His mouth turned down.
“I shouldn’t have said those things yesterday. I didn’t mean—”
“Liar!”
“Lexi, please,” he begged. “I’m sorry.”
I almost,almost, wanted to forgive him and run into his arms.
But like Grayson said, I needed to stop being so naïve.
I took off my other shoe and threw it at him. “You like to descend from your tower occasionally on a whim and shower us peasants with fancy presents so you can lie to yourself that you’re not really that bad, that you’re not really a monster. But when shit hits the fan, spoiler alert, you’re just daddy’s little boy. Your mother is right about you, and if I were her, I wouldn’t want you in my life either. I should have taken a page out of her book.”
“Fuck you, Lexi,” he roared sweeping the monitor, computer, and piles of papers off his desk onto the slate floor with a crash.
“So you admit it!” I shouted jumping up and down and pointing at him. “You admit it. We did have sex. Stop being a hypocrite and fire yourself.”
Marius opened the door to the office, flanked by a security guard. In the background, another security guard was already escorting Anthym out.
“He admitted it,” I shrieked at Marius. “He was sleeping with me. Fire him.”
Marius hesitated and looked to Grayson.
“Get her out of here,” Grayson said coldly. “Ms. Collins is banned from the premises.”
Marius waved the security guard in.
“Joel, you can’t arrest me,” I said through the sobs. “We play foosball together, and I made you banana nut muffins.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Lexi,” he said, looking guilty, as he approached me.
“I’m suing,” I yelled.
“No, you’re not,” Grayson said, corporate mask snapping into place. “It’s your word against mine.”
“You think people are going to believe you’re not just like your father?” I spat.
“Fuck you,” he carefully enunciated.
Marius positioned himself in between me and the CEO.
“Once everyone calms down, Ms. Collins,” Marius told me as Joel forced my hands behind my back, “I’d like to hope that we can all come to an agreement about a settlement. We’ll contact you, or you can have your lawyer contact us.”
“You can’t pay me off,” I shrieked at Grayson. “I cannot be bought.”
“You’re acting like a toddler,” he said as I threw myself onto the ground while Joel huffed and puffed.
“Fuck me,” Marius muttered.
“You’ll take the settlement,” Grayson continued snidely. “You’re terrible with money, and you need to pay off your credit card debt.”
“Grayson,” Marius said, “shut the hell up.”
“Ms. Lexi, please,” Joel begged. “Just don’t make a scene.”
But a scene had been made, lit, and was making its Broadway debut.
Everyone on the floor below was looking up at the mezzanine. Several people had cameras out.
