Chapter 39 VICTORIA'S RETURN
Ava's POV
I stared at the photo on my phone and my hands started shaking. It was me, Dominic, and Isabella in bed together. Someone had taken this photo through the window.
"What's wrong?" Dominic asked, looking at me.
I showed him the phone without saying anything. His face went hard when he saw it.
"Who sent this?" he asked, his voice tight.
"Unknown number."
Isabella leaned over to look. "Shit. When was this taken?"
"Looks like the first night we were together. In the villa." I said, trying to remember.
Dominic grabbed my phone and replied to the number.
"Who are you and what do you want?" he typed.
We all waited but no response came. The three dots appeared like someone was typing, then disappeared.
"They're messing with us," Isabella said.
"Or they're deciding how much to ask for," Dominic replied, his jaw clenched.
The flight back to New York was long and quiet. Everyone on the plane knew about the video by now and I could feel them looking at me when they thought I wasn't paying attention.
Marcus sat a few rows back and kept glancing over like he wanted to say something but didn't. Tom was on his laptop the whole time, probably doing damage control.
My phone kept buzzing with messages and calls and I had turned it off after the fiftieth notification as I couldn't deal with it right now.
When we landed, there were more photographers waiting. Security had to push through them to get us to the cars.
"Miss Scott, is it true you're in a relationship with your boss?"
"Are you and Isabella Martinez dating?"
"What does your mother think about the videos?"
That last question made me want to cry but I kept my face blank.
Adrian was waiting at the car and he opened the door for us and we got in quickly.
"Straight to the penthouse," Dominic told him.
"Yes sir," Adrian replied, not looking at him.
The drive through the city felt longer than usual and at the penthouse, Dominic poured us all drinks even though it was only noon.
"We need a plan," he said, handing me a glass of whiskey.
"What kind of plan?" I asked.
"For dealing with whoever has those photos. For dealing with the board. For dealing with everything." He said
"The board is going to lose their minds," Isabella said, taking a large sip of her drink.
My phone started ringing. I'd turned it back on to check messages and now it wouldn't stop. I looked at the screen and saw my mom's number.
"It's my mom," I said quietly.
"Answer it," Dominic said.
I walked to the bedroom for privacy and answered.
"Mom?"
"Ava." Her voice was cold. "I've been trying to reach you."
"I know. I'm sorry. Things have been crazy." I tried to say but she wasn't really saying anything as I had waited for some minutes in silence.
"I saw the video. Everyone saw it." She said quietly after about a minute.
"Mom, I can explain."
"Explain what? That you were having sex with some man on a beach? That the whole world watched it?" She said.
"It wasn't supposed to be public. Someone filmed us without permission." I tried to explain.
"That doesn't make it better, Ava. What you were doing in the first place is the problem." She argued.
"I'm an adult. I can make my own choices."I stated with my voice now going up without me even realizing
"Not when those choices embarrass your family. Not when they make me too ashamed to go to church." She said.
"Mom, please." I tried to talk
"I need time, Ava. I can't talk to you right now." Dh said and hung up before I could say anything else. I stood there with the phone in my hand feeling empty.
There was a knock on the door and Isabella came in.
"You okay?" she asked.
"My mom hates me." I said as I true to hold back the tears already forming in my eyes.
"She doesn't hate you. She's just shocked. She'll come around."Isabella replied.
"You don't know her. She's very religious and very traditional. This is her worst nightmare." I said
Isabella sat next to me on the bed.
"My parents were the same way. When I told them I was bisexual, they didn't talk to me for a year."
"Really?" I told her.
"Really. But eventually they realized they'd rather have me in their life than lose me over who I love. Your mom will get there too." She explained.
"I hope you're right." I said and we went back to the living room where Dominic was on the phone with someone and he sounded angry.
"I don't care what the board thinks. We're not making a statement... Because it's none of their business... Fine, set up the meeting for tomorrow."
He hung up and threw his phone on the couch.
"The board wants an emergency meeting. Tomorrow morning at eight."
"What are you going to tell them?" I asked.
"The truth. That my personal life is my own and they need to back off."he explained.
"They're going to fire me," I said.
"They can try. I own forty percent of the company. They can't do anything without my approval."
There was a knock on the penthouse door. Dominic looked at his watch, confused.
"Were we expecting someone?" he asked.
"No," Isabella said.
He went to answer door and I hear a familiar voice.
"I need to talk to Ava. Now." It was Victoria when I listened well and i stood up fast and Isabella grabbed my arm.
"Stay calm," she said quietly.
Dominic walked back in with Victoria behind him. She looked terrible. Her hair was messy, her makeup was smudged, and she was wearing sweatpants and a wrinkled shirt.
"Victoria, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"I came to talk. To explain." She looked at Dominic. "Please. Just give me five minutes."
"You have three," he said coldly.
Victoria sat down on the chair across from us. Her hands were shaking.
"I know you all hate me. I deserve it. But I need you to know something." She took a deep breath. "I'm the one who hired someone to follow you in Bahamas. I'm the one who paid them to take photos and videos."
My stomach dropped. "You what?
"You're insane," Isabella cursed.
"I know. I know I am. But here's the thing." Victoria looked at me.
"I didn't tell them to post the video. I told them to send everything to me first. Someone else leaked it."
"Why should we believe you?" Dominic asked.
"Because I have proof." She pulled out her phone and showed us text messages.
"Look. This is the investigator. I told him not to post anything yet. But someone hacked his email and took all the files."
I read the messages and turns out she was telling the truth.
"So someone else has all the photos and videos?" I asked.
"Yes. And they're threatening to release more unless you pay them." She replied.
"How much?" Dominic asked.
"Five million dollars." She said
"That's insane." I cursed under my breathe
"I know. But they have everything. Photos of all three of you together. Videos from multiple nights. If they release it all, it'll destroy you."
I felt sick as this was so much worse than I thought.
"Who is it?" Isabella asked. "Who's blackmailing us?"
"I don't know. They're using encrypted emails and burner phones and my investigator tried to trace them but couldn't." She replied.
"Why are you telling us this?" Dominic asked, suspicion clear in his voice.
Victoria looked down at her hands.
"Because I'm broke and desperate and I realized that destroying you won't fix my life." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
"And because I still care about you. Even after everything."
"Get out," Dominic said quietly.
"Please, I'm trying to help."
"You caused this. You hired someone to invade our privacy. And now you want credit for warning us?" He said and was aired shouting.
"I made a mistake. I'm sorry." She apologized
"Sorry doesn't fix anything. Now get out before I call security." He barked.
Victoria stood up slowly. She looked at me one more time.
"I really am sorry, Ava. For everything." She said slowly and then she left.
We all sat there in silence after she was gone.
"Do you believe her?" Isabella finally asked.
"I don't know," Dominic said. "But we need to find out who's blackmailing us."
"How?" I asked.
"Tom. He can trace anything. I'll have him look into it."
My phone buzzed again and it was another message from the unknown number.
"You have 48 hours to decide. Pay up or I release everything." The message read and under the message was another photo. This one was of me with Adrian in the sauna. The angle was perfect, showing exactly his finger right into my clit.
"Oh God," I whispered.
Dominic took the phone and looked. His face went dark.
"Adrian?" he said quietly.
"It was before we agreed to be open. I was confused and hurt and he was there." I said
"I don't care about that. I care that someone filmed it." He handed the phone to Isabella.
"We need to go to the police," she said after seeing it.
"With what proof? Anonymous messages and threats? They won't do anything." He replied
"So what do we do?" I asked
"We pay. We get the files and destroy them." He said now looking directly at me
"Five million dollars?" I asked and he shook his head in affirmation.
There was another knock on the door and Dominic already looked like he might lose it.
"Who now?" he said, walking to answer it but yhis time it was Marcus.
"I'm sorry to show up unannounced," Marcus said, coming in.
"But I think I know who's blackmailing you." He said and we all turned to look at him.
"Who?" Dominic asked.
"It's someone from inside the company. Someone who had access to Victoria's investigator files before they got leaked."
"How do you know that?"Dominic asked
"Because I just got a message too. Threatening to release photos of me and Ava unless I pay them two million dollars." Marcus said and we all looked at each other surprised.
"Looks like it. They're probably going to hit Isabella next." He said and as if on cue, Isabella's phone buzzed and when she looked at it and her face went pale.
"Well. That answers that question," she said, showing us her screen.
"You have something I want. I have something you don't want the world to see. Let's make a deal."
We all sat there looking at each other.
"We need to find out who this is," Dominic said. "Before they destroy everything."