020

Sophie

“I know it isn’t you, Dominic. You’re only saying that to protect Sophie but she doesn’t need your protection,” Hayes protested. “Just admit you didn’t do it, I have proof. Tell everyone it was Sophie”.

Dominic didn’t say a word. Hayes groaned. 

He was annoyed that he couldn’t get a reaction from Dominic that favored him. 

He shifted his gaze to his father who had the worst frown on his face; eyebrows furrowed, jaw clenched and lips pressed into a thin line. He had his eyes on Dominic. “Are you sure of what you say, Dominic?”

Before Dominic could response, Hayes added. “I knew that it had to be Sophie that leaked the news but I wasn’t sure and didn’t know how to go about it but Olivia did. She also has the good of the company at heart, that’s why she used your resources and found out it was Sophie that leaked the news.”

Hayes’s father’s gaze shifted to Sophie who had fear written all over her. She had gone rigid, her hands between his laps and her gaze glued to the ground. 

“Dominic is trying to cover her up instead of letting her face the consequences.”

Hayes gripped Olivia’s shoulder and pulled her to her feet. He nudged her forward. She staggered a bit before gaining her balance. “Tell them what you told me. tell them how you found out it was Sophie”.

Olivia didn’t say a word. Instead, her eyes roamed around, and she gulped. Her fingers fidgeted. 

“Do you wish to keep everybody waiting?” Hayes’s father questioned. 

“I-I”

She shook her head, as if she was repulsed by her words. 

She parted her lips and began again. “I used the resources—”

She paused and shook her head again. 

Hayes had grown impatient. 

“Say something,” He demanded. “Tell them what you told me”.

“Hayes g-gave me some r-resources to find out w-who leaked it—”

She groaned, tapping her chest to clear her throat. 

I scoffed. 

Dominic leaned forward while his hand still gripped onto mine. “Not only am I the reason the news got leaked but I’m also the reason it did not get suppressed”.

Hayes’s mother shot to her feet. 

“Is this who you wish to entrust our company with?” Hayes’s mother faced Hayes’s father while her hands gestured to Dominic. 

She had a furious expression on her face. I could tell she wanted nothing but to harm Dominic and what made it worse was the fact that Dominic didn’t look shaken at all. 

“This ungrateful bastard. He wants to ruin our company but you’re out here accusing my son”.

Hayes’s mother got no response from Hayes’s father. 

She turned to face Dominic. 

“Tell me what do you get by trying to ruin our family? Have we not given you enough? Have we not given you more than I wished we gave to an illegitimate son lie you? You do not deserve what you got yet you still wish to get the CEO position so you did all this?”

Dominic could tell she still had more to say so he let her. 

She added. “You knew the company would be affected by this news but you still went ahead to leak it”.

Her shoulders heaved up and down. 

Dominic’s lips spread into a small smile once he saw she was done talking. “The divorce case was already filed and on record. That meant it was only a matter of time before the media got wind of it through court documents, a clerk, a lawyer's loose tongue — it was inevitable.”

Everyone waited for his next words. 

Dominic used this. “So, I made a calculated decision and leaked the marriage first, not the divorce. If the public found out about the divorce first, with no prior knowledge that Hayes was even married, the immediate narrative becomes ‘billionaire heir secretly married and now discarding his sick wife for his mistress’. That's catastrophic for Laurent Holdings. Investors pull out. Board members panic. The company's moral image tanks.”

Hayes reached for his face then dragged his hand down it. He looked around and saw that no one else had anything to say. 

Worse, his father had a pleased expression across his face. He knew Hayes had already won. Everyone did. 

“But if the marriage is revealed first? The public spends time digesting that Hayes Laurent was married. They get used to Sophie's existence. Then when the divorce follows, it's no longer a shock reveal, it's just a development in a story they already know.”

His father nodded.

“I controlled the sequence of information. Not the information itself and the cherry on top, by leaking it myself through my own channels, I controlled how it was framed. Rather than a scandal breaking chaotically, it broke on my terms.”

His father nodded again.

“You agree to this?” Hayes’s mother questioned as she gestured to Dominic. She refused to let Dominic take the role she thought was rightfully Hayes’s. “If he cared so much about what the press said, he wouldn’t reveal it to the public.”

“Did you not hear what he said? That's not disloyalty. That's strategy and strategy are exactly what a Group CEO needs,” His father agreed. “He is doing good for the family”.

“Hayes—”

“Hayes took advantage of this and instead of trying to help the family, he went on an interview to ruin it this more. My decision on CEO hasn’t changed and whoever dares to change my mind, I would assume they want to ruin the company their self”.

Hayes’s mother backed down, her expressions till filled with so much anger.”

“Instead of you to think about what’s best for the company, you wish I give it to your incompetent son”.

Hayes’s mother groaned. 

Dominic squeezed my hand slightly. He hadn’t let go since.

I looked at him. 

I knew every explanation Dominic just gave was to get his father on his side and not just that but to keep doubt away. I knew all this but yet I still couldn’t understand it. 

Had he expected all this to happen? 

Was that why he wasn’t moved?