Chapter 13
Clarke and Lexa were talking for more than two hours but still didn’t have a real plan.
Lexa looks at her watch as she gets up from the couch and says “I am sorry Clarke but I have to go to work now. It’s almost 8am and I am sure hell is still breaking out there. I will give you a call when I have new information about all of this.”
Clarke gets up as well but kisses Lexa before she disappears through the door. As Lexa walks down the stairs she is wondering why there’s so much noise on the street. She opens the door and the only thing she sees is lights flashing right in her face and the shouted questions of at least 15 journalists that have been waiting in front of Clarke’s apartment. How could they found out where she lives? Lexa is pushing a few of them away to get to her car, she starts it and guns the engine what scares a few of them, so they take a few steps back. She is driving with at least 40mp/h through the city until she reaches the building of her company. The journalists were waiting for her there as well. She goes up to her office and her secretary jumps up as she sees her.
“Ms. Woodson thank the lord you’re finally here. I have arranged an appointment with your lawyers and some other people who want to see you immediately. They are already waiting in your office.”
“Okay, thank you so much Laura. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Please take the rest of the day off. I am going to be quite busy today and I will handle everything myself.” Lexa says with a soft voice.
“Thank you Ms. Woodson. If you need anything call me though.” her secretary answers and returns to her desk as Lexa opens the door of her office.
There are at least 7 people in the room all sitting on chairs and on the couch.
“Ladies and Gentlemen I am sorry I am late. I heard you all want to talk to me immediately, so let’s sit together and think how we are going to solve this misery.” Lexa says in her cold voice that she always has when it comes to business. Almost everybody starts talking at the same time and Lexa doesn’t understand a word one of them is saying. “Please! Calm down. Nothing has happened yet. We still got time. Anderson, could you find out anything about who gave the press this information?” Lexa asks even though she was already 100% sure who was behind all this but she had to be sure about it.
A pretty, young man with dark skin rises from the couch and says “I could call in a favour of one of the journalists who works at a tabloid magazine who published this story and he told me that a woman named ‘Costia Chase’ has called them two days ago.”
“As I thought, thank you very much Anderson.” Lexa replies. “Jackson, what do you think we should do consider our legal possibilities here?” Lexa asks and turns to a red-headed woman sitting near her desk.
“Well Ms. Woodson, I have been advised by my fellow lawyers that it would be rational to get a restraining order for this Costia Chase. With this, you would make sure that she is at least not able to come near you or manipulate any further operations. Plus it would be a statement that you are not connected to her anymore in any relation.” The woman says pretty fast.
“I like it. Good idea. You think you can get this done quickly?” Lexa asks her.
“Of course Ms. Woodson. I will start right away. Anderson, I will need you as well.” She says, gets up and her and the other guy leave the room.
“And what can I do for the rest of you?” Lexa asks turning to the people left in the office.
“We have to discuss how that will affect the reputation of this company. Me and my PR team think that it would be the smartest move if you live broadcasted a video statement, that shows people how this disaster is not affecting the way we are doing business.” says an older man who is standing in front of her desk. Lexa doesn’t answer right away but thinks about it for a few seconds. It does seem like the smartest thing to do. To convince the public that those stories are all lies is the hardest part about it.
“Alright, I will do it. Get me about 5-10 broadcast time at every big TV News channel by the end of next week. I will write my statement myself.” Lexa agrees and so the last 5 people are busy with taking notes and typing into their phones as they make their way out of her office.
Once everybody was gone she has a moment to breathe. Lexa rises from her big chair and walks to the glass walls behind her that give her a view over half Chicago. She lets her thoughts wander for a few moments. This is not how she wanted things to turn out, she had it all figured out, was more or less happy with her life and then this happens. But this would not stop her, she didn’t come all this way to break now. She felt stronger than ever and when all of this was over nothing could ever stop her. She is 26 and is leading one of the most successful businesses in the world. She will not let anybody hurt the people she loves nor herself. They will see that it was a mistake to do this. She gets back to her laptop and starts to answer Emails, return calls, send out messages to everybody to inform them about what was really going on and starts to write her statement for the live broadcast.
So, the days pass by without any progress but at least things are not getting worse right now. Lexa has informed Clarke about the actions she is going to take now against Costia and advised her not to leave the house unless it’s necessary. Lexa is just about to leave her office on Friday as the red-headed woman comes towards her.
“Oh, Ms. Woodson I am happy that you’re still here. We got the restraining order for Costia Chase. It went through two hours ago.” She says and hands Lexa a bunch of papers with all the information on them.
“That’s great! Thank you very much Jackson. Good job!” Lexa says in a happy tone and the woman starts to smile.
While Lexa gets in the elevator she is reading the documents her lawyer just gave her. Costia is not allowed to come closer than 150ft near her or the building of her company. That is going to help a lot. Lexa will make this go viral, then Costia will see what happens when she crosses the line. The brunette arrives at the parking garage, gets in her car and drives home. She needs to relax for a few hours, this week has been hell for her. She is going to cook herself something nice and maybe call Clarke for a few minutes and she will feel a little better. As Lexa arrives at home she unlocks the door and walks immediately into the bedroom to change her clothes. She puts on grey sweatpants and a black v-neck shirt before she gets into the kitchen to start cooking. She is starving after such a long day with barely any breaks. Lexa takes her food as it’s ready and sits in front of her 60-inch TV watching Family Guy. This is the only ‘mainstream’ show that Lexa can watch because she doesn’t have to think while she watches it and that is exactly what she needs right now.
She has been watching 3 episodes as she suddenly hears a weird noise at the door. Lexa turns around and listens carefully. Somebody is at the door and her housekeeper is not supposed to be here today she knew that. So, Lexa gets up and walks quietly into the kitchen, reaches in one of the drawers and pulls out a P-99 she stores there. She gets close to the door as it suddenly opened and somebody walks in.
“Stop!” Lexa yells and points the gun right at the person who just entered her house. It is Costia who just freezes. “Costia?! What the hell?! What are you doing here?” Lexa shouts but lowers the gun.
“Just because you’re too chicken shit to let me talk to you, you got a restraining order for me?” Costia yells and walks towards Lexa, who takes a few steps back.
“If I call the cops now you’re going to jail! The order went through this after noon. You are legally not even allowed to be on this block!” Lexa warns her.
“Well, then what are you waiting for? You are just angry because I told everybody the dirty games that you are playing when you are not sitting behind your stupid desk! Everybody thinks the sophisticated Lexa Woodson has no secrets, well I am sure now everybody will realise what a fucked up person you really are!” Costia screams.
Lexa is taking a few more steps back from her while saying “You are mad! What’s in it for you? We were both living our lives, why do you care what I do? Why did you have to this?”