one so easily. But she would bide her time, for now.