Reyona’s Revenge

It had not been of much use as well.

Two weeks later, the issue was still trending.

Maybe not with the same fervour as it was at first, but it was still damning.

The fact that Thomas was granting interviews left and right didn’t help matters either.

He milked the role of jilted husband to the tee.

Reyona had watched at least four interviews he had granted on popular shows.

There was even talk of him writing a book.

My Experience with a Termagant was the title of the book.

Toria had said that she was deliberately punishing herself for nothing, but Reyona had a different idea.

Every single thing he did was filed away in a compartment in her heart.

Locked away, never to be forgotten.

She struggled to keep her company afloat while making her findings.

The video had been taken from their bedroom.

They do not have any CCTV cameras in their home, only outside it.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Which must mean that Thomas or someone else planted that camera that particular day.

Reyona could remember when that video had been recorded.

It was during the third year of their marriage that Reyona started talking about having children, and then he suggested they spice up their sexual life by roleplaying.

They were to act as the beast and the beauty.

He had even come prepared with the beast’s mask at the ready.

Reyona had thought it silly then, but she had thought he was warming up to the idea of children, and she had agreed to it.

Little did she know that it was going to bite her back five years later.

Refusing to let her emotions get the better of her, Reyona threw herself into her work with gusto.

She had also lost a few of her employees.

They were mostly low-level employees.

After the second scandal went viral, her employees had to face the issue of being stopped on their way to or from work for questioning.

So, she had a meeting with everyone then and informed them that whoever would like to leave the company could go ahead and do so.

Five of them had resigned.

One of her top-level accountants was poached by a rival company.

For the past two weeks, she has not left the company either.

The only time she tried to leave, she was accosted by some women who decided to take it upon themselves to come and tell her personally that she was a disgrace to womanhood.

Her security men had to hold them back then, and one particularly aggressive woman twisted her ankle in the process.

Not only did the backlash fuel the ongoing scandal more, but Reyona’s security men were targeted as well.

Their faces were caught on camera while they were trying to keep the women under control.

Tagging it as violence against women, these men were alienated in their community, their wives were kicked out of their associations, and Reyona had to call in some favours in order to stop their children from being sent out of their schools.

So, she decided to stay at the company.

“If I am not going anywhere, then nobody will take any heat because of me,” she thought.

Eventually, the women who camped in front of the company with placards stopped coming after they’d been dispersed over and over by law officers.

Still, Reyona chose to stay at the company.

She gave her employees a one-week leave to recuperate from all the extra stress, but only a few of them took the days off.

People like Samantha, Phil, and Charlotte stayed.

They were always around, even when the workload dropped because of the customers who pulled out of their businesses and the lack of new ones.

Reyona’s parents wanted to come to Kayooma, but she dissuaded them since that would only give the Papparazi new angles to explore the scandal.

Despite Reyona’s insistence, though, Toria didn’t leave.

She moved into the company with her the following day.

That was after she almost fell into a ditch while speeding to throw off paparazzi that were on her trail.

Then he called.

***********

When the call came through, Reyona was tempted to simply let it ring until it disconnected.

Even though it was a Saturday, she had been on calls throughout the night trying to get international companies to come aboard.

Kayooma was known for its emphasis on culture and reputation.

No business was totally separated from the owner in the eyes of people.

Reyona couldn’t blame the clients who pulled out of ReyDexter; she knew they were just trying to save their own companies from facing backlash.

That was why she would forever be grateful to those who stood by ReyDexter, despite the fact that they knew what the implications would be.

Since trying to get new clients at that moment was like hitting one’s head against the wall to create a path, Reyona decided to actively look beyond the shores of Kayooma.

Though ReyDexter had international clients, Kayooma had always been their main base of clientele.

Time to change that, Reyona thought, and that was what she had been working on mostly since she thought of it.

It was all she had allowed herself to focus on, even as the investigation continued.

As always, Toria had tried to convince her to at least have a bit of rest that night, but just as the past nights since she and her team started working on it, Reyona refused to sleep.

She only caught a bit of shuteye whenever she could, and she would get right back to it.

Her team decided to let her be after they tried to convince her over and over again not to wear herself out.

As it was, they only made sure they stayed in the company for as long as they could, or until she insisted they go home.

They would all depart while telling her to get some rest too.

Not that any of them believe that she would listen.

Toria had been the most insistent.

Always badgering her to eat and even going as far as calling their parents on a video call one night when Reyona refused to sleep even though she was exhausted.