For the first time, I was at a loss for words.
Mayelle stood in front of me, looking calm as always.
But the heavy rise and fall of her chest was a testament of her anger.
She gripped her phone tightly as if she was holding onto her last shreds of patience.
"Well?" She demanded for an answer.
"It's not what it looks like." The words finally came out.
"That's the catch phrase of every guilty man Vincent."
"It really isn't what it seems." I stood by my words.
"Then what is it?" Her gaze turned sharper.
I explained.
"I did go to the bar. They approached me. I was leaving."
"And you forgot how to push people away?" She questioned.
"I did push them away." I was starting to lose my cool.
From the look on her face I could tell she doubted my words.
"Vincent, do you remember our first rule?" She asked.
I remembered it vividly.
"No lies."
"No lies." I continued. "And that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm saying the truth."
I sighed.
I'd finally found something worse than a hangover.
Mayelle's questioning.
"If you are saying the truth then why does it look like you were enjoying their company?" She still didn't believe me.
I took the phone from her and looked closer.
The angle, the positioning
Too perfect.
Too intentional.
Too preplanned.
Then something caught my eye and I froze.
The woman to my right.
She looked familiar, like I had seen her somewhere.
Not the bar.
Somewhere else, somewhere more...professional.
Then it clicked.
"Mr Russo, I'm your assigned assistant..."
Blaire Chandler
"I know her." I said.
"You what now?" I could see Mayelle's face darken.
"She was supposed to be my assistant at Alan Magazine but I chose Scout." I explained.
Mayelle asked.
"So she wants revenge?"
"That's not impossible." I responded. "But I think it's way deeper than that."
Daniel said.
"Are you suggesting it might have something to do with Ru-"
I interrupted him.
"I'm just saying it's not random."
"I'll get the team to do a proper investigation on her." Daniel volunteered.
"Tell them to dig deep." I added. "Background, contacts, everything."
"Okay." Daniel replied.
"I'm sure this is a set up." I concluded.
Mayelle questioned.
"But why would someone want to set you up? Did you offend anybody?"
"Someone's trying to distract me." I answered.
They wanted me to have enough on my plate to make me postpone my investigation.
I was sure of that.
Daniel sighed.
"That serious uhn."
I stood up from the bed and staggered a little.
Daniel moved forward to support me.
"Thanks." I said.
Daniel smiled at me.
"Anytime bro."
He finally let go of me while I paced about trying to pull pieces together.
"Prepare a press conference." I finally said.
Daniel nodded.
"I'll contact the press."
"Be sure to fix this Vincent." Mayelle's voice rang. "Because whether it's planned or not, the world will only believe what they see."
I didn't respond.
Daniel broke the heavy silence.
"And the two women."
"Find them and bring them to me."
Daniel asked.
"Should they be brought here or to your villa?"
"My villa." I answered simply.
"I want to get something in the kitchen." Mayelle said and turned towards the entrance.
She turned back to face me after she opened the door.
She said.
"Don't make things worse Vincent."
Silence reigned once again.
"I know you're saying the truth."
She paused.
"So don't let them win. Don't lose to them." She left after making her point.
She made mention of going to the kitchen like she knew her way around here.
Like she belonged here.
I scoffed.
"She really thinks she's already the lady of the house, doesn't she?"
Daniel approved.
"She fits the role."
"At least she believes me now." I said.
"We need to focus on how to get to the bottom of this and fast." Daniel turned serious.
"Schedule the press conference for tomorrow afternoon." I instructed.
"Isn't that a little too soon?" He questioned.
"It isn't." I argued. "I'll personally question Blaire and the other woman."
"Fine, I'll go gather the team." Daniel responded and made for the door.
"And Dan." I called out.
He turned to face me.
"Never mention Ruelle in front of North, the lesser she knows the better." I warned.
Daniel teased.
"Very protective of your future wife uhn."
"I want to keep as much people out of this as possible." I said with utmost seriousness.
"Whatever you say." Daniel said and finally walked out of the room.
I decided to take a quick shower and get dressed so I could go to my villa to start my own investigation.
Unknown to me fate had other plans.
I walked of the bathroom in nothing but a towel that was wrapped around my lower waist downwards.
I was drying my hair with a small towel when I heard the sound of glass breaking.
I looked around the room to see Mayelle standing near my bed, mouth agape and shards of glass littered around her leg.
"What was that?" I asked.
"I made a bowl of hangover soup and I wanted to give you but it.." She pointed towards the broken glass.
Who gave her permission to use the bowl.
She just broke my mother's favourite bowl, right in front of me.
I was about to lash out when I noticed her shifting pressure from her left leg.
I looked down and my eyes fell on her injured leg.
A shard of the glass was stuck on her feet, it probably stabbed through her leg when the glass shattered.
"A woman is like an egg, if you're not careful with her, she'll break."
My mother's words rang in my head.
I sighed and approached her, crossing the broken glass before making her sit on the bed, further away from the shards of glass.
I crouched down and took off her stilettos.
"W-what are you doing?" She asked, looking flustered.
"Just trying to make sure that aunt of yours won't come over to scold me for not taking care of her niece." I said as I pulled the first aid box out of my bedside drawer.
I opened it and took out some wool, antiseptic, iodine, bandage and plaster.
"I'll have to take out the glass." I warned her before hand.
"Hmm." She hummed in response.
The moment she replied I pulled out the shard of glass on her feet.
She groaned slightly in pain.
"Take a deep breath, it'll be over soon." I assured her.
I blew on the now open cut as I slowly applied antiseptic on it.
I didn't know where my sudden gentleness came from.
All I knew was that I wasn't comfortable seeing her in pain.
I hurriedly applied the iodine before wrapping the bandage around it and securing it with a small piece of plaster.
"Done?" She asked.
"Yh. I'll get dressed quickly so I can assist you to the living room." I offered.
"There shouldn't be need for that." She rejected my help and tried to get up herself.
I raised my left brow when she fell back on the bed after attempting to stand on her own.
"It won't hurt to accept help from others once in a while."
Just then an unwelcomed visitor barged into my room without knocking.
"Vincent, what is it I'm seeing on the headli-" my father paused when he saw Mayelle in the room.
"Morning sir." Mayelle managed to say.
My father's eye moved from Mayelle to me then back to Mayelle.
"Morning dear, I didn't know you were here." He said to her, smiling.
"About the headlines, Daniel and I are having it sorted out." I said to make him leave.
"Oh, we'll discuss this better when you come to the living room." He said before awkwardly leaving the room.
I scoffed after he left and went straight into my walk in closet, making sure to lock the door.
Since Mayelle had already seen me in just towel, going back into the bathroom would be pointless.
I had dressed in the bathroom the other time only to avoid her seeing me in towel if I came out.
When I was done I walked back into the bedroom.
"Let's go." I said, stretching out my hand.
She took it and I helped her up.
She leaned closer to me and I thought of how unbearable the pain must be for her to actually accept my help without any sort of resistance.
When we got to the living room I was surprised to see everyone present once again.
I made eye contact with Mayelle's aunt and I almost cursed out loud.
Not this woman again.