One Wild Night

The car was silent as they made their way to the company. While Mia sat in the front seat of the car busy trying to write out the statement for Bryan to read to the press, Jeff was occupied with his regrets and guilt as he drove the car, while Bryan just stared out of the window.

They were all upset and worried about this new development. Of course, they should have foreseen it, given Paul’s threat to destroy Bryan’s career, but they had all been too busy to think about it.𝐎𝚟𝑙xt.𝗇𝓔t

No matter how much this disturbed Bryan, he was much more disturbed by something else- his guilt over not keeping to his words and following Sonia to her meeting as he had promised.

Even if Lucy was going to be there with her, Lucy wasn’t him. That didn’t excuse his action. He was raised to keep to his words, but he had been too upset to think about it.

Fuck, he was still very much upset and mad at Sonia, but that did not excuse his action neither did it stop him from being worried about her. He loved her. He doubted he would ever stop loving her. He just needed time to figure out some things. He needed her to also understand that relationships involved two people and that she couldn’t keep acting like she was the class captain in their relationship.

“Bryan,” Mia called to get his attention, and Bryan looked up at her.

“I understand that you might not be in the right state of mind for this interview, but you know how important this is for all of us, right?” She asked, but Bryan merely stared at her without answering her question, while Jeff glanced at her briefly before returning his attention to the road.

As angry as she had been when she left Tom’s house, Jeff had been surprised by how worried she had sounded when she called to ask if he had seen the video of Paul and had asked him to call her back immediately he informed Harry and Tom about it.

He had been on his way to Tom’s apartment since Tom had asked Adolf to give him one of the cars and the key to the apartment beside Lucy’s where he would be sharing with Mia until they got somewhere else for them.

Jeff had naturally called Harry first since he had seen just how upset Tom was, about Bryan’s situation, but after telling Harry about it, Harry had thankfully asked him not to bother Tom about it since he was with Tom and would relate it to him.

The moment Harry asked them to meet at the company and he informed Mia about it, she had asked them to pick her up from the hotel on their way while she tried to come up with a suitable speech for Bryan.

“Although I get that you are mad at Sonia right now, but I will advise you not to say things about her during the interview that you might regret…”

“What do you mean by that?” Bryan asked, glaring at her.

Why were they all making him out to be an unreasonable person? He had not once badmouthed Sonia in all of this. He never would insult her, so where was this advice coming from?

“I’m just saying, don’t talk about breaking up with her no matter how upset you are. You both still need some time to resolve your issues. Don’t make any hasty decision. Last night must have been tough for her if she saw everything your fans and even your anti-fans had to say about her. Especially the threats,” Mia said, and Bryan frowned as he looked outside the window.

This was probably the thing he hated most about being a celebrity. How people could blow something so minor in a celebrity’s life out of proportion just for entertainment without pausing to think about how it affected them.

He remembered Sonia telling him that she couldn’t give up her privacy and freedom all in the name of being successful. This must be tough on her, Bryan thought with a sigh.

“Are you done?” He asked when Mia stopped talking and looked out of the window.

“Not exactly. I’m just curious, what exactly happened between you and the guy at the club? Did you just show up there and met him by coincidence? Or did you track him down to the club to beat him up for the role he played in Jeff’s drama or was it for something else? You will have to tell the press about it, is it something that you can say?” Mia asked, and as much as Jeff didn’t appreciate how she was making it sound like he was responsible for everything, he didn’t say a word. He was already beginning to regret bringing Derek into the picture.

Bryan shook his head, “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not going to talk about it,” Bryan said, and Mia took a deep breath.

“Alright. I have a suggestion,” Mia said, and both Jeff and Bryan looked at her with interest.

“It’s going to be our word against his. Why don’t we say it’s a prank that went wrong? Bryan, we could say you noticed Derek’s online presence in all of Sonia’s posts, as Jeff observed and you decided to find out just how far he was willing to go with his obsession, so you asked Jeff to make him an offer. Jeff did, and Derek proved to be a nutcase by showing up at Sonia’s house, and that got you mad…”

“That’s too much unnecessary explanation for people that do not really care about me personally,” Bryan cut in.

“Then I will say it myself,” Jeff offered.

“I will take the blame for it since I am the one who decided to bring Derek into the picture. I will explain all that happened. I have all the evidence,” Jeff said, and Bryan sighed as he massaged his temple.

“And how do you think that’s going to make Sonia look? Everyone will blame her if we tell them we did this because she needed conflict. They are going to make this about her,” Bryan said, and both Mia and Jeff exchanged a look.

Of course, he still very much cared about her.

“I think you should both do it. That will kill the narrative that Bryan decided to attack Sonia’s poor ex-boyfriend. There is nothing wrong with a girlfriend telling her boyfriend that she wants some conflict. And there is nothing wrong either with you being romantic enough to want to do that for her. Everything would have been perfect and everyone would have been awwing had you not involved a real ex,” Mia said as Jeff pulled into the I-Global parking lot, and to their surprise, some reporters from different news stations were hanging around already.

The moment the reporters saw the trio get out of the car, they rushed over to where they were, but Jeff raised a hand before they could ask any questions.

“You will have all the time to ask questions, right now we need to go in and prepare for the interview. So I suggest you save us the time, and save yourself the stress,” Jeff said as he made way for Bryan and Mia to pass, and they walked into the building.

Thankfully the building was empty since it was the weekend, so Bryan led the way to Tom’s office since that was where they were to meet before the interview.

“Troublemaker,” Jade greeted with a teasing smile as she embraced Bryan when he walked into the office, while Tom watched them from his seat without saying anything, and Harry’s gaze was fixed on Mia.

“I didn’t realize you would be here,” Bryan said as he pulled away from her and looked her over, wondering why she was dressed so formally.

Jade was wearing a pair of navy blue tailored pants with a black three-quarter sleeved button-down shirt tucked into it, and white stiletto heels.

“Why would your lawyer not be present?” Jade asked as she adjusted his t-shirt, and Bryan raised a brow.

“My lawyer?”

“Of course. For what we plan to do, you are going to need a lawyer. We can’t let Paul’s insolence slide. And who best to represent you if not your darling sister?” Jade asked as she patted Bryan’s cheek, and he glanced at Tom and Harry before returning his gaze to her.

“You are working here now?” Bryan asked, and Jade gave him a nod.

“Yes. And you are going to be my first client since the I-Global legal team can’t represent you because they don’t know about you joining the company yet. Aren’t you so lucky to have me?” Jade asked, and Bryan’s brows pulled together.

“What about your job?”

“Let’s talk about that after we have cleared this mess. The interview is starting soon and we have to talk,” Jade said as she moved away from him to face Jeff and Mia.

“Jeff, it’s good to see you again,” Jade said as she embraced him.

“Mia, it’s nice to finally meet you after only speaking with you over the phone this whole time,” Jade said as she pulled away from Jeff and embraced Mia.

While Jade exchanged pleasantries with Mia and Jeff, Bryan approached the sofa where Tom and Harry were seated, “I’m sorry about earlier,” Bryan said without meeting his gaze.

“It’s alright. We will address it later. Come sit let’s talk about the interview,” Tom said, and Jade took Bryan’s hand and pulled him over to join them on the sofa while Mia and Jeff followed behind.

“It’s good to finally meet you, Jeff. It’s a good thing you saw the video when you did and you were quick to call me,” Harry said as he rose to shake hands with Jeff.

“Mia saw the video,” Jeff said, and Harry turned to Mia.

“You are Mia, right?” Harry asked as he faced Mia.

“That’s me. I guess I’m famous,” Mia said with a grin.

“I just told him your name,” Jeff said dryly while Jade giggled in amusement.

“Have we met before?” Harry asked, and Mia shook her head.

“I don’t think so, Mr. Jonas. Although, people ask me that question all the time. I guess I have a very common face,” she said with a bright smile but Harry looked at her unconvinced.

He was good at recalling faces, and hers looked like one he had seen before, but he just couldn’t exactly remember where he had seen her.

“You can call me, Harry,” Harry said as he shook hands with her, and then they all sat down.

“I’m sorry for the cold reception earlier,” Tom said, looking from Mia to Jeff.

“I would be just as cold if I were in your shoes. I’m sorry for not managing him properly,” Mia said with a bow that made Tom, Harry, and Jade look at her in amusement while Bryan and Jeff exchanged a look at her seriousness.

“Straight to business,” Jade said, clapping her hands so that all eyes would focus on her.

“I’ve got a plan. Let’s talk about Derek. Jeff, you’re the one who contracted Derek, right?” Jade asked, and Jeff gave her a nod.

“Yes, I did,” he said, beginning to feel even more embarrassed and terrible now.

“Do you have receipts of your chat or phone conversation? Have you told him now that it was meant to be a prank?” Jade asked curiously.

“I have the receipts and I haven’t told him anything,” Jeff said, and looked from Jade to Harry and Tom, wondering why they all looked relieved by his response.

“Bryan, you are probably not going to like this, but we don’t have much of a choice. This is the fastest way to put that fame-digger back in his place,” Jade said, and Bryan raised a brow.

“Let’s hear it,”

“I’m going to need you to put a call across to Derek during the interview and it’s going to be on speaker for the reporters to hear. Make him talk. We have to paint him as the jerk he is,” Jade said, but Bryan shook his head.

“No. I don’t agree with that. What if he says stuff about Sonia?” Bryan asked, looking at Jade incredulously.

“Do you think I didn’t think about all this already? I love Sonia and wouldn’t even think of doing this if it wasn’t going to help her too. Do you think avoiding this will make him not say stuff about Sonia? Do you know how much stuff he must have said to whoever cares to listen already? Sonia is a big girl and I’m sure she can handle this. Protecting her this way won’t do either of you any good. It’s best for us all if he says silly things. That way everyone would see him for the lowlife jerk he is and turn on him for wanting to rise to fame by tearing your relationship apart, and we can also sue him for defamation of character and whatever else he has said about Sonia. Everyone would applaud you for defending Sonia’s honor by not caring about your reputation,” Jade said, and everyone was silent.

While Harry looked at Jade with admiration, Tom and Jade looked at Bryan as they waited for him to think about it, while Mia and Jeff considered Jade’s idea.

“I think it’s a good idea. Much better than mine. I suggested Jeff exposes everything to the press. But I think it’s better if Derek exposes it himself this way,” Mia said, and Jade nodded.

“And what if he doesn’t bite the bait?” Bryan asked with a slight frown.

“He will. He likes to talk and brag a lot,” Jeff assured him.

“I don’t know. Maybe you should run it by Sonia and see if she is okay with it. This involves her too and I can’t make the decision myself. If she is fine with it then you can do it,” Bryan said, and Jade pursed her lips.

“How about you call her yourself?” Jade suggested.

“No. It’s your idea. You call her,” Bryan said, and Jade sighed.

“Alright. I will do that while Tom and Harry tell you about our plan for Paul,” Jade said as she rose from her seat and walked away to give Sonia a call.

Harry cleared his throat, “We plan to do the same thing to Paul. Tom said you’ve told Paul about your intentions to leave Golden Star Paul already. You will call him and place the call on speaker while you confront him for releasing such false statements. Someone as loud as he is is bound to make threats. Let’s expose his lies. And once we are done with that part of the interview we can move to your contract signing today and release an official statement to the public about I-Global Entertainment. We will need to be quick with the interview since Tom and I still have to answer to the shareholders and board of directors,” Harry said, leaving out their plan to buy off all of Golden Star’s shares once the stocks begin to drop following their announcement.

“I’m down with this. I’m sorry for causing so much trouble,” Bryan said apologetically as he looked from Tom to Harry.

“Don’t you think either Derek or Paul might get wind of the interview if the reporters release the details of one before we get to the other?” Mia asked, and Harry nodded.

“Don’t worry about that. It won’t happen,” Tom assured her.