112 — The culprit is…

No... It can’t be.
The photo on the laptop... Isn’t Laura?
“The culprit is Grace Miller, 20 years old, from Nevada. She’s only been with the company a few months.” Jackson says, then turns his eyes to Julian, who is frowning.
Honestly, I feel like I’ve been punched in the chest. I can’t believe it... *Is Grace really the culprit?*
“No... It can’t be...” I mutter, my voice shaky and my eyes down. I look at my hands, feeling my stomach twist even more...
But Jackson pays no attention to me; he simply sighs and says, “No mistake, Mr. Adams.”
Julian is silent for a few moments, and then his heavy footsteps catch my ears. He’s walking to the door with a slightly closed expression, and I wish I knew what was going through his mind at the moment, even if I can’t even follow mine now.
He opens the door and calls out loudly, his commanding voice shaking me, “Grace Miller, can I have a moment, please?”
I look out of the window, noticing that the staff immediately fall silent and turn to Grace, who I can also see getting up from her chair with a confused expression. Her shoulders are slumped, but her anxious eyes and quick steps give me an even worse feeling of unease.
When she enters Julian’s office and he closes the door, the mood immediately becomes unsettling. I dry my sweaty hands on the sides of my skirt and swallow hard, raising my eyes to meet hers. Grace’s confused expression soon turns harsh, and she assumes a defensive posture.
“Ms. Grace, I think you should know by now why you’ve been called here,” Julian says slowly, approaching his chair, which he sits in under Grace’s watchful eye.
“I’m afraid not, Mr. Adams...” Grace says, hugging her own body. She notices her photo on Jackson’s laptop — the photo of her employee badge. But if it bothers her, she doesn’t say so.
“Please correct me if I’m wrong,” Julian says slowly, smoothing the beard on his chin in an almost hypnotic movement... *And I can’t help thinking that he’s handsome even when he’s serious like this.* “You invited Angelee O’Neil to a club, right?”
I keep my eyes fixed on Grace, who swallows dryly and says in a slightly shrill voice than usual, “My friends wanted to introduce me to a club in town-”
“Did you invite her or not?” Julian interrupts Grace, but his tone remains low and composed despite the seriousness on his face.
“Yes, I did.” She purses her lips and lowers her head, shrugging. “It was a prank.”
“A prank, you say,” Julian mutters, still smoothing his chin. “Anyway, you invited Angelee O’Neil to a club and didn’t show up.”
“That wasn’t quite it...”
“Wasn’t it?” Julian’s voice becomes harsher, and Grace shudders before his intense green eyes. “You called her over, but you didn’t show up, and that’s fine; that’s not the problem and not the reason you were called here. Do you know what the problem is, Ms. Grace?” Julian tilts his head slightly, waiting for an answer that doesn’t come. The girl keeps her head down, just shaking it sideways in negative. “A photo that was taken without the permission of Angelee O’Neil, who is not a public person.”
Grace raises her eyes, finally facing Julian, who continues, “And that same photo was posted on the company’s forums with the aim of tarnishing her reputation. Are you aware of that?”
“I mean, everyone saw that photo and the speculation on the forum.” Grace shifts her weight to the other leg, crossing her arms a little more tightly; I can tell she’s nervous because even from this distance, her breathing seems ragged.
“Is that all?” Julian crosses his arms, his harsh eyes narrowing slightly. “Don’t you have anything else to say?”
She remains silent, looking at her photo on the laptop again. Her breathing is even shorter, panting — she seems to be hyperventilating. Her nervous eyes switch from the computer to Julian, and I feel my own heart beating harder.
To Grace’s misfortune, she really does look guilty right now... *And to mine as well.*
“Did you take that picture, Ms. Grace?” Julian asks, and I feel the air being stolen from my lungs. The sudden question also takes me by surprise, and I can’t help but look at her and analyze her expression... the face that turns pale.
“No!” Grace says loudly, sharply, her voice trembling as she shakes her head desperately. “Are you accusing me of this? Do you even have proof?”
“You’re looking at it right now.” Julian reaches out towards the laptop. Grace’s photo looks like a big, unfunny joke. “What you’re looking at, Ms. Grace... is evidence that your personal device shared the photo with the phone that makes the forum posts.”
“I did no such thing!” She clenches her hands, looking at her own photo. “Anonymous accounts made the posts; how could I have done that?”
“Well, Ms. Grace... The evidence points to you.” Julian shrugs his shoulders as if he’s not worried about any of this, but of course, his nonchalant attitude may convince Grace, but it doesn’t convince *me.*
My anxious eyes catch up with Julian and hold the intense emeralds for a few moments. Of course, he knows that there’s no way Grace could have done this on her own, having only been with the company for such a short time. She’s new, without much experience... She’s not the only one to blame... there’s no way!
“I’m telling you, I didn’t post anything on any forum!” She shakes her head, even more restless, and runs a hand through her hair. She paces back and forth across the room as she says, “That’s not true!”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Grace, but the evidence points to you.” Julian’s voice sounds hoarse and serious, so serious that it makes her stop and look at him with the arms falling around her body. “And that means that we will also go legal since you have not only damaged the honor of a non-public person but also the company...”
“No!” Grace shouts, making me flinch. She covers her mouth, also surprised by her obvious desperation, and approaches the table, pointing at the notebook, “Please, Mr. Adams, you have to believe me!”
“The evidence...”
“How can this be called evidence?” She shakes her head, pursing her lips... “What exactly does it prove?”
“It proves that you took the photo with your own phone and passed it on to another device to post on the forum so as not to leave a trace... But you did leave one.” Jackson interrupts with a frown... His pride is too great to be questioned by someone less experienced in the field.
“Okay, I admit I took the first picture!” Grace says desperately, her voice probably reaching beyond the safety of these walls. I even peek through the window only to find that, indeed, people are looking at us curiously. “But I didn’t post it on the forum. I didn’t even have access to that second device!”
“So you admit that you took the photo of Angelee O’Neil near the club.” Julian is harsh, drawing her desperate eyes. “Angelee isn’t the kind of person who would frequent this club if it weren’t for outside influences. You invited her there... so you admit that you also tried to frame her?”
Grace closes her eyes tightly and bites her lower lip, shaking her head. “Yes, I invited her and took the photo — but it wasn’t my idea.”
I feel my heart skip a beat...
“There were rumors that Angelee wasn’t as innocent as she appeared to be... Laura was always crying and whining about how she suffered at Angelee’s hands, how she humiliated her because Laura had no money or the daughter of a rich family.” Grace begins, her eyes locked on Julian, not daring to pay me a glance. “Everyone knows that! Everyone knew that Laura was always humiliated and bullied by Angelee, but she was too nice to do anything about it or talk about it!”
“Are you saying that *I bullied* Laura?” I say, offended, glancing at Grace in surprise, expecting her to meet my gaze, but she doesn’t... she no longer seems willing to put a mask on her face and pretend to care. “Has she been saying that all this time?”
Grace doesn’t answer me, so I look at Jackson, but he looks away too...
Haha, it all makes sense now... The employees at the company don’t hate me because I’m the boss’ daughter, because I’m dull or too closed off... It’s not because I did something that made them hate me or a natural dislike — it’s because Laura spread lies about me... probably from the beginning.
It makes me gasp, and my stomach twists...
“Deborah and Naomi suggested that we reveal what Angelee is really like.” She says with a shaky voice, but she’s trying to stand firm, her chin held high... “My only role was to invite her and send the photo to a specific number. I didn’t do anything more than that.”
“She’s lying, Mr. Adams,” Jackson says sarcastically. “There’s no other trail but hers.”
“I didn’t take any other pictures, just the first one, and you should be able to find that.” Grace retorts, glaring at I.T. with fury. “Because I’m telling you, it wasn’t me!”
“We could clear the doubt if you handed over the phone,” Jackson says, still with his arrogant tone, and Grace starts to hyperventilate.
“I’ve never seen that phone; how could I give it to you?” She raises her voice, attracting even more intense stares through the window, where everyone can see the show. I feel unwell, with nausea rising in my throat. *I just wish I could get out of here.* “I didn’t know what they would do with the photo; they just told me to take it and send it... After that, I said I wouldn’t be part of it, and I didn’t!”
“There’s no evidence of a second person, Mr. Adams,” Jackson says slowly, looking at Julian, who doesn’t move a muscle in the face of Grace’s outburst, who is now screaming, clutching her hair in obvious despair.
“Those bitches... they set me up!” Grace turns sharply to the window, and I’m sure she’s spotted her group of friends through the glass because she’s pointing at them. “They set me up! I’m telling you, I didn’t do anything!”
Julian leans slightly over the table and presses a button on his phone. This discreet movement also attracts the attention of Grace, whose face is contorted in a mixture of fury and fear. “What are you doing?”
“Calling security,” Julian says slowly. “The evidence we have is more than enough to get you out of this building. Besides, you’ll only be contacting our lawyers from now… because you’re fired, Grace Miller.”
“No!” She approaches in a burst, but Julian doesn’t move a muscle... in fact, his eyes are really menacing, so much so that Grace immediately stops, like her legs gave in to fear. However, her rage turns to Jackson and the laptop. In one quick, reckless movement, she throws it to the ground. “THEY FRAMED ME! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING, JUST A PHOTO!”
The laptop shatters on the floor, and I have no other reaction than an extreme apathy that consumes me. I watch in silence, stunned and numb, as the security guards quickly arrive and try to guide the girl out, but she’s too out of control.
“IT WASN’T ME! IT WASN’T ME!” Grace continues to scream in the arms of the security guards who take her outside...
And all I can think and feel is that I believe her...
*The real culprit cannot be Grace.*