Chapter 4He Banished Me to the Desert

A week later, my phone rang. It was my mother.

She was hysterical.

"Margo, your father is in the ICU!"

I booked the first flight home. My dad, who already had a fragile heart, was lying in a hospital bed looking like a ghost.

My mom grabbed my arm, her nails digging into my skin.

"Someone mailed your father a package. They said... they said you were a homewrecker. That you slept your way through the company and tried to ruin a married man's life."

"Mom, that's a lie!"

"They sent photos!"

She was sobbing uncontrollably. "Chat logs between you and that Christopher guy. Statements from people at your office!"

I snatched the manila envelope off the bedside table.

The photos were deepfakes. The text threads were fabricated.

But they looked terrifyingly real.

"Dad, you have to listen to me, none of this is real..."

My father slowly opened his eyes and looked at me for a long time.

"I believe you, kid."

He forced a weak smile.

Then his eyes rolled back.

The heart monitor flatlined, a shrill, piercing scream filling the room.

Doctors flooded in. I was shoved out into the hallway.

Christopher was standing by the elevator banks.

He was holding a ridiculously expensive floral arrangement.

"I came to check on your dad."

He looked incredibly uncomfortable.

A passing nurse murmured to her colleague, "That Mr. Reed is such a class act. Coming to see his crazy ex's dying father."

I stared at him. Something inside me simply snapped.

I lunged forward and slapped him across the face with everything I had. The sound echoed down the corridor like a gunshot.

The flowers crashed to the floor, glass shattering everywhere.

"You did this!"

"Margo, I have no idea what you're talking about..."

"Don't lie to me!"

I grabbed him by the lapels of his custom suit, shaking him.

"Those photos. Those fake texts. Who else had that kind of access? Who else wants to destroy me?"

He gripped my wrists, trying to peel me off.

"Margo, calm down!"

"How the hell am I supposed to calm down!"

I was screaming now, my throat burning.

"If my dad dies, I swear to God I'll kill you!"

The doors to the ICU swung open.

The lead surgeon walked out, slowly pulling off his surgical mask.

"I'm so sorry. We did everything we could."

My entire universe collapsed into dust.

The funeral was three days later.

My mother wouldn't even let me inside the chapel.

"Get out," she hissed through the cracked door of the vestibule. "Your father wouldn't want you here."

I knelt on the wet pavement outside the church doors from sunrise to sunset.

In the late afternoon, a black town car pulled up. Christopher and Lily stepped out.

They arranged a massive wreath of white lilies by the entrance.

The ribbon read: In deepest sympathy. Christopher Reed and Lily Harper.

Lily looked down at me, her face a picture of pious sorrow.

"My condolences."

I looked up at Christopher. If looks could physically eviscerate a man, he would have been gutted on the church steps.

He went pale and looked away.

Lily tugged at his sleeve.

"Let's go, honey."

They got back in their car and drove off.

Finally, my mother pushed the doors open.

She looked down at me, her eyes hollowed out with absolute hatred.

"Are you happy now? He's dead. Is this what you wanted?"

I dragged myself forward on my knees, trying to grab her hand.

"Mom..."

"Don't touch me!"

She shoved me back hard.

"I don't have a daughter anymore."

I collapsed onto the concrete, pressing my forehead against the cold, damp stone.

On the seventh day after my father's death, HR called.

"Margo Brooks, your employment is terminated effectively immediately."

Brenda's voice was pure ice.

"The board found you guilty of severe ethical violations. We have evidence that during your deployment, you engaged in inappropriate relationships with multiple male subordinates."

I sprinted to the corporate tower and barged straight into the HR department.

"Where is the proof?"

The HR director tossed a stack of glossy photos onto the conference table.

They were candid shots of me and my male colleagues working late at the desert site, looking exhausted, drinking beers on the hoods of trucks. But someone had added filthy, suggestive captions to every single one.

"This is slander!"

"Where there's smoke, there's fire."

The director crossed her arms.

"Reed Enterprises does not tolerate this kind of liability."

I took the elevator straight to the executive floor to find Christopher.

His assistant physically blocked the door.

"Mr. Reed is in a board meeting."

I sat in the lobby until the sun went down.

When he finally walked out, he froze when he saw me.

"I know why you're here."

He loosened his tie, looking exhausted.

"The board made a decision. My hands are tied."

"Christopher, you set me up."

"It wasn't me."

He frowned.

"Lily told me..."

"You just swallow whatever poison Lily feeds you?"

I backed him into the glass wall of the boardroom.

"She murdered my father. Now she's trying to erase me from the industry. And you're just going to hold the door open for her?"

He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Margo, you need to get a grip."

"I have a grip."

I whispered.

"I just want to know how you sleep at night."

He didn't answer.

I turned and walked away.

When I stepped out of the lobby into the street, a small crowd was waiting.

A dozen people, holding up camera phones and makeshift signs. Internet trolls who had eaten up whatever PR spin Lily had leaked online.

"Homewrecker!"

"Corporate trash!"

"Get out of our city!"

Someone threw a heavy paper cup.

It exploded against my chest. Red paint.

It dripped off my chin, soaking through my shirt, splashing onto my shoes.

I stood paralyzed on the sidewalk, dripping red.

Christopher's car pulled out of the underground garage and braked sharply.

He threw the door open, yelling at the security guards to scatter the crowd.

He walked over to me, looking at the mess, and let out a long, frustrated sigh.

"Margo, why can't you just walk away with some dignity? Why do you have to push things to the brink?"

I slowly wiped my face.

The red smeared across my cheek, dripping from my fingertips.

"Dignity?"

I looked at him and laughed.

"What dignity did you leave me?"

He didn't have an answer. He got back in his car and drove away.

When I got back to my apartment, the locks were changed again.

My suitcase was sitting in the hallway.

The landlord poked his head out of the adjacent door.

"I packed your stuff. Grab it and get lost."

"Are you serious? Why?"

"People have been calling the management office all day. Saying you're a degenerate, that you're ruining the building's reputation."

He waved me off like a stray dog.

"Lease is terminated."

I sat on the floor next to my suitcase.

It was the exact same bag I had dragged out to the desert five years ago.

Nothing had changed.

And yet, I had lost absolutely everything.

I spent the night sitting on a plastic chair inside a 24-hour diner.

Through the greasy window, I watched the city wake up in the morning light.

It was a beautiful skyline.

But I never wanted to see it again.