"Oh my God, Richard, take that video down!" Mrs. Wyatt, Leon's step-mum cried, covering her face with trembling hands.
"No." Her husband snapped, his voice booming. "Let him watch. Let him see the stupid decision he made that could cost us everything."
Leon's stomach churned as the footage played on the screen. His chest pounded so badly he thought it might burst. He couldn't believe what he was forced to witness.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Mr. Wyatt, his dad, asked coldly. "Anything at all?"
Silence.
Leon's throat tightened. "Excuse me. I need to use the restroom."
Without waiting for permission, he pushed back his chair and hurried out.
In the tiled emptiness of the men's room, he checked every stall. Empty. He locked the door, pulled out his phone, and dialed Isabel.
She answered on the third ring, her voice light, amused.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Leon hissed. "How did you even get those videos?"
"I took them, off course. On my phone." Her laugh dripped with cruelty. "Or wait…did you think someone hacked you?"
"Isabel—"
"Embarrassing, isn't it? Your whole family watching your bare ass on their screen. I can imagine the shame." She giggled, "At least I got your good angles."
"You think this is funny?" Leon snapped. His hand shook against the sink. "Do you know what my family is capable of doing to you?"
"Oh. I know exactly what they won't do", she said coolly. "They won't risk letting this leak to the press. That gives me all the leverage I need. They'll agree to my terms."
"So this is about money?" Leon sneered. "You're just a gold digger. Hoping to squeeze something from a billionaire family."
"What did you expect it was about? Love?" Her laugh was sharp as glass. "You really thought I'll fall for the same lies you've told all those girls? Please. You must be a bigger fool than I imagined then."
"You're going to regret this."
"We'll see." She hung up, without another word.
Leon gripped the sink until his knuckles whitened, then forced himself to breath. Finally, he straightened, unlocked the door and returned to the conference room.
"Any new discoveries since your little break?" his father asked, sarcasm dripping from each word.
The lawyer quickly intervened. "If we may, I suggest we move onto the issue at hand."
"Yes please." Mrs. Wyatt, Leon's mom, said tightly.
The lawyer cleared his throat. "The young woman in question has demanded 10 million dollars, to be deposited to a Swiss bank account. She insists this will prevent the payment from being traced back as a bribe.
"What?" Leon blurted, incredulous. "If I knew I could get 10 million, I would have posted myself on every porn platform in the country!"
"Shut up." His sister, Davina snapped. "God you can never come up with anything useful, can you?"
Leon bit back a retort, fury simmering in his gut.
The lawyer continued. "Now we can negotiate a counteroffer, or file a counter suit to block her from making further threats. However, if we pursue legal actions, the video may be submitted as evidence—and there's always the risk of it leaking."
"That cannot happen." Leon shouted. I'll be on the front page of every tabloid in the world."
"Do you want us to just hand her the 10 million, son?" his father asked, his eyes narrowing.
"No dad." Leon muttered.
"Then shut the hell up."
"I recommend a countersuit." Davina cut in smoothly. "If we pay once, she'll only come back for more. This is a test. We need to show her we won't play her games."
Mr. Wyatt's stern face softened. "Exactly. That's why I made you Chair. You have vision."
Davina smiled faintly, triumphant.
Leon muttered under his breath "Always the star child. How could she ever disappoint you?"
"So it's settled." Mrs. Wyatt declared. "File the suit. Let us know when she's been served."
The meeting dissolved soon after, the tension following Leon like a shadow as he left.
Driving home, his thoughts spiraled. This girl is trying to ruin me. If Davina wasn't already competition enough, now Isabel is trying to bury me alive. I'll never get the CEO seat at this rate.
He finally pulled into his apartment parking lot. Just as he stepped out of his car, his phone lit up with a message from Charity.
I think I'm pregnant.
His heart plummeted.
Leon: What do you mean you think you're pregnant?
Charity: Well…I missed my period. I hadn't checked my app that tracks my period in a while, I did today and it says I'm three weeks late. And I haven't been on birth control in ages.
Leon: Why the hell haven't you been on birth control? When we've been having sex all this while.
Charity: Well you never told me when you…you know…finished. So I never thought you nutted in me. I guess didn't think it mattered."
Leon: Are you serious? I didn't think I had to spell it out, because since we've been intimate, you've always been on something.
Leon: How could you be so careless?
Leon: Why did you even stop?
Charity: I think it was giving me hormonal acnes.
Leon: That's your excuse? Acne is better than being PREGNANT. For God's sake.
Charity: Should I get some tests? Just to be sure.
Leon: Obviously. Get a few different brands and bring them over. We'll confirm together.
With that, Leon shut off his phone and shoved it in his pocket, his chest heaving.
"I can't believe her" he muttered, raking a hand through his hair. "This day just keeps getting worse."
After a few hours, Leon finally managed to settle into the bed, though sleep refused to come.
Felicity lingered at the edges of his thoughts, bright and untouchable, even against the backdrop of scandal and disaster. He'd wondered if she had been avoiding him this long because he kissed her—literally running away the moment his lips touched hers.
If a single kiss made her flee, what would she do if she ever found out about this mess?
Leon exhaled sharply. Dragging a hand over his face. "What am I going to do?"