Chapter 188 : The Parasites

Chapter 188 : The Parasites


STEPHEN’S POV:

The legal system is a slow, fucking exhausting joke, but today, it finally felt like the jaws of justice were snapping shut on Ryan’s pathetic neck.

We were sitting in the conference room of my mom’s law firm. The air conditioning was humming loudly, but it couldn't mask the thick tension in the room. I was sitting next to Hayden, our thighs touching under the table.

His hand was resting heavily on my knee, his thumb rubbing small circles through my jeans to keep me grounded. Across from us sat Ryan’s parents, looking like two people who had just been dragged out of a fucking car wreck.

Their high priced lawyer looked equally miserable. He kept shuffling a stack of papers, avoiding eye contact with my mom, Eleanor, who looked like an absolute goddess of vengeance sitting at the head of the table.

"We want to settle this outside of court. Today. Right now," Ryan’s dad said, his voice shaking. He looked ten years older than the last time I saw him. The smug, rich-guy attitude he usually carried was completely fucking gone.

"We are prepared to offer a substantial financial settlement. We just want this entire nightmare to be done with."

Their lawyer slid a document across the table. I glanced down at the number typed in bold black ink.

Five million dollars.

Five million fucking dollars to make the lawsuit go away, to buy our silence, and to protect what little was left of their family's trash reputation.

For a split second, the sheer amount of money made my chest tight. But then, a wave of pure, hot fury washed over me. They thought they could just throw a pile of cash at us and erase the humiliation?

They thought fifteen grand was enough to ruin my life, and five million was enough to fix it? Fuck them.

I looked at Hayden. His jaw was clenched so tight that a vein was bulging in his neck. He looked like he wanted to jump across the table and rip Ryan’s dad’s throat out.

But before either of us could say a fucking word, my mom let out a cold, sharp laugh that cut through the room like a blade. She didn't even look at the paper. She just pushed it back with one manicured finger, her expression completely ruthless.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" my mom said, her voice dropping into a deadly, quiet register. "You think you can buy your way out of this? Your psycho son violated my boys. He put their private, intimate lives on the goddamn internet for the whole world to see. He tried to extort them, he blackmailed them, and then he fucking assaulted Hayden on the steps of a federal courthouse."

"Eleanor, please," Ryan’s mother whimpered, dabbing a tissue at her eyes. "It was a mistake. Ryan wasn't in his right mind. If this goes to a final judgment, we lose everything. Our house, our savings, our entire future. Please, have some mercy.”

"Mercy?" I snapped, unable to keep my fucking mouth shut any longer. The anger just boiled over. "Where the fuck was Ryan’s mercy when he sold that tape? Where was his mercy when he tried to destroy our soccer career for a lousy fifteen grand? He didn't give a shit about our future! He wanted to fucking bury Hayden and me!"

"Stephen is right," my mom said, standing up and leaning over the table, looking down at them like bugs. "We are not settling. Not for five million, not for fifty million. We refuse every single offer you bring to this table. I don't want your fucking hush money. I want accountability. I want the whole world to see the final verdict so nobody ever thinks they can pull this kind of vile shit and get away with it."

Ryan’s dad looked terrified. "You’ll ruin us."

"Your son did that the moment he pressed the send button," my mom retorted coldly. "Get the fuck out of my office. We will see you in the courtroom tomorrow morning for the final judgment."



The next day, the courtroom was packed to the fucking brim. The media circus was in full swing outside, but inside, the atmosphere was dead silent as the judge prepared to read the final ruling.

Hayden and I sat at the plaintiff's table, our hands locked tightly together under the wood. My heart was hammering against my ribs.

Ryan was sitting across the room in a bright orange jumpsuit, handcuffed and flanked by two guards. His face was still a bruised, swollen mess from the beating Hayden had given him.

He looked totally hollowed out, staring blankly at the table like a walking corpse. He didn't look like the arrogant teammate who used to talk trash in the locker room. He looked like a beaten fucking rat.

The judge cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses as he looked over the final documents.

"In the matter of Cross and Miller versus Ryan Vance," the judge’s booming voice echoed through the room. "The court finds overwhelming evidence of intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of privacy, civil extortion, and harassment."

I held my breath, squeezing Hayden’s hand until my knuckles turned white.

"Regarding civil damages," the judge continued, "the defendant and his estate are ordered to pay the sum of fifty million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages to the plaintiffs."

A collective gasp rippled through the courtroom. Fifty million dollars. It was a staggering, astronomical amount. It meant Ryan’s family was completely wiped out. They would have to sell their house, their cars, their investments—everything they owned would be seized to pay off the debt.

They were completely, utterly broke.

But the judge wasn't fucking done yet.

"Furthermore, on the criminal charges of extortion and non-consensual pornography distribution, the defendant is sentenced to one year in a state correctional facility, with the possibility of parole after nine months, contingent on mandatory behavioral rehabilitation."

Bang.

The gavel hit the wooden block with a loud, final thud.

It was over. We fucking won.

The courtroom exploded into a flurry of movement.

Reporters rushed out the back doors to flash the breaking news to the world. Ryan’s mother let out a loud, pathetic wail, collapsing into her husband’s arms as they both realized their lives were officially ruined.

The guards grabbed Ryan by the arms, dragging him out through the side door. For a split second, right before he disappeared, he looked back at me.

His eyes were filled with tears, bloodshot, and desperate.

I didn't look away. I stared right back at him, letting him see the cold, unyielding triumph in my eyes.

‘You lost, you piece of shit,’ I thought. ‘You tried to destroy us, and you fucking destroyed yourself instead.’

As the side door clicked shut behind him, a massive weight was suddenly lifted off my chest. I turned to Hayden, and before I could even process it, he grabbed me by the jacket and pulled me into a fierce, crushing hug.

"We got him, Steph," Hayden muttered into my hair, his voice thick with a mix of relief and lingering adrenaline. "The motherfucker is going to jail. It’s over."

"Yeah," I whispered, burying my face in his neck as my mom wrapped her arms around both of us from behind. "It’s finally fucking over."

The scars from the betrayal were still there, deep and permanent under my skin.

The tape was still out there in the dark corners of the internet. But as we walked out of that courthouse, holding our heads high through the sea of flashing cameras, I knew the narrative had changed forever.

We weren't the victims of a scandalous leak anymore. We were the guys who fought back, took down the parasite, and won. And now, the soccer draft was waiting for us.