The next afternoon, Dan sat at his desk, looking at his computer screen. The contents displayed across it had his face red. It was an affidavit sent from his lawyer about claims being made by Mary. He pushed the intercom button on his office phone. "Sasha, can you please call down to the marketing department and have Kent Marks come up here?"
"Yes, Sir." Came his secretary's reply. Once he hung up the phone, he sent a message to his assistant and then sat back in his chair, reading the contents of the document again in frustration. Several minutes later, Sasha announced Kent's arrival and then escorted him in.
"You called for me, Mr. Filmore?" Kent asked.
"Have a seat." He gestured towards a chair in front of his desk. When Kent sat down, Dan turned his monitor around. "This just came in from my lawyer. Sent through Mrs. Mark's lawyer. Now, I was included because my lawyer is handling Penelope's case. But you have been mentioned in it as well."
Kent's face paled as he read the document. "She's accusing Penelope of sexual assault!? And saying that I-" His face went from pale to green.
Dan handed him a trash can. "Bathrooms over there, man." He said, gesturing towards the private bathroom he had in his office. Kent didn't make it to the bathroom in time for the contents of his stomach to begin spilling out. He heaved into the trashcan as he tried to process what he had just read.
Dan's phone beeped, and he looked at it while he waited for Kent to clean himself up and come back. He sighed when he read the information on it.
When Derek walked out of the bathroom, his face was still pale. "Mr. Filmore-"
"Dan." He corrected.
"Dan… There is no way that any of that happened. Penelope-" Kent stumbled "I- would never-"
Dan held his hand up. "I know, Kent. You've been working for me for seventeen years, now. Never have I ever even seen you raise your voice to anyone. If you think I don't see you, you're wrong. Theres more, though. Sit back down."
"What else could there be?" Kent asked as he essentially deflated back into the chair.
"My assistant just messaged me informing me that there is currently a warrant out for your arrest, along with a restraining order being processed for Mrs. Marks."
Kent buried his face in his hands. "I never even hit her." He said exasperated.
"I don't doubt that. The affidavit says that this incident happened three days ago. It was included in written testimony that mentioned Penelope as the perpetrator of a sexual assault on Mary's son."
"Three days ago? I was at work until almost ten trying to finish the advertisements for the upcoming Fall campaign."
"Well that will make it easy, then. The security footage will prove your innocence. Do you happen to have your location enabled on your phone?
"Well yeah, but what's that going to do? It could easily be said that I left it somewhere or gave it to someone."
"Don't worry about it. I'll make sure my legal team mops the floor with her. You just get them of your location history, and they'll do the rest."
Kent nodded, though he still felt uneasy. Mary had taken the coward's way out, and he knew how women typically fared in divorce cases. The only reason why he had gotten anything from his first divorce was because his first wife didn't care. She had just abandoned them all for the drugs. This was completely different. "Thank you, Dan. I appreciate your help. I know I don't deserve it, but it means more than you know."
Dan waved his hand to the side. "None of that. I know you're a good guy. You've always been a good employee. Just keep it to yourself."
Kent nodded in agreement while blowing a breath. "Heh, no problem with that. I don't need anyone else to know my personal business, anyways."
At Dan's dismissal, Kent went back to his office. He had nobody to talk to, anyways. Although he had worked at the company for a long time, everyone he worked with was just that: a co-worker. His entire life had always revolved around his family, and he really didn't make time to find friends. Maybe now was a good time to. But where would he look, though? Even his hobbies were family hobbies. Now that he was alone, he was going to have to rectify that. How was he going to do that, though?
As he sat back down at his desk he stared at his monitor for several minutes. Marketing was his life. He had a knack for designing things on computers, but that was his job, not a hobby. Maybe he could go back to school to hone his skills? But he kept an eye on advances in the career, and there was no need for that. Besides, starting over had come at a cost and now was not the time to add more stress to his life. Was this the beginning of what a mid-life crisis looked like? If it was, Kent was doomed!
Pushing his thoughts to the side, Kent opened up one of his applications and started working on one of his many work projects. If he spent too much time thinking about it, he was only going to burn himself out. So he got lost in what he already had available to him. Regardless of what happened, he was not going to let his situation get the best of him. He plinked away at the keys on his keyboard, working late into the evening. If he had nothing else to focus on, this was going to be it.