A/N: Thank you all for your continued love and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 23: Confrontations

Thankfully, nobody seemed any the wiser about where Ana had been during her lunch outing, and she slipped back into her office a little before two o'clock without anyone noticing her. She was thankful for that, too, since her mind had been preoccupied with everything she had learned about Jack during her lunch with Christian and Mr. Whalen. And, of course, she was still reeling from Christian's confession to her afterward.

I will spend the rest of my days telling you how much I love you. Because I do… I love you Ana.

Ana couldn't fight the stupid happy grin from breaking out across her face as she thought about Christian's romantic words to her. How did she get so lucky to fall in love with such an amazing guy? Of course, she didn't always think he was an amazing guy, but that was only because she hadn't gotten to know him yet. Even though Christian told her that he had fallen in love with her the moment he laid eyes on her, it had taken her a bit longer to get to that point.

But she was here now, and she was all in. She and Christian, together... that was all that mattered.

Ana's heart clenched with love and also a little bit of sadness. She wished Christian hadn't been caught up in all this crap with Jack and Kavanaugh Media: he deserved to have his career and his life back, which was why she was going to do everything in her power to help take down Jack and Kate once and for all.

Feeling determined, Ana sat down behind her desk and powered on her computer, ready to start creating a game plan. She was going to put her plan into action first thing tomorrow… she just had to figure out what exactly she was going to do.

~/~

The following day, Ana went into work with only somewhat of a game plan. She had thought about it for a bit last night and decided she would try to sneak a peek at Jack's emails again – she could loiter around the break room area and wait for Jack to leave his office and go somewhere else for a bit. It was risky, but it was all she could do at the moment.

I wonder if I could do the same thing on Kate's computer?

She could try, but truthfully, she didn't even know where Kate's desk was. Just as she was working out in her head where Kate's desk could be located on the marketing floor, Ana turned the corner to her office, and nearly ran into Kate and Jack standing together in the middle of the hallway.

Ana stopped in her tracks, and the two of them looked over at her.

"Good morning Ana," Kate said, turning to face her. Ana saw her discreetly elbow Jack in the ribs, and he flinched slightly, clearing his throat.

"Hey Ana," he said, smiling at her. Ana couldn't help but immediately be on high alert as she looked between the two of them.

"Good morning," she said politely. She couldn't help but feel a bit nervous seeing the two of them lingering in front of her office like this, but with all the incriminating information she had on both of them, she refused to be intimidated. "Did you guys need something?"

Jack blinked. "Uhm…" he said, glancing at Kate. "Well– "

"Ana?"

Max suddenly appeared around the corner, spotting her and walking over. "Sorry, I know you're just getting in, but do you have a minute? I'm meeting with Jason from Foster Polymers in an hour, and I need to go over some of the finer details of the marketing plan. Christian's not here, so I'm kind of scrambling."

Ana tried her best not to look at Jack, but she could see him stiffening slightly out of the corner of her eye. "Sure. Let me just drop my stuff off and I'll meet you in your office."

"Thank you, Ana. You're a real lifesaver," Max said gratefully before turning around and heading back to his office. Ana moved toward her office door, but not before glancing over at Kate and Jack still standing nearby.

The two of them had watched Max walk away, but then Kate glanced over at Ana, meeting her gaze. Without a word, she nudged Jack again and they both walked quickly down the hall in the opposite direction, disappearing around the corner.

Ana simply watched them, not failing to notice how strange their behavior was to anyone else. Something odd was definitely going on, but for some reason she didn't feel nervous about it – rather, she felt resolved. There was definitely a possibility that Jack and Kate were onto her, but they were at work and there was very little they could do to her here. Ana refused to be intimidated.

Do your worst, assholes.

Ana didn't have time to linger in her thoughts, so she went into her office and deposited her purse and coat on her chair. She then grabbed her planner, a notepad, and a pen before heading toward Max's office, preparing herself to help him try to hold onto this client she knew was planning on leaving Kavanaugh Media for Jack's "marketing company."

She didn't know how much she could help without revealing too much information, but she sure as hell was going to try.

~/~

It was past noon now, and Ana was completely exhausted. She spent most of the morning with Max going over the marketing plan, and then they both met with Jason and a few of the other executives from Foster Polymers in the large conference room. They were all clearly still unhappy about the overbilling, but Max and Ana did their best to smooth things over with them, promising fee reductions for next quarter and assuring them this unfortunate incident would never happen again. Ana desperately wanted to tell them the truth: that this whole thing was instigated by the very guy who they were leaving Kavanaugh Media for, and that he absolutely could not be trusted.

But Mr. Whalen and Christian were right: without a police report, her words held very little weight. So all she could do was keep her mouth shut.

Jason and his team left around lunch time, and Ana gratefully headed back to her office so she could take a well-needed respite. After dropping off her notebook and planner, she took a few minutes to check her emails, and then headed over to the break room to make herself a cup of tea. She could have made some tea in her office, but by going to the break room, she could keep an eye out for Jack and Kate. Despite her busy morning, she hadn't forgotten her objective for today, which was to try to sneak a peek on Jack or Kate's computers to find any sort of incriminating information.

She remembered their odd behavior from this morning, however, and she couldn't help but be on high alert as she made her way toward the break room. Thankfully, she ran into Jessica on the way there, which distracted her from her nervousness – the two of them chatted for a minute or two, with Ana explaining why she missed lunch with her and Nadia today, and Jessica assured her they could meet up tomorrow at their favorite deli. Soon, Jessica headed back to her desk and Ana walked into the break room alone…

But the break room wasn't empty. Jack and Kate were standing inside.

It was almost exactly like their run-in this morning, with Ana stopping in her tracks, and Jack and Kate turning to look at her. Once again, Ana felt nervous being alone in their presence, and even more so since she didn't think Max was going to walk in and rescue her again.

"Oh," Ana said, trying to look innocently surprised at seeing them. "Hello again," she said with what she hoped was a friendly smile. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest as she walked over to the counter where the tea kettle and tea bags sat.

"Hello Ana," Kate said, her voice sounding odd. "Jack and I were actually hoping to have a word with you. Do you have a minute to chat?"

Ana looked over at them again: Kate was standing with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised in an almost accusing way while Jack stood beside her, his expression more reserved as he gazed at her with his arms crossed in front of him.

Ana gave them both what she hoped was an amused, slightly confused smile. "Um… sure. Is something going on?" she asked, her voice deceptively innocent.

"Oh, something's going on all right," Kate insisted, still glaring at Ana. "With you, that is. You really thought you could pull one over on us? My father is going to have a field day when he hears about what you've been up to."

Ana raised her eyebrows. That was an ironic accusation from one of the people who had caused all of this to happen in the first place. "I'm sorry?"

"That diner over on 7th Street," Jack explained, glaring at Ana and with the same accusatory tone as Kate. "EJ's. We saw both you and Christian go inside it yesterday around lunchtime. Care to explain that?"

Ana tried not to let the panic show on her face, but it was difficult. She remembered the paranoid feeling she had had when she left Kavanaugh Media to meet up with Christian, but she had convinced herself that she was overthinking things. It seemed like she was right to be worried, though.

She grimaced, deciding she needed to stretch the truth a bit. She gave Kate and Jack a skeptical look. "What are you talking about? I went to EJ's yesterday, but I walked in by myself. And why were you following me?"

A flicker of unease crossed over Kate and Jack's faces as they glanced at each other, realizing they didn't really have an explanation for following her to lunch. "Well… yes, we saw you walk into the diner alone. But we saw Christian walk in a few minutes before you," Kate said quickly. "The two of you were obviously meeting there. Do you deny it?"

Ana blinked. They saw them walk into the diner… if that's all they saw, that meant they probably didn't go inside. Maybe Ana could still talk her way out of this.

"I was meeting my ex-boyfriend, Jose," Ana explained, her heart pounding hard in her chest as she spoke that bald-faced lie. "We had some things we needed to work through and this was the only time he could do it. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want Max to think I was blowing off work – if Christian was there, I didn't see him."

Her tone must have been convincing as Kate and Jack glanced at each other again, the unease in their expressions more pronounced. "That seems like quite a coincidence," Jack lobbed back at her, his tone still suspicious. "You and Christian happened to be at the same diner at the same time, but you were meeting someone else? Can you prove that your ex-boyfriend was there?"

"Yeah, it is a coincidence. And yes, Jose was at that diner – you can ask anybody," Ana insisted, narrowing her eyes at him and Kate. "But you still haven't answered my question: why were you following me in the first place?"

"Why do you care that we were following you?" Kate lobbed back, taking a bold step toward Ana. "Worried that we were going to catch you doing something suspicious?"

"I wasn't doing anything suspicious," Ana said defiantly, her anger burgeoning inside of her. "You two are following my movements outside of work less than a week after I caught Jack sneaking around inside Mr. Kavanaugh's office. You don't think I'm able to put the pieces together here?"

Ana knew she was potentially exposing her and Christian's plan right now, but the stunned and angry looks on Kate and Jack's faces were worth the blowback.

"You don't… he…" Kate stammered, whipping her head between Ana and Jack. "What the hell, Jack?"

"I told you she was gonna fuck everything up," Jack insisted to Kate, gesturing angrily to Ana. "But you thought everything could just be pinned on her if we could prove she was in cahoots with Christian!"

"But she is! And she's got nothing on us," Kate said angrily to Jack before turning her glare to Ana. "Who cares that you saw Jack in my dad's office? You can't prove why he was in there."

"Maybe I can't, but there are people who can," Ana said, trying to be careful revealing how much she knew.

"Also, there's a paper trail leading right to Christian," Kate insisted, her voice smug. "We've got a shit ton of evidence pointing to him, and since Jack and I both saw you meet with Christian at that diner yesterday, you're complicit!"

"You guys never saw me with Christian, and your paper trail is complete bullshit," Ana said angrily. "And Kate, you're just pissed at Christian because your date with him a few weeks ago ended with you screaming at him and throwing his car keys into the street. Or am I wrong?"

This seemed to be new information to Jack as he turned his furious gaze onto Kate. "I'm sorry, what? What did she say?"

"It was nothing, Jack," Kate insisted, brushing it off. "It doesn't change anything."

"Yes it fucking does! You told me you had dirt on Christian and you would have no problem pinning this whole thing on him!" Jack said angrily. "'He's totally a piece of shit' – that's what you said to me! But the truth is you just went on a bad date with him! That's why you said he's a piece of shit!"

"Well yeah, but who cares?" Kate argued back. "So what if he and I went on a bad date? I've been on plenty of bad dates before, it doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters! Everything is riding on this, Kate!" Jack insisted. "You assured me a million different times that you could make it so that Christian was guilty. I thought you had some sort of big secret on him or something that we could use as leverage, but it was just this?! You're completely insane, Kate! Leila was right – I never should have trusted you!"

"Why the fuck are you freaking out so much?" Kate snapped. "It doesn't matter who gets blamed for this! It could have been Christian, it could have been anyone! My dad listens to whatever I say, so will you just calm the fuck down…?"

They seemed to have completely forgotten about Ana and the fact that they were in a public office as they continued their loud argument. Ana heard a motion behind her, and she turned around to see a small crowd of people had gathered by the large window looking out the front of the break room. Standing in the middle of the group was Jessica, her phone in her hand as she recorded Jack and Kate arguing.

Ana couldn't fight her grin.

"…dumb little rich girl who thinks everyone will just bow down at her feet!" Jack was yelling at Kate, his frustration evident as he threw up his hands. "Y'know, some of us actually have to work for our money! Or is all that just a foreign concept to you as every little thing gets handed to you by Daddy?"

"Oh, shut the fuck up," Kate yelled back. "What the hell do you think I've been doing for you these past few weeks? You would have gotten nowhere in your little plan if not for my help…!"

Someone from behind Ana cleared their throat loudly, and Jack and Kate went silent as they looked over at two burly-looking security guards standing in the doorway of the break room, their arms crossed. Jack and Kate both seemed to deflate as they stared in wide-eyed shock at the guards, and both of them looked over at the window, where the small crowd of people had grown to twice the size it had been before. Several people were now recording on their phones.

"Can the two of you come with us, please?" one of the security guards asked, and the expressions on Jack and Kate's faces made it clear they both knew exactly how screwed they were.

A/N: I know you're all probably cheering right now lol :D Next chapter, we see the consequences of Jack and Kate's argument being made public.

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