My eyes have been glued to the television for the past half hour. I have no idea how they found out about what happened between me, Daphne, and Ares … but I guess that doesn’t matter, does it? It’s all out there now, twisted into a nice scandal for everyone to latch onto.

This is bad—really, really bad. With a scandal like this, it’ll be hell for Daphne to hold on to her position as CEO, and both Ares and I are in deep water as well. How are we supposed to convince the Union Airlines board of anything after something like this? They’re already itching to sell to the fucking government, and this gives them a perfect excuse on a silver platter.

I’ve cleared my schedule for the morning, and I’ve been barricaded in my office ever since the news broke, trying to think of something … anything. But I don’t see what I can do. This is everywhere; every major channel in the U.S. is covering this, and most of the international cable networks are following suit. And don’t even get me started on what’s going on throughout the Internet; it’s absolute chaos.

People are questioning our moral integrity, and making up all kinds of shit about us. You’d think we just committed genocide, judging by what some of the talking heads are spouting. And it keeps on getting worse with each passing hour.

Rubbing my temples with my thumbs, I lean back against my chair and sigh heavily. This is a proper cluster fuck, no doubt about it.

There’s a knock on my door then, the soft rapping of knuckles against wood telling me that it’s my secretary.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Blake,” Karen apologizes as she enters my office, looking as apologetic as ever. “I know you asked not to be disturbed, but there’s a Mr. Lee waiting in the lobby, and he’s… pretty insistent. He says it’s about the Union Airlines deal.”

Seymour Lee? What the hell is a sleaze ball like him doing in my office, and right after a scandal like this? Somehow, I have a feeling that the government is behind all this. I mean, who else would benefit from this mess? If Daphne is toppled from her position, and Ares and I are taken out… Well, that leaves a clear path for the government to buy Union Airlines without much of a fuss.

Besides, how hard would it be for someone to have bugged Daphne’s office? I might be able to hire a team of ex-CIA, but the government has the actual CIA at its beck and call. Not to mention the NSA.

“Send him in then. Let’s see what he has to say,” I tell her, closing my laptop and shutting down the flat TV mounted on the wall. I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing I’ve been following the news like a crack addict, even though that’s what I’ve been doing.

“Yes, sir,” she says with a quick nod, and then leaves my office and closes the door behind her. Not even two minutes later there’s another knock on the door, but this time the door swings open before I tell whoever’s there to come in.

Seymour steps through the doorway with a pale smile on his lips, his awkward steps taking him across my office and toward my desk.

“Mr. Blake, what a pleasure!” he cries out, his high-pitched voice like fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard. He offers me his hand and I shake it, feeling as if I’m squeezing a dead fish in my fingers.

“Seymour Lee,” I intone, sitting back in my chair while never taking my eyes off of him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” I ask him, the tone in my voice letting him know that the last thing I feel right now, with him in my office, is pleasure.

“Mr. Blake, as you’re well aware I, ah, represent the interests of our much beloved government.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“I’ve been following your involvement in these Union Airlines matters with great interest, Mr. Blake. Yes, great interest indeed. And I understand you to be a rational man. Am I wrong in this?” he asks me but, in the same breath, continues to speak. “Yes, yes, a rational man indeed.”

“Out with it. What are you doing here in my office? What does the U.S. government want to do with me, Mr. Lee?”

“It’s simple,” he replies, lowering his voice as a vicious grin slowly creeps onto his face. His beady eyes seem to glean with malice, and I feel a kind of hot rage flooding me. “Just back away from a Union Airlines purchase and I, ah, will make sure that this whole mess goes away. Just like it never happened!”

There you have it. If there was any doubt that this bastard was behind all this, this pretty much clears the issue: Seymour Lee is the one pulling the strings behind the curtain.

“I suggest you leave now,” I growl at him, my hands balled into fists. Swear to God, I’m a moment away from ramming my fist into his face. No one comes into my office and threatens me like this.

“Ah, be wise, Mr. Blake. Think about it. More than hurt ingwhatever deal you might have had with Union Airlines, a scandal like this will surely have some consequences for your company … and it’d be a shame to see such a lovely company crumble, wouldn’t it?” He smacks his lips together, narrowing his eyes and looking at me as if he were the spawn of the devil himself, which wouldn’t really surprise me.

“Mr. Lee,” I say, going up to his face and staring him down, “allow me to make a counter-proposal: I’ll give you five seconds to get the fuck out of my office, or else I’ll throw you out the window.”

His eyes narrow even more, and he glances quickly at the floor-to-ceiling windows behind me.

“It’s a long drop. And the clock is ticking,” I whisper, almost ready to really do it. There’s nothing I’d love more right now than to grab him by his jacket and fling him out of the window. Lucky for him, murder is not something I’m too keen on.

“This is far from over,” he hisses, backing away from my desk and turning to leave. Looking back at me over his shoulder, he throws me one look of contempt and finally leaves, leaving the door open behind him.

There’s no other way to put it; this isn’t business anymore.

This is war.