Chapter 16

Veronica sighed as she read the next article on the Sidney Gossip page and cursed in frustration out loud. She dropped the phone with a hiss and pulled at her straight black hair. She was grateful she had decided to wear it down for the day instead of a bun as she would be forced to remove the knot in the office to run her hands through it and she hated looking different in the evening when she was going home to how she came in the morning.

She removed the glasses on her face, and rubbed her eyes, her gray eyes shining with unshed tears of annoyance. She had heard of some bloggers picking up on wealthy people but in all her twenty seven years of existence, she had never experienced this and never thought it would happen to her.

She was always careful of sticking herself in scandals and wondered who was out there to get her. Who was posting all these hate rumours against her? She groaned at the bad timing. Why must it happen when she had done what her father wanted and he was finally warming up to giving her the control of the company as she wanted?

Her phone pinged with a notification and she pushed it away, certain it was another article against her. Where was Sidney getting all these ridiculous claims about her from? No one had any idea because she always claimed it was from an anonymous source at the end of each preposterous article. She rolled her eyes at how annoying bloggers could be, some of them barely verified the news they were about to post without being concerned if it was going to affect the characters in the news so far it made people click on the link and brought in the bucks for them.

Annoying lot. She hissed.

Her phone rang and she opted to ignore the call until she saw Sandra as the caller. She sighed, knowing her friend was not going to get a no as a response and was going to keep on calling till she picked up the phone. It would be better to talk now and avoid the headache she would later get if she allowed herself to be harrassed by calls.

"Hey, babe." Veronica sighed into the phone, her voice as depressed as her mood.

"Don't be like that." Sandra soothed her.

Veronica snorted. "Be like what? You know how much I hate drama and someone is getting busy all over the internet portraying me as a villian, releasing different lies about me every day and ruining my reputation."

"I reached out to Sidney."

Veronica sat upright in her executive chair. "What did she say?"

"He." Sandra corrected.

Veronica huffed. "Like I care what the gender of the annoying blogger is. Bloggers are just annoying, well, except for you, sweetheart."

Sandra chuckled. "Keep on with the flattery and I might just spill out my guts to you."

"Looks like you are hungry for compliments." Veronica laughed.

"Is that a crime?" Sandra chuckled. "Can a girl not fish for compliments?"

"Sandra, you reached out to Sidney, remember? Stay focused, please." Veronica interrupted.

"Looks like someone is getting impatient." Sandra tsked.

"As I should be, girl."

"He says he also has no idea who the person is but the person swears the stories are from a credible source."

Veronica snorted. "What sort of a flimsy excuse is that? From a credible source? Which annoying source? That I am a temptress who intentionally seduced Adam knowing that he had a girlfriend? That I trapped Adam into a marriage he didn't want using his misfortune just to get back at one of his girlfriend who I am envious of? The whole world hates me now because of what I don't even know of. I don't even know who Adam is much more who his girlfriends were and awful rumours are flying around about me." She growled. "I am going to sue that blog for defamation of character." She hissed.

Sandra breathed. "You are only going to expand the matter for other bloggers to twist. Relax, this happens to all celebrities, it will die down soon. Remember Adam and all the headlines flying around about him? The world moved on when it found another person to harrass."

Veronica broke down. "I don't want to be a victim."

"I know, right?" Sandra comforted her. "It's going to be well, dear. Sidney thinks though that the person behind the news may eventually decide to reveal who they are."

"I hope not because I will deal with whoever it is, they would be crying in relief when they get to die." Veronica threatened, growling.

Sandra laughed. "Of course, you will. Talk to you later, babes." She said and ended the call.

Veronica dropped her phone, sighed in dejection as she folded her hands on the desk and placed her head on it.

"What?" Adam roared as he slammed his phone on the desk. What was the meaning of all these? He took another peek at the news and hissed at the absurdity of it. Who were those who liked to peddle false and harmful news at the expense of others? 

His nose twisted in a snort. Veronica seduced him to get back at an enemy? He scoffed. If only they knew he had been the one to kiss her first at the bar and had suggested that they both go to his room. They had been on the influence of alcohol and lust that he doubted they both knew who was who. 

She had used his misfortune to get married to him. If someone was to be accused of that, it should be Matthew and not Veronica who hated the idea of marriage. He sighed, blowing out Ann exasperated breath.

He pressed the intercom and watched as Bruce made his way in. "Have you read the news today?"

"About Veronica? Yes, I have." Bruce nodded.

Adam groaned, wondering how she must feeling. He gasped as he feared her mood affecting the baby. Oh God, no, my baby. He turned to Bruce. "Cancel my appointment for the day." He said, picking his phone and car keys.

"Where are you going?"

"To comfort my wife." He replied, rushing out the door.

Veronica scowled as the phone rang again. She dreaded everyone she knew calling her to ask if the news was true. She picked the phone to switch it off and frowned at the unknown caller ID. She swiped the accept button and raised the phone to her ear.

"Hello," she said with uncertainty.

A high pitched feminine laugh rang in her ear. "Hi, this is Erica Kings. I believe you know of me."

Veronica shook her head. "Not at all. Who are you?"

Erica hissed. "I am Adam's ex-girlfriend. You mean he never talked of me with you?"

"He would have if you were worth talking about. I don't know why I have to listen to the stories of his ex."

"You are proud." Erica laughed.

"And you are wasting my time not telling me what this is all about." Veronica hissed.

"Have you read the articles about you?"

"Do you have something to do with it?" Veronica growled.

"No," Erica smiled. "But I know someone who has something to do with it."

"Who?" 

Erica smiled to herself. Derek would be so proud of her. She had known Veronica would be tensed and agitated by the scandal that she would agree to anything and walk by herself into her trap.

"Would you like to meet so we can discuss?"

"Where?"

Eric's smiled wider. Bait taken. "I will text you the address now." She clicked off the call.

Adam drove into the Husseys' company and raced to Veronica's office. He greeted her personal assistant and was about to rush into her office when she told him that she just left. He brought his phone out and called Veronica but she wasn't picking up. He asked if she knew where she went to but she shook her head, saying she didn't have anything scheduled in her calendar.

"Shit!" With a curse, he dashed out of the office, heading back to his car. 

He checked the garage and realized the assistant hadn't been lying. Veronica's car was not parked inside. He went back to his car, slid in and put a call through to Bruce.

"Could you please track Veronica through her phone?" He said the moment Bruce picked up. "She is not at the office and her secretary has no idea where she is." His voice broke. "I am scared."

Bruce grunted. "Calm down, Adam. Veronica is a smart lady and I doubt she would hurt herself over a scandal she knows it's not true."

"Can you get her whereabouts?"

"I'm on it already. I will send the address to you later." 

"Thanks, Bruce." Adam sniffled.

"Anytime, boy." Bruce grinned, teasing Adam to get him to loosen up and ended the call.

Veronica walked into the club, her eyes searching for a red haired lady with blue eyes based on the description Erica had sent her. A hand waved at her and she moved towards the direction, settling in the seat beside the lady.

"Hi, I am Erica." The tall, curvy redhead smiled at her.

"Veronica."

"Of course, I know that." Erica chuckled. "The whole world saw your pictures with Adam."

"Who is out to get me?"

Erica laughed. "You are straightforward. I like that. I will tell you but let's get drinks first."

Veronica nodded. The drinks were brought forward and while Veronica wasn't looking, Erica spiked her drinks. Erica took a sip of her drink and made a gesture to Veronica to do the same. She nodded and drank.

"You are being harrassed because of Adam." Erica began. "It's not really your fault."

"Adam?"

"Yes. Adam made a lot of enemies and one of them is trying to hurt you to hurt him."

Veronica frowned. That made no sense to her. "Who is that?" She asked with a yawn. She frowned, wondering why she was tired. She felt drowsy and the music made her feel like she was being sucked into a pit. 

Erica smiled as Veronica struggled to contain her yawn. The drug had worked and she was amazed herself at how fast it did. She wondered where Derek got all the bad stuffs he gave her so he could bring Adam and Veronica down.

She knew he was harassing Veronica because she had turned him down and though it should have hurt her that he hit on her another woman, she wasn't bothered as she had realized he wasn't in love with her and had just slept with her to get back at Adam.

He was a sly and jealous bastard and she was now a puppet caught in his web of wickedness as she was willing to do all he asked of her so far he kept her drug supply steady. She needed the drugs as she doubted if she could walk the runway and endure the harsh glare of the camera as her career dictated without it. Derek knew that and manipulated her with it.

She smiled as Veronica gave up the struggle and slept off, her head on the bar. She winked at the man nearby who was going to have her way with her and patted the camera in her bag with which she was going to record and take pictures of all that happened.

The world was going to love this new scandal and Adam was going to break down in tears and regret the day he threw her out of his office like trash.

"Let's do this." She said to the man who was already moving forward, lust blaring in his eyes.