Is this destiny?

~ 20 miles East from Springfield, Missouri ~

11:23 AM

In the office of the local magazine…

"What is going on, Ann?", Colton Blake, the chief editor approached a girl in her early twenties. "Why am I getting all these notifications? My inbox is full. Are we being spammed again by those punks from Springfield?"

"Boss, there is an article on our front page. People are commenting on it.", Ann responded.

Colton grinned. "Which one? Is it the one about the upcoming fair?"

"No. This one is about Mrs. Heine."

Colton was visibly confused. Nothing should go online without his knowledge. "Did we publish an article about Mrs. Heine?"

Ann shrugged. "I don't know boss, but it's there and our site is about to crash from all the traffic. I've never seen anything like this."

She stopped talking when Colton leaned over her desk and took the keyboard to navigate to the site. The page took a few seconds to load and his mouth was half-open when he saw the content.

"Who published this?"

Ann shook her head vigorously. "Not me."

"Derek! Did you publish this?", Colton hollered.

From the side room, a man in his mid-thirties peeked in. "What?"

"Don't you 'what' me. Come and see!"

Derek came in hurried steps. He can see that Colton is upset.

"Wow!", Derek exclaimed when he saw the page. He lifted both of his hands defensively. "I didn't publish this, boss."

The trio was engaged in a discussion of how the content ended up on their side. The conclusion is that they don't know how it got there, and they were hacked. The hack theory was confirmed when they realized that they can't edit the front page to remove that article.

"Take down the whole site!", Colton decided.

Ann scrunched her nose. "Are you sure, boss? We never had this many visitors and the chat below is on fire. If we continue like this, we will definitely get more sponsors. Look at the location of the commenters. A lot of them are from neighboring towns. This is big."

Colton pressed his lips into a line. "But this is about Heine family. If we offend them, it won't end well. And we don't know if this is true or how it ended up on our site."

Derek shrugged. "Why are we the ones offending? The people below are the ones making news. The article looks legit. It even has dates and photos and everything."

Ann winked at Derek, happy that he agrees with her: this news should stay online. "And in case someone asks from where we got this, we can say it's an anonymous tip."

After a brief discussion, Colton caved in and they agreed that this is huge. Nothing ever happens in their little town and missing to ride this boat will be the same as wasting a great opportunity. With so many people out of town commenting, they can definitely expand their influence.

Colton smiled while thinking how at this rate, they will be big like New York Times and People magazine. And he can see them getting one of those prestigious National Magazine Awards. Ah, that will be glorious. The lights directed at him while he delivers the acceptance speech, the crowd clapping, the honors... And he will be THE chief editor. Colton thought that maybe he should change his title to: Editorial Director. With the 'director' in it, it will sound jazzier when he goes on that stage to accept his award.

Colton snapped out of his daydreaming and rubbed his hands while instructing Derek and Ann. "OK. Share it on our social media. Let's spread out this fire as much as we can. Make sure to post teasers and tell them that for the full scoop they need to come to our main site. This baby fell in our lap, let's make sure it grows big and strong..."

~ The mansion of the Heine family ~

1:01 PM

Mr. Heine's anger subsided by the time he reached home.

As much as the evidence is online for everyone to see, he hopes that his wife has some explanation for this. Any explanation. Because this can't be happening.

During his flight back home, Mr. Heine carefully examined the photos and saw that without a doubt, it's his wife. After all, he knows her body.

Mr. Heine was unable to swallow the fact that his wife is a predator who preys on underage boys. They are married for almost ten years. How is it possible that he didn't notice anything so far?

Ron appeared in his mind. An innocent boy of twelve, or maybe thirteen years old… How that boy tried to tell him, how his boy pleaded for him to listen, how Ron cried, and threw a fit when Mr. Heine chose to believe to that woman instead of his own flesh and blood.

Mr. Heine remembers that he met Ron at the inauguration of the new master of the White family, Jeffrey White. The Ron he saw there at the White Mansion was different, he was not a teenager who caused a fuss, but a calm and a confident young man. Mr. Heine would be proud to call that Ron his son.

Ron's confident image was in Mr. Heine's mind for some time after the inauguration, and Mr. Heine could not see him as a teenager who was described by his wife as a problem child… and it was not only her. The school counselor also said that Ron is acting out. And the pastor at the church said the same.

Julia's voice rang inside Mr. Heine's head: "Do you really believe that rebellious teenager over me? … You can fulfill my needs perfectly. Why would I look for anyone other than you? … Assuming that I want to sleep around, I would look for a real man, not a child… You know that Ron never accepted me as a substitute for his mother… I try so hard to take care of him, but he hurts me like this… He hates me…"

And he believed her. Of course, he did. It's easier to believe that his teenage son is acting out than to believe that he let a monster in his house. And because of that, he lost a son, the only thing that was left from his departed wife he loved so much.

Mr. Heine remembers the defiant and disappointed look Ron gave him during the inauguration at the White Mansion. And Ron was treated with respect.

Mr. Heine cursed himself. Why did it take him so long to see the truth? And he knows that now is too late. Ron looked at him like a stranger. He lost his son.

The reality is that if these articles are not online for everyone to see, Mr. Heine would probably sweep this under the rug as well and pretend it does not exist, and nothing ever happened. It's easier that way. But this issue is now out there for everyone to see, and it can't be ignored.

While searching for his wife, he started in the living room which was a mess. Two maids were tidying it up. Next, he went to the study and their bedroom… all the rooms were trashed, as a hurricane swept through.

"Where is the Madam?", Mr. Heine snapped at the passing maid.

"In the hobby room…", the maid responded timidly.

Mr. Heine made his way down the hallway.

"Why are you not answering your phone?", he asked from the door when he spotted his wife sitting on the chaise.

Mrs. Heine jolted when she heard her husband. She can tell that he is angry. Should she tell him that she turned off her phone because of the angry texts and calls she was receiving once people noticed the articles online?

This is a small town where everyone knows each other. One glance at the photos, and even without mentioning her name, people would know that it's her. Her face is not obscured at all.

As if her bare body is not embarrassing enough, there is an underage boy on the photos as well. Sure, his face is not recognizable, but based on his size and body frame, people can guess that it's a young boy, much younger than she is.

"Why are you not answering?", Mr. Heine growled. "Did you forget how to speak?"

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