That next morning, Kelly headed to meet Ariana to tell her the good news, that Maya was leaving school, she wanted to make Ariana her new friend.
"I guess she knows what's best for her" Ariana shrugged, as she sprayed her perfume, she was busy preparing for school
"What about the image" Kelly asked
"Adrian asked I deleted it, and I did, besides it's of no use..... School today is gonna be fun" Ariana exclaimed with a smile on her face
"but it's our biggest leverage on her, you shouldn't have deleted it yet" Kelly reasoned
"Who cares, I know what I'm doing just shut up" Ariana said, picking up her bag and ready to leave
Maya and Kelly were both about to leave for school, when suddenly her raging father barged in
"What have you done Ariana!!!" Mr Lancaster yelled, stretching his hand and landing a huge smack on her face, Ariana cupped her face in shock, her dad actually slapped her for the first time
"Honey calm down and hear her out first" Beatrice said, as she ran into the room
"You are beyond foolish, better start explaining your self before I do something I'll regret" he yelled, Ariana just stood, obviously shaken she had no idea what her dad was saying
"Check your phone girls" Beatrice said, Kelly quickly reached out for her phone, she noticed the viral video and clicked on it, her hands flew to her mouth when she watched the video, Maya was busy narrating everything Ariana had done and she had an evidence with Ariana's voice record
"That's..... That.. No no no..... It's not.... Possible 🙆, oh no dad it's....." Ariana stammered, she was beyond shocked
"There have to be something we can do to close this case right, we just have to know how reputable her family is" Beatrice suggested
"Actually she is just a poor scholarship student, it'll be easy to shun her" Kelly immediately chimed in
"Yes dad, I just did it to teach her a lesson, I'm so sorry dad" Ariana said
"You think handling the public is easy, the mass has made an uproar and are busy demanding justice, my assistant called saying the press had already blocked the entrance to my company" Mr Lancaster yelled in rage, sending everything on the table crashing on the floor
"Dad... I'm scared, does that mean I'll go to jail?" Ariana asked, the fear was evident on her face
"No dear, nothing will happen to you, your dad will take care of it, just be careful next time" Beatrice said, as she pulled her daughter in a hug
"You foolish mother and daughter, all this rubbish because of a boy who doesn't like you, if I can't calm the masses, Ariana you will bear the consequences" he said, bringing out his cell phone, he dialed a number, then immediately left the room
Ariana couldn't believe what was happening, she could her heart pounding against her chest.... Then she turned grabbing Kelly by the hair,
"This is all your fault, you told me she wasn't planning on doing anything" Ariana yelled
"Leave me.... You were the one foolish enough to delete the picture, now you have nothing on her" Kelly yelled back
"I won't go down alone, you better fix this or else your ass will rot in jail" Ariana threatened, then shoved her roughly she fell hitting her back against the table
"Ariana you need to calm down dear.... Kelly I think you should leave now" Beatrice said, Kelly only nodded, picked her stuff up and ran like hell our of the house, she was panicking even more than Ariana.
Kelly knew that if Ariana drags her down too, she'll loose everything, because everyone sees her as the good person, Xavier will hate her and Maya will hate her, people will call her two faced, unlike Ariana everyone already knew she was a dangerous predator ready to devour her prey without second thought.
**********
"Adrian explain this.... Now!!" Victor yelled
"Dad, how is any of this my concern, Ariana is the offender here" Adrian defended
"She did it because of her obsession over you, which means you have been dragged into it, which means the press will hover around us" Victor said
"How is it my fault she likes me, and besides you are the one who made a stupid deal with them, the pree will hover around you because of your partnership with them not because of me" Adrian retorted
"Couldn't you like her back, She is your fiance and you are chasing after someone else, you are the cause of this now you've brought shame on me" Victor said
"You don't have the right to tell me who I should like, you don't even have the fucking right to get me engaged to anyone... I don't know what your problem is, you better go fix this shit with the press and leave me out of it" Adrian coldly said, his voice was low, void of any emotion, he silently stared his father in the eye, then he walked away
"You waste of space, get back here Adrian!!!!" Victor yelled, but Adrian just blocked his father out as he walked away not even caring to listen
"Hello, listen I need you to terminate any partnership we have with Mr Lancaster and let the press know that on my behalf we have nothing to do with Ariana and her family, tell them how sorry and ashamed we feel..... I can't afford to get dragged into this mess" Victor said, as he connected the line with his personal secretary, the only thing he could do was disentangle from them
Suddenly his phone rang, it was Mr Lancaster "What do you want?" he asked dryly
"I'm pretty sure you already saw the news, so as partners we are, we have to figure out a way to solve this issue, you have great influence" Mr Lancaster said
"It's your daughters mess, I've already had my assistant terminate our deal, we can pick a date and professional close things up" Victor said coldly
"What?.... No thats not possible, we need each other" Mr Lancaster said
"You need to put your daughter on a leesh, I'm glad this happened before we even got to work on any project, it makes backing down much easy" Victor said
"I need help in this, this situation is capable of ruining my reputation and everything I worked for" Mr Lancaster panicked
"That's your problem not mine" Victor said coldly, as he hanged up.
*********
Ariana tried begging her dad not to send her to school that day, she knew the press will be at their school and question her, but her father insisted she goes as a punishment, but her mum insisted she goes with bodyguards to avoid embarrassment
Ariana got down from her car with her guards circling her to stop the press from dragging her, the principal and all the staffs were already at the school's entrance trying to calm the press without giving any statement. Just then Maya arrived at school, Xavier had offered to pick her up so she doesn't have to answer the press.
"I laid the complaints, why should I hide from the press, I will give them the answers they need" Maya said as she got down form the car, the press immediately rushed to her, tons of questions being asked, Maya made sure to answer all of them.
"Does the school knows about this sort of bullying?" a woman asked, pointing her mic to Maya
"Do they know?? They are the backbone of injustice" Maya said, shocking everyone.