(KIRA)
________
I remained seated on the couch, staring at Casey before . She was reading the ssages I had exchanged with the blackmailer, Maven, and the more she read, the paler she got. It was as if she was only confirming my suspicions about my situation. I was fucked, big ti.
"Well..." I said after a while and she was still quiet. "Are you going to say sothing?"
Casey slowly got off her knees and lowered herself back onto the couch, "it’s just... I’m a little confused."
"What’s there to be confused about?" I demanded. "I’m being blackmailed by this Maven guy and we have to do sothing about it!"
"Yeah, I know. That part is pretty clear." Casey snapped back, "But what exactly does this an? ’I know what you are’, what does Maven an by that?"
I swallowed as I shifted in my seat, I looked away from her, "How the fuck am I supposed to know? How do I know what goes on in the mind of the fucking blackmailer?"
"Calm down, Kira." Casey muttered, "I’m not..."
"Don’t tell to calm down!" I cried as I surged to my feet and began to pace. I was suddenly filled with anger, it was as if it had all co from nowhere and was pumping through my veins. "You read the ssages yourself, did I sound like I knew what they were talking about? Whatever it is that they think they know about , they’re wrong."
"Well, whatever it is that you think they know about you, it’s got you terrified girl." Casey said as she too got to her feet and ca to stand before , she gently ran her hands over my arms as she tried to calm down, "See, I’m not trying to start a fight or sothing, neither am I trying to get you to do sothing you’re not comfortable with. I just feel that it would be good to know what you’re being blackmailed with. What is it that has you so terrified?"
I folded my arms over my chest and looked pointedly away from her, I knew that if I looked into her eyes, my resolve would break. However, Casey knew well enough. She took my chin in her hands and slowly turned my eyes towards hers.
"Look at , Kira." She said quietly, "You can talk to , I promise you that I would understand."
I sucked in a deep breath, she was right. After all, she was my best friend, if anyone had the right to know about my sex life, it was her. There was nothing wrong with telling her about Lena and the fact that I am bisexual. I could finally have soone to share the most beautiful part of my life with.
"I... uh... I am..." I tried to speak, but it was as if the words were stuck in my throat.
"Kira?"
"I need to use the restroom!" I cried and I turned as ran away from Casey, hurrying off into my bedroom and locking the door shut behind . I was breathing hard, it was as if my chest was being pushed from inside. I went into my ensuite bathroom and splashed water over my face. The water was biting cold and it was able to snap back into my senses.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror above the sink, water was dripping off my face and I could see that there were bags under my eyes. My cheeks were sunken and my eyes looked hollow, as if I had not slept for days. Just only a couple of hours since Maven first contacted , and I was already such a ss.
"What the hell is wrong with ?" I muttered as I stared into my reflection, "When did I beco so weak and scared? This is ! The girl who is about to go to war with my uncle! No! I can’t have this!"
I couldn’t remain such a blubbering ss, panicking at every little thing and wondering how I would solve my problems. I’m rich and I’m going to be the CEO of Beacon Studios, nothing was going to get in the way of that. My uncle wasn’t, and Maven sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one either. I had to take my life back in my hands and simply take what I wanted. It was about ti.
This wasn’t just about anymore, it was also about protecting Beacon Studios, protecting Lena, and protecting my interests. I had a good thing going and nothing was going to ruin it for .
With a sigh, I stepped away from the mirror and picked up the towel draped over a hook, I used it to dry my face. When I was done, I stepped into my room and took off the bathrobe. I screwed my face in disgust as I realized how long I had been wearing it, I had been so focused on my problem that I didn’t realize how it was affecting other areas of my life.
I wore my nighties, taking off everything that would make uncomfortable. When I was done, I opened the door and walked out. Casey was still in the living room, she had turned on the TV and was watching Klevah TV, the gossip channel. I stayed quiet for a while, watching it with her. A reporter was talking about how a basketball player had cheated on his fiancée with a mysterious lady who many suspected to be his coach’s daughter.
"Kevin sure has an eye for gossip," I said after a while as I took my seat on another couch.
"Yeah," Casey replied as she reduced the volu. "He sure knows how to position himself so that he would be right where he has to be when the story breaks. I heard that he’s the one to reveal that the player was cheating, and from the looks of it, he might be the one to confirm that the side chick is really the coach’s daughter."
I laughed at that, it wasn’t my usual laugh, but it was close. I was just trying to get back to my old self. Casey was about to turn the TV off, but I stopped her, "there’s no need for that."
She glanced at , then she muted the TV, "Kira, no matter how much you avoid this, we’ll still have to talk about it."
I nodded, "is that why you’re watching the gossip channel? Maybe Maven would have sent sothing to the press?"
Casey shrugged, "We don’t know for sure what we’re dealing with, so being up to date with gossip would help out a lot. We don’t want to be the last to find out about sothing that concerns us, do we?"
"Well, if we’re hearing it on TV, aren’t we the last to find out?"
"That’s why we have to stop... whatever it is, from getting to TV. Or any form of dia. Kira, you have to tell , what do you think it is that Maven knows about you?"
I smoothened out the skirt of my nighties as I shifted on the couch, "honestly, I have no idea. Maybe he believes that he has sothing on , and thinks it’s worth blackmailing over. But, I really don’t know what it is."
Casey studied , "You don’t know or you won’t tell ?"
I looked right back at her, I could see the distrust in her eyes. She knew I was keeping sothing from her and she was interpreting it to an that I didn’t trust her. Seeing that look in her eyes broke my heart to a million pieces. However, it was sothing I had to endure. I just couldn’t tell Casey the truth yet. I still didn’t know how she would react to this and it was terrifying. I didn’t want to lose her friendship, yet my choices seed to push her further away.
What mattered the most right now was that I knew what Maven wanted, I also knew what he was blackmailing with. If what Casey had told was correct, and Maven had been outside my hotel room throughout the night, then he would have seen Lena co into my room last night. She ca with a copy of my hotel room key, a copy I had given her. Which ant that she didn’t knock like everyone else. Maven would have noted that.
He would have also noted that she stayed the entire night and didn’t leave until late this morning, with considerably rumpled clothing. The signs were all there, even a child would have been able to put it all together.
I sighed as I ran my fingers through my hair, I couldn’t believe that I had let it co to this. I always believed that I had everything under control, I ran a tight ship and nothing could slip from my notice. However, things started going wrong almost at once. First with Jace having an affair, then my Uncle appearing at the rehearsal dinner simply to piss off. That particular event was what led to everything else because if I had not acted out by kissing Jace in front of the bloody press, Lena would not have felt the need to sneak into my hotel room just to make sure I was still in love with her.
And just like everything else, my uncle seed to be at the center of this madness.
I wasn’t going to allow this to go on. I was taking absolute control back, of everything in my life! I wasn’t going to be blindsided anymore, not by Uncle Leo, not by Jace, and definitely not by this fucking Maven!
"Kira! I’m talking to you!"
My head snapped up and I looked at her, "Sorry about that. I don’t know what else you want to say, Casey. But I promise you, I’m going to think hard and try to figure out what Maven wants from ."
"Jace and I would be working the case, trying to find him before he does any harm." Casey said, "Good. So, you’ll let know when there’s a break in the case, right?"
Casey nodded, "you’ll be the first to know. And uhm... whatever it is that Maven has against you, we’ll figure it out."
I glanced at her and slowly nodded as well, "I guess we’ll see about that."
I got to my feet then, and as expected, Casey saw it for what it was; her dismissal. I had to get to work and right now, I wasn’t in the mood to spend ti with her. She picked up her purse and began to walk to the door, I followed her closely.
"Kira," she said when she got to the door, "have you thought about the changes you’re planning to make for the dinner? Is it still a thousand guests?"
"What?" I stared at her in shock, "you’re still on that? It’s my fucking wedding! I get to decide how many people co to my dinner, not my uncle! I already told you, prepare your damn estimate, money is not an issue!"
"Okay... fine. You’re the boss. I’ll need a list of all the nas you’ll be adding, and also if you’ll be making any changes to the 150 nas we were initially going with. You can shoot them all to Liam, and later, you and I would talk about the the for the dinner and what exactly you’d want to see there."
I smiled at her, I loved the way she had simply switched to work mode all of a sudden. As she was about to get into her car, I stopped her, "Casey, I’m sorry for uhm... everything."
"But uhm... you’re gonna tell soon, right?" She asked.
"Of course," I nodded. "Just not yet. Please, just give so ti."
"That’s not in my power, Kira." Casey said as she got into her car, "You only have until we figure out what Maven has over you. That’s how much ti you can get."
She keyed the engine and with a smooth movent, drove out of the driveway. Then, she sped out of the estate. I stood in my yard, watching her until her taillights vanished from view. Once I was alone, I walked back into the house. My phone was on the center table and I went to take it.
I had to get to work. Not just Beacon Studios business, I also had to figure out who Maven was. I had to do it first and make sure that neither Casey nor Jace got to him before .
I dialed up Lena’s number, she picked up the first ring.
"Where are you?" I asked at once, there was no ti for pleasantries.
"Co on, Mistress. Shouldn’t you at least ask how I am?"
"Answer the damn question, girl!"
There was a pause on her end, and then Lena said, "I’m about to round up at the office. Jace went to his lawyer’s."
"Good. I need you to co to my house right now!"
"What?! I need to get ho and clean up, you know I’ve not been ho for a few days due to the rehearsal dinner and..."
"Girl, did I stutter? I wasn’t asking you! I’m ordering you to co to my house right now!!!"
"Okay! I’ll be there." She replied, her voice sounding itchy, "but you’re scaring , is sothing wrong?"
"Yes baby, sothing is terribly wrong!" I replied flatly. "You’re in big trouble, Lena. And you’re about to drag down with you!"
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