Genny knew the exact mont her world tilted. It was in the way Joey stopped looking mildly irritated... and started looking certain. He knew what he was saying.
Her pulse slamd violently against her ribs, each beat loud enough to drown out the world. The air inside the dressing room felt thinner with every passing second, like the walls had quietly shifted closer while she wasn’t looking.
He rembered. Maybe not every second but enough to leave her screw. She thought he hadn’t. How was she going to face this head-on?
Her throat went parched. Even at this point, she was desperately thinking of an excuse or an escape route. The look in Joey’s eyes tells her that this was a long-standing grudge he had been holding
It was a mont of weakness, and it wasn’t that she forced him, yet she was the one being crucified because she ran... she wished the ground would just swallow her.
Her fingers tightened around the strap of her cara bag until her knuckles turned pale. She didn’t trust her legs to move or her voice not to betray her. If she spoke, she might confess everything without aning to.
"You..." the words were stuck in her throat.
Joey took a step closer. That faint scent of jasmine and spice that hung on him. She had never known how intoxicating he was until this mont she was tempted to snif him
Genny’s thoughts felt like slapping her. How could she think of sothing like that at a mont like this? This wasn’t the mont to realise how tall Joey was or how his blue eyes were alluring. Genny was a tall girl of 6 feet, but Joey was able to intimidate her.
God forbid she were a girl with a height fetish. Joey smirked slowly noticing the redness of her ears or how shy she was.
Her back brushed against the cold tal lockers and there was nowhere left to go. The small space between them felt charged, heavy with mories she had tried to erase and truths he was seconds away from dragging into the light.
His eyes moved over her face slowly, studying, confirming, fitting the final pieces together. A silent beat passed between them before he finally said it. "Alora is mine," he said as a matter of fact leaving no room for excuses
The words knocked the air from her lungs. "She isn’t.." Genny argued which only made him laugh at how she was still denying it even now.
"Oh really..She looks like ," he went on, voice calm but unyielding. "The eyes. The nose. Even the way she frowns. You really thought I wouldn’t notice?" he chuckled.
Joey reached for his pocket and pulled out an old photograph with blurry colours. Her eyes went wide before she could control her expression. "Alora.." she blurted staring at the uncanny resemblance.
Joey smirked. "That’s my mother, Genevieve ", he snickered, and she froze. Genny’s eyes squinted at the picture. The colours were old but the girl there looked so much like Alora. Her heart ached. It was unfair after carrying Alora for 10 months she really looked nothing like her.
"Are you still going to deny it? If anyone from the Alvarez family sees Alora they would know imdiately. "
Panic flooded her veins so fast she felt dizzy. Her mouth opened, but no proper words ca out.
"I... you can’t just...." She was lost for argunt, staring at that photograph. She must have looked so dumb when she claid Alora wasn’t his.
"Enough of the gas, Genevieve Moreau," he said quietly.
Her silence beca the loudest answer in the room. Her voice ca out small and strained. "What do you want?" Genny said through her gritted teeth..she was finding his face more annoying.
Joey studied her for a long mont. Sothing in his expression shifted like he was forcing himself to stay calm. Although he expected this result, she confird it hit different. The little girl was his. Joey’s eyes twitched rembering the bad Joey incident. She wondered what lies Genny was feeding that girl.
"I’m not here to take her away from you," he said. "I’m not that kind of monster." Her brows furrowed in confusion before relief flickered through her chest like a weight was lifted off. Then her stomach churned. Why did he corner her if he didn’t want to take Alora?
"But," he continued, and her stomach dropped all over again, "if you want to let you keep... if you want to let go of the fact that you hid my daughter from for five years..." he started and her heart beat slowed watching the way his lips curved up into sothing that did not look quite like a smile.
"I need sothing from you." he requested.
Her fingers trembled against her bag. "What kind of sothing?"
His eyes held hers, his gaze was calm and calculating the playful influencer mask completely gone. This was not the public Joey. Not the teasing, arrogant celebrity. This was a man who was raised to be a business empire heir. The type of n who calculated every step
"Sothing simple," he said. "If you agree, this stays between us."
"And if I don’t?" she whispered.
His gaze hardened.
"Then we stop talking like this," he said. "And start talking through lawyers."
The locker room suddenly felt ice cold.
"You took advantage of a drunk man," he added quietly. "And kept his child from him. That won’t look good in court, Genevieve."
Her chest tightened with guilt, fear, and anger twisting together until she could barely breathe.
He stepped back just enough to give her space to breathe but not enough to feel free.
"So," Joey said, watching her like a man placing his final bet,
"What’s it going to be?"
Genny smiled. Was he giving her a choice?
******
Back at the summit, things were slowing down aside from the rising star award, Volkov Apex still managed to get so other notable awards, although the damage of New Horizon had been done.
The day was coming to an end after several seminars, speeches and a long day. Braelyn was acting the role of the wife beside Raphael as he socialised with potential partners.
Lucien had left the event at one point. It seed his goal was to get on Raphael’s nerves. Braelyn’s brow twitched at the thought..lucien left after saying how much of a bore the event was.
Her phone buzzed with a notification. Her eyes imdiately narrowed on the ssage from Lucien.
Lucien: et at the car park...
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