Chapter 41 COMFORT AND CONFUSION
Ava's POV
Back at the penthouse I couldn't stop thinking about what Ryan had said and the text message threatening to expose Dominic to the police kept flashing in my mind every time I blinked.
Isabella went straight to the kitchen to make tea while I sat on the couch staring at nothing and trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.
My mom wouldn't talk to me, the board wanted us fired, someone was blackmailing us for millions, and now Ryan was saying Dominic might be involved in something illegal.
It was too much all at once and I felt like I was drowning.
The door opened and Dominic walked in looking exhausted, his tie was loose and his hair was messy like he'd been running his hands through it.
"How's your mom?" he asked immediately, coming over to sit next to me.
"She doesn't want to see me, she basically said I'm not her daughter anymore."
He pulled me close and I let myself sink into him because even with everything swirling in my head I still felt safer when he was near.
"She'll come around," he said quietly, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
"Everyone keeps saying that but you don't know her, she's stubborn and she meant every word."
Isabella came back with three mugs of tea and handed them out before sitting in the chair across from us.
"What did the board say after I left?" I asked Dominic.
"They're giving us until tomorrow to resign or they'll force a vote to remove us, and they have the numbers to do it."
"So we're done."
"Not necessarily, I told them if you two go then I go and I'll take my forty percent stake and start a competing company."
"You can't do that," Isabella said, "Hayes International is your life."
"You two are more important than a company."
I pulled back to look at him and the sincerity in his eyes made my chest ache but Ryan's words kept echoing in my head.
"Dominic, I need to ask you something and I need you to be completely honest with me," I said slowly.
He tensed slightly, "okay."
"Are you involved in anything illegal, anything with offshore accounts or shell companies?"
The color drained from his face and that told me everything I needed to know before he even opened his mouth.
"Who told you about that?" he asked carefully.
"So it's true."
"Ava, it's complicated."
"No, complicated is what we've been dealing with, illegal is something else entirely," I stood up and moved away from him because I needed space to think.
"Let me explain," he said, standing too.
"Please do because right now I'm trying to understand how the man I love could be involved in something that could land him in prison."
Isabella looked between us confused, "what's going on?"
I told her what Ryan had said about the offshore accounts and the payments and she looked at Dominic with wide eyes.
"Is this true?" she asked him.
He ran his hands through his hair again and paced to the window before turning back to us.
"Yes, there's an offshore account and yes, I've been making payments through it but it's not what you think."
"Then what is it?" I demanded.
"It's protection money, I've been paying someone to keep quiet about something that happened years ago, something that could destroy the company if it got out."
"What happened?"
"I can't tell you that, not yet, but I promise you it's nothing illegal that I did, I'm just paying to protect people who don't deserve to have their lives ruined."
"That's not an answer Dominic."
"It's the only one I can give you right now."
I sat back down because my legs felt shaky and this was too much on top of everything else.
"The blackmailer knows about this doesn't they," Isabella said quietly, "that's why they're threatening to go to the police."
"Probably," Dominic admitted.
"So we pay them," I said, "we pay whatever they want and make this go away."
"It's not that simple, if we pay them now they'll just keep asking for more and we'll never be free of it."
"So what do we do?"
"We find out who they are and we stop them."
My phone rang and I looked at the screen to see it was Maya calling.
"Hey," I answered, putting it on speaker.
"Ava where are you, I've been trying to reach you all day," her voice sounded stressed.
"I'm at the penthouse with Dominic and Isabella, what's wrong?"
"I need you to come to my apartment right now, it's important and I can't talk about it over the phone."
"Maya what's going on?"
"Just come, please, and come alone."
She hung up before I could ask anything else and I looked at Dominic and Isabella.
"I should go," I said.
"Not alone," Dominic replied immediately.
"She said alone and she sounded scared, I need to see what this is about."
"Then I'm coming with you and waiting outside."
I didn't have the energy to argue so I just nodded and we took the car with Adrian driving while Isabella stayed at the penthouse.
The drive to Maya's apartment in Brooklyn was quiet and I kept checking my phone waiting for another threatening message but nothing came.
When we pulled up outside her building Dominic kissed me.
"Call me if anything feels off," he said.
"I will."
I got out and walked up to Maya's apartment on the third floor and knocked on her door, she opened it immediately and pulled me inside quickly.
"What's going on?" I asked as she locked three separate locks behind me.
"Sit down," she said, and her hands were shaking.
I sat on her couch and she sat across from me wringing her hands together.
"Maya you're scaring me, what happened?"
"I did something really stupid and now I don't know what to do," she said and tears started forming in her eyes.
"Whatever it is we can fix it."
"I don't think we can," she pulled out her phone and showed me a text message from an unknown number.
It was a photo of her and Marcus together in what looked like his apartment and they were kissing.
"When was this taken?" I asked.
"Last week, I ran into him at a bar after you left for Bahamas and we got drunk and one thing led to another and we slept together."
"Okay so you hooked up with Marcus, that's not the end of the world."
"There's more," she scrolled to show me another photo, this one of them in bed together and it was clearly taken without their knowledge.
"Someone was in his apartment?"
"Or they have cameras set up, I don't know but look at the message that came with it."
I read the text below the photos.
"Tell Ava to pay up or these go public along with everything else we have on her and her friends."
My blood went cold, they were using Maya to get to me.
"I'm so sorry," Maya said, crying now, "I didn't know this would happen, I didn't know someone was watching."
I moved to sit next to her and put my arm around her.
"This isn't your fault, someone is targeting all of us and they're using whoever they can."
"What do I do?"
"Nothing, you don't respond and you don't give them anything, Dominic and I are handling this."
"But if these photos get out Marcus could lose his job and I'll be dragged into all of this with you."
"I know and I'm sorry you got pulled into this mess."
We sat there for a while with her crying and me trying to figure out who could possibly know about all of us and have access to everyone's private moments.
"There's something else," Maya said after she calmed down a bit.
"What?"
"Marcus told me something when we were drunk, something about Adrian."
My stomach dropped, "what about Adrian?"
"He said Adrian isn't who you think he is, that he's been working with someone to gather information on Dominic and everyone close to him."
"Working with who?"
"He didn't say but he made it sound like Adrian has been the one feeding information to whoever's blackmailing you."
I stood up fast, my mind racing, Adrian had access to everything, he drove us everywhere, he knew our schedules, he could easily plant cameras or follow us without being suspicious.
"I need to go," I said, pulling out my phone to call Dominic.
"Be careful," Maya said.
I ran down the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator and burst out onto the street where Adrian was standing by the car waiting.
He smiled when he saw me but something about it looked different now that I knew what I knew.
"Everything alright Miss Scott?" he asked, opening the back door.
"Where's Dominic?" I asked, not getting in.
"He went for a walk around the block, said he needed to clear his head, he should be back any minute."
I looked down the street but didn't see him anywhere and alarm bells started going off in my head.
"Which way did he go?"
"That way," Adrian pointed left, "is something wrong?"
"Yeah, everything's wrong," I said and started walking in the direction he pointed.
"Miss Scott wait," Adrian called after me but I didn't stop.
I walked fast down the street looking for Dominic and trying to call him at the same time but it went straight to voicemail.
I turned the corner and saw him up ahead talking to someone and as I got closer I saw who it was.
It was Sarah Kim from accounting and she was handing him something that looked like a folder.
I slowed down and watched from a distance as Dominic looked through whatever was in the folder and his face went pale.
Sarah said something I couldn't hear and he grabbed her arm roughly.
"Dominic!" I called out, walking toward them.
He looked up startled and let go of Sarah immediately and she took that moment to run off in the opposite direction.
"What was that about?" I demanded when I reached him.
"Nothing, just work stuff," he said but he was hiding the folder behind his back.
"Don't lie to me, not after everything, what did she give you?"
He hesitated for a long moment before finally showing me the folder and inside were photos, dozens of them, of me and Adrian in the sauna, of Dominic and Isabella together, of Marcus and Maya, of all of us in compromising positions.
"Where did she get these?" I whispered.
"She's the one who's been blackmailing us," he said quietly, "Sarah Kim has been working with someone to gather evidence and destroy all of us."
"Working with who?"
Before he could answer Adrian appeared next to us breathing hard like he'd been running.
"Sir, we need to leave now," he said urgently, looking around nervously.
"Why?" Dominic asked.
"Because the person Sarah's working with just sent me a message, they know you found out and they're not happy about it," he showed us his phone with a message that made my blood run cold.
"You have one hour to transfer the money or I release everything to the press and the police, and Adrian, since you've outlived your usefulness, I'm releasing the photos of you and Ava too."
I looked at Adrian and he looked genuinely scared.
"You knew," I said slowly, "you knew about all of this."
"I can explain."
"You've been helping them this whole time."
"No, I was forced to, they have something on me, something that could destroy my life if it got out."
"What could they possibly have?"
He looked at Dominic and then back at me.
"I'm not really Adrian Vale, my real name is Adrian Chen, I'm Sarah's brother.”