One Wild Night

Chapter 243 - Jeff? Mia?

"Are you sure you will be fine? I mean you only just agreed to see a therapist after all these years, and all of a sudden you want to talk in front of the camera to people that don't care about you?" Lucy's mother asked in concern after Lucy finished sharing her plan with them.

"I'm not seventeen anymore, mom. I already told you I can handle this. I will be okay," Lucy assured her with a smile.

This was something she knew that she needed to do to eventually be free from the past, else it was going to keep coming back up in the future, and she couldn't deal with that. If she could talk to a therapist about it, then she could as well talk to the camera. If anything happened to her while filming it, at least the viewers would see firsthand the effect of their careless words.

"Don't worry, I will do it with her, so she will be fine," Sonia assured Lucy's mother, and she turned to Sonia.

"What about you? Will you be alright? They're still your family after all," Lucy's mother asked with a concerned frown.

"Sure. I'm okay," Sonia said with a small smile, feeling somewhat grateful that they were also thinking of her wellbeing.

"How are you doing today? You weren't really yourself yesterday, and we didn't want to bother you because we were aware of your breakup with the actor," Lucy's father said, and Sonia's smile widened.

"You don't have to worry. We have reconciled, so I'm okay," Sonia assured him, and his face fell.

"Ouch! Here I was thinking he was out of the picture and you could focus on me again," he said with a teasing grin, making them laugh.

"Well, I'm glad you worked things out and you're both back together now. I was really worried about you. You know, being Lucy's best friend you would always have reasons to run into him if she ends up marrying his brother..."

"I never said I was getting married to him," Lucy said with a roll of her eyes, feeling embarrassed that everyone kept speaking about her relationship with Tom with regards to marriage when they had barely dated for a week.

"Well, you will. I won't let you throw away a man who loves you the way Tom does. Can you believe that both brothers were out all night trying to find who posted the stuff on the internet? And even now he is out there trying to get evidence," Sonia told Lucas.

"That's pretty impressive. Both brothers must really love you both a lot to want to be involved in all this regardless of how it must be affecting them personally," Lucas who had remained quiet the whole time said thoughtfully.

He couldn't help thinking about how Rachel who was his fiancee was busy asking him not to get involved in his family's mess, while these men whose reputations meant a great deal to them were busy sticking out their neck for his sister and Sonia. It kind of said a lot about the kind of person Rachel was, and about his relationship with her.

Lucy looked at Lucas, and their eyes met. She didn't need him to speak further to know what he was thinking, "I guess different people love differently," Lucy said, trying to ease his mind, and the doorbell rang at the same time.

"I will see who is at the door," Lucy told them as she picked up her glasses from her dressing table, and put them on before walking out of the bedroom to the living room. It was past noon already, and she was still dressed in her pyjamas, and she honestly didn't mind.

"Isn't it beautiful how they both got involved with two brothers? I still have a hard time believing it was all coincidence," Lucy's mother said to her husband.

"Have I told you that I met their parents at the hospital?" Lucas asked, surprising their parents and Sonia who weren't aware of it.

"You mean she was trying to hook you up with Jade?" Sonia asked with a peal of amused laughter as they listened to Lucas narrate all about his session with the Hank couple.

"It's a good thing you invited them to your wedding! I can't wait to meet the wonderful couple who raised such wonderful men for my girls," Lucy's mother said happily as she imagined both Lucy and Sonia walking down the aisle on the same day while she stands as the mother of both brides. She did not doubt that their wedding would be grand.

Once Lucy opened the door she was surprised to see Amy standing there, "Hello!" Amy greeted with an apologetic smile as Lucy looked at her, taking in her tennis outfit.

"I'm sorry to barge in on you unannounced. I feared you wouldn't take my call, so I didn't bother to call," Amy said as she took in Lucy's pyjamas and disheveled hair which was not tied back as usual, "Are you fine?" Amy asked with concern.

"Yeah. Sure. Is everything okay?" Lucy asked as she held the door open for Amy to walk in. Once Amy did, she shut the door behind her.

"Yes. Everything is fine. I was at the office earlier, you know, regarding the teamwork the CEO gave us," Amy reminded her.

Lucy sighed when she remembered what Tom had done the previous day, "Oh, that! I told you that you guys didn't have to worry about it," Lucy said as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Please sit down and make yourself comfortable. Do you want coffee?" Lucy asked, and Amy shook her head as she sat down.

"No. Thanks. Let's just talk," Amy said, implying that she wanted Lucy to also sit down and talk to her.

"I already told you, it's not necessary. You all don't have to worry. I'm handling things already," Lucy said as she sat on the other couch.

Once Lucy had sat down, Amy leaned forward in her seat, "Well, it was necessary. At least right now every one of them is making an effort to quell the rumors and prove your innocence. If the CEO hadn't done what he did, I doubt they would have done their research to see if you were guilty or not."

"They're trying to quell it? How?" Lucy asked curiously.

"For starters, I asked them to publish some of the news clips from eight years ago, especially the testimony of your best friend whose family was involved, and those of some of your male classmates who were harassed by the psycho. That is part of the reason I'm here," Amy said and stood up in surprise when Lucy's parents, Lucas and Sonia walked into the living room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you had company. I can come back later," Amy apologized as she stood up, but Lucy's mother waved off her apology.

"That is nonsense. Sit down and tell us what you were just saying," Lucy's mother as she sat beside Lucy, while Lucas and Sonia went over to the kitchen to bring out the twin cane chairs.

"This is Amy, she is my secretary. Amy, these are my parents, my twin brother, and Sonia my best friend," Lucy briefly introduced them before giving Amy the go-ahead to say what she had to say.

They all listened quietly to Amy as she shared her plan with them, and by the time she was done, Lucy and Sonia exchanged a glance, "It's a good idea, thanks. But we already agreed to use my neighbor's YouTube channel. She's a blogger," Lucy explained.

"A YouTube channel? I don't think the video will receive as much attention as Opal's Magazine would," Amy pointed out.

"It will don't worry," Lucy said confidently, not willing to divulge Bryan's and Tom's plan to feature in the video to Amy. Although she was grateful to Amy, she couldn't be as trusting as she had been anymore. And she believed that a video would be more effective than a magazine.

"I think you should..."

"Or maybe my wife and I could feature on the magazine instead? We were unfairly accused of using our so-called wealth to turn the case in our daughter's favor after all," Lucy's father interjected.

"I think the public's opinion is beginning to sway already," Lucas said, raising his phone to show them the arguments which were going on on Twitter regarding the issue. While some people believed the new evidence that had surfaced on the internet regarding Lucy's innocence, there were others who still strongly believed that Lucy was guilty and was once again trying to bury the case by bringing up false evidence and they were pointing to the fact that Sonia the 'coattail climber' could not be trusted if she was involved in it.

"That reminds me, don't you think the same person might be behind both scandals? I mean it can't just be a coincidence that you are both under attack at the same time, can it? It's just too timely. If Miss Smith's scandal hadn't surfaced at this time, she would have easily been a reliable witness to prove your innocence. But now whatever she says will be discredited unless she is also able to prove that she is innocent of the allegations leveled against her," Amy pointed out, and Sonia's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

She has been so upset about her breakup with Bryan and then worried over Bryan's disappearance that she hadn't thought of it until now. Amy's theory made sense. It didn't make sense that anyone would just jump to the conclusion that her relationship with Bryan was fake simply because she broke off their engagement. Celebrities did that all the time. The only way someone could have come up with that was if they were sure beyond reasonable doubt that the relationship was fake.

Apart from Bryan, Lucy, Jeff, Mia, and Bryan's CEO she doubted that there was anyone else who knew about their false engagement. And she highly doubted that it was Lucy or Bryan who had given out such information to the press. It couldn't be the CEO either. Bryan was a major star in his agency and he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize Bryan's chances, at least he had proved how far he was willing to go and protect Bryan's career. Jeff was Bryan's manager and he had nothing to gain by doing something like this, so who could it be? Mia? Mia was like a sister to her and even though Bryan could be very annoying, she knew for a fact that both Bryan and Mia had mutual respect for each other, so who else could it be?

At that same time, Lucy's brain was working in overdrive. She could remember vividly that she had mentioned to Anita that the CEO was nice to her because of her relationship with the CEO's soon-to-be sister-in-law. It only made sense that if Anita was behind her problem, she would also have tried to find a way to remove Sonia from the picture.. But then, Anita had no idea that Sonia was going to break up with Bryan that day, so how come all the plans had fallen into place? Unless of course, she had planned to reveal that the engagement was fake and ruin their relationship, but unfortunately for her, Sonia had been fast enough to end the relationship herself, thus changing Anita's plans. The question which was now begging for an answer was how did Anita find out about the fake engagement?