We followed Joe to his office and he shut the door behind us. “Shit, you two, I could hear your yelling from here.”
Asher said, “Actually, she was the yeller, not me.”
My blood pulsed through my body, down to my toes. I said in a low voice, “You deserved every bit of it.”
Joe gestured for us to sit down. “I could hear everything. And, Melody, Asher is telling you the truth about the game leak. That was intentional, by Ian. No one had the foresight to know this would turn into the chaos that soon followed. We are all deeply sorry for what happened to you.”
I stared at Joe. “Sorry” didn’t cut it. “Why didn’t you run this by me first? My life is in shambles now because of your terrible plan.”
Joe scooted his chair forward and took a long sip of water. Perhaps a stall tactic. “At the time, we didn’t think you could weigh in on it in a meaningful way.”
This seemed like code for You were a noob, and female, so we didn’t involve you in this decision.
“Well, thank you ALL for inadvertently ruining my life.” My fists clenched into two shaking balls, ready at a moment’s notice to punch both their faces if they pissed me off any further. I had the element of surprise on my side.
Asher said to Joe, “Here’s the thing, though—I lost control of my account access sometime last month. Someone else used it to target Melody. I’d only submitted the game leak to BetaGank and that’s it. I didn’t do anything else, I swear.”
Joe said to me, “Can we agree that Asher should reclaim his BetaGank account and make a public statement, explaining that he is your coworker and he vouches for your work? Do you have any objection to us doing this?”
“Oh, now you want my opinion?” I rolled my eyes. “Yes. Fine. Can I go now?”
Joe nodded. “I am so deeply sorry all this happened to you.”
“You helped cause this, you at least acknowledge that, right?” I asked.
Joe looked squeamish. Could the head of PR admit to any wrongdoing? Probably not. “Off the record? I advised Ian against this publicity stunt. But he’s the guy in charge.”
Ian made this decision solo. Good to know.
I hadn’t anticipated reentering the gossip spotlight when I left Joe’s office. Intense stares came from every direction, observing my every move as I walked to my desk. Nothing to see here, folks.
Exhausted from the day’s events, I plopped down in my chair and buried my head in my hands. This was all Ian’s doing, and the fact that he didn’t take accountability for what happened to me as a result of his poor decisions really pissed me off.
A vivid memory of Nolan and me eating dinner together flashed in my mind. The night he gave me a much-needed pep talk: You’re great at your job and the company needs you. I think you should demand a raise. Your game has such visibility, I bet they’d do it. Months had passed and I still hadn’t asked for a raise, even though I deserved it. It was time to channel Sheryl Sandberg. Chin up and chest thrust forward, I stamped down the hallway and pounded on Ian’s door. It creaked open with my final knock, revealing a dark, quiet office.
His admin assistant jumped up from her seat and walked around her desk. “You don’t have anything scheduled.”
I pushed the door wider. “That’s okay, I’ll wait for him.” Inside, I sat on one of his guest chairs just as a shadowy figure shot upright from the sofa.
“Holy shit!” I flicked on Ian’s desk lamp to see better.
From the love seat, Ian pulled himself to his feet and rubbed his eyes. “You scared me,” he said, yawning.
“I’ll make this quick so you can get back to your busy day.” I rolled my eyes. “I know you asked Asher to leak the game info to BetaGank.”
“I hear what you’re saying, Melody, and I appreciate you stopping by to express your concerns. Your perspective is valued at our studio, as you know. I don’t know what he told you but—”
I cut him off. “Look, I don’t need you to throw your rehearsed, pseudo-pro-fem language at me. I’m not here to debate, because I’m telling you facts, not opinions. Joe also confirmed it. I just don’t get why you thought it would be a good idea. It had a huge risk of failing before we even got to development.”