Chapter 29: Who and Why?

Elena’s P.O.V
“It’s not the entire video.” Knight’s voice was shaking with nervousness, just like the hands that held the tablet.
I almost collapsed in relief and if I wasn’t already sitting down, I would’ve fallen to the floor.
After we had seen the news, for a few moments, it had felt like my life my over. But thankfully, Knight had acted quick and contacted the website director and told them to take the degrading news down immediately or he would be suing the company for a few millions. The company had taken down the post and deleted all files immediately but I was afraid it wasn’t going to end here. Within the two hour time frame that it had been on the internet, several people would have saved up the document or at least taken screen shots and it would be those rumors that would circulate the internet for a long time to come.
Landon had called me a few minutes later, telling me that he was at my father’s security company and they were shutting down all media accounts that were circulating the video or any news of it.
Knight and I then got into his car to head over to my dad’s company to get more details and find out about the culprit. It was then that Knight had mastered up the courage to look into the video to see exactly how much of it had been posted on the internet, while I waited patiently beside him, keeping my fingers crossed and trying my hardest to prevent a panic attack.
“How much?” I asked hesitantly, not sure I wanted to know the answer. I was trembling on the inside but I tried to keep my voice as steady as I could.
“Cuts off right as we were taking off each other’s clothes.” Knight told me hesitantly, rubbing his temples with his fingers. He was sweating and adjusting his tie constantly even though the air condition was blasting on high. I, on the other, felt my hands and legs go cold and numb.
We reached my father’s security company exactly twelve minutes later; I knew the time because I had been counting each and every second. Both Leo and Landon were waiting for us at the front door, their faces grim but determined. Leo engulfed me in his embrace as soon as I got out of the car and I felt that this was exactly what I needed to stop myself from collapsing.
“It’ll be alright.” Leo told me, holding me tight in his arms. “We’ll do everything to find the culprit and we’ll give them a lesson they’ll never forget.”
I simply nodded as tears welled up in my eyes, my hands clutching the jacket he was wearing. My eyes locked with Landon’s temporarily and he gave me a nod, telling me he was beside me no matter what.
“Come on.” Leo told us as we pulled away, but he still had an arm around my shoulders. “Let’s go to the control room. We have much to discuss.”
Knight followed behind us as we entered the building and after getting a security clearance and a body scan, especially for Knight, we were led to the control room on the second floor of the building. Adam Scott was one of the tech geniuses in dad’s company and he usually handled high profile cases that especially dealt with the government. If he was on my case then I might not have much to worry about.
“Adam, what’s the report?” Leo asked him as soon as we entered.
“I’m running an algorithm that is searching and deleting any files on all social media platforms that has names or images on it. I’m keeping today’s date in mind otherwise it might delete valuable stuff from before, but so far, all possible files have been deleted from the internet.” Adam, the dark haired geeky man with glasses reported. I’ve know Adam ever since I was a teen and I knew that he was in his mid thirties now and that when he wasn’t inside the darkness of the control room with computer screens all around him, he liked to go hiking and bike riding with Landon. Adam was also quiet handsome, but he also had a girlfriend he had been dating for the past eight years.
“So…the video is gone from the internet?” Knight asked hesitantly.
“Yes, all images and videos have been deleted as of now and if something related to today’s post ever surfaces again, the algorithm will delete it as well.” Adam confirmed. “You are safe now, but we can’t do anything about those people who had already seen the video.”
“I understand.” I nodded. “Thanks, Adam.”
“Welcome, kiddo.” Adam gave me a smile and pushed an empty chair in my direction for me to sit.
Leo helped me into the chair and then all of us were facing each other in a circle so we could figure out what to do next.
“How did the video leak out?” Leo asked Knight directly.
“I have no idea.” He hung his head.
“Is that all of it?” It was Landon who asked the question and I felt my cheeks heat as I realized that everyone in the room must have seen the video by now. It was necessary of course, but it couldn’t have been any less awkward.
“No…” Knight’s voice was almost a whisper but clearly from the stream of curses all around the room, everyone had heard him loud and clear.
“Alright, let’s focus on the important task first.” It was Adam who spoke through the stream of curses. “Where did you store this video clip? Was it inside your house or at any of our office computers?”
“My house.” Knight answered immediately. “It was in a personal computer.”
“And which of your family or staff members have access to that laptop?” Leo asked, having calmed down a bit.
“No staff, I’m always home when the cleaning crew comes along, but all of my family members have access to my house.”
“How many members do you have in your family?” Leo narrowed his eyes at Knight when he would’ve protested.
“Five, including me. My mother and father and my older sister, Kareena and her husband, Emanuel.” Knight listed off one by one. “Emanuel, my brother-in-law was the one who informed me about the video leak this morning.”
My brother and the others kept on asking several more questions to Knight but I wasn’t hearing any of it.
Emanuel…
Why did his face seem familiar? Why did I always get this eerie feeling whenever I saw him?
It felt like I had seen him somewhere before…something was fishy about him but I couldn’t quiet point it out.
Damn it! What was I missing? Why couldn’t I remember why his face was so eerily familiar? It’s not like I’d met him before other than running into him and Keena at the restaurant that day…and I didn’t even know Knight before that fas-
Shit!
That was it! The fashion show! I had seen Emanuel before!