Ruin The Billionaire

Lilly’s POV

I stabilized a few minutes later. There were pictures of me on a full page, all kinds. Me entering the so called whore house, me kissing two men, dancing with men and women. There was one of me in bed with a man but thankfully I was still wearing my clothes. That was the only saving grace.

“What is all this?” I asked. An ache had developed in my head. I could process what I was seeing. This was no doubt the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I thought of my relatives, who were probably glad they kept their distance from me.

I ripped the paper into pieces.

“That will not solve anything.”

Why, why me?

I think it’s Jake Rylland,” Leah said. “I don’t know why some random guy would do this to you and hire a reporter to document it.”

“That sly bastard. I only reported what was true about him. I should have reported the kidnapping. If I do now, they will say I’m trying to ruin his name because mine is ruined.”

“That’s not the worst.”

“What could be worse than that?”

“I think you might get a suspension from work. The paper may have to distance itself from you for a while until this isn’t fresh in public minds anymore. People on social media have branded you a liar. They done believe you anymore because they think you’re a prostitute. That you have nothing to lose so made up stuff about Jake. You’re the bully in public eyes now.”

I could believe how things had suddenly gone downhill. My life went from seeming perfect to one big disaster in a few hours. I missed the days when I was not famous and could report on anything in peace, then get my payment. Life was so much better.

Famous people always say that fame is not what it’s cracked up to be. Fame is not some amazing, beautiful thing that instantly makes your life better. We never listen to those people. We still crave fame. We do whatever possible to get it. It’s not until we are famous and unhappy that we see fame in its real capacity, the good and the bad side.

“I can’t believe all this happened. Like I was having such a great time yesterday, I was shining but now my career is suddenly over.”

“It’s not yet over. We shall find a way to fix it.”

“Unless Jake admits what he has done, there’s no other way. I’m pretty sure that s. o. b will not do it. He wants to discredit me as much as possible.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I don’t understand why he’s so mad against you,” Leah said. “It’s beginning to seem like the golden boy image was really important to him. How this managed to stay a secret is what I don’t understand. We all know billionaire secret parties exist where they’ll do all sorts of things. How did no one fail to slip that Jake was wild as the rest.”

“You and me both. I don’t understand why he’s so worked up over things that are normal for young billionaires. It’s not like my expose made everyone start hating him. Instead it won him popularity among women who like the bad boy cliché.”

Right then the door opened and Athena Morgan walked in. The anxiety which had gone returned in full swing. I could handle reproaches from Leah but things were different with Athena. Having finally got her to notice me, I had screwed up and ruined everything.

“Lilly, I can’t express just how disappointed I am in you. How on earth could you let something like this happen? Leah told me you were running around with a man you barely even knew. Didn’t you learn anything from your stalking and final expose of Jake Rylland? It doesn’t matter who you are. As long as you are a bit famous, there’s always a chance that someone will stalk you.”

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea that something like this would happened. I should have known that Ian or whoever his name might be was too good to be true. I didn’t see any connection between him and Jake, but it was right there in my face. It was my first time to see both of them at the bar. And that fight. It was all fake.”

“Okay, I don’t want to listen to anyone crying right now. Reserve your tears for when I’m gone. I just came to inform you that you’re suspended for a month, after which we will see if we should reinstate you.”

“You can’t do this to me. You know I was framed.”

“But the public doesn’t. Public opinion is more important than my personal opinion. Don’t worry, you can work on your non urgent programs while at it. This is not that harsh. I could fire you but I will not do that because you are a very valuable member of our team. When you get back, we can take over the world together.”

“It’s alright. Thank you for not firing me.”

“You stay strong, and avoid the wrong parts of town. Now, Leah please send me that draft about Melon Hays. I need to look through it before one. I have a meeting thereafter.” She strode towards the door.

“Will do,” Leah said, immediately rebooting her computer.

Standing up, I went and stood behind her. “Please hurry and send her. I need a favour.”

“What is it?”

“I want to look up Ian and my phone is nearly dead. I also don’t want to go to my workstation. I will pick up my stuff when everyone is gone.”

“Okay,” Leah attached the document, wrote a short email body and sent it to Athena. “Done. Now let’s find out who the hell this Ian is. I have a feeling it’s going to be hard.”

“Look up Ian and Jake.”

Nothing came up except photos of some random people called Ian and Jake. We scrolled through a number of pages. Jake Rylland and Ian did not give any results either. We looked and looked but didn’t see the Ian we were looking for.

“Look up Jake Rylland’s friends.”

“Do you think he’d actually use his friends for a job like that?”

We looked through his friends pictures and nothing came up so we gave up.

“I’m just gonna go home and sleep. This sucks. I’ll come back for my things later.”

“No need. I will bring them to you.”

“Thank you so much.”

“What are friends for?”