Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Carson
A Little Earlier in the Day
I appreciated Asia agreeing to meet me at the office.
I didn’t want to do any work until tomorrow, so I didn’t bother going up to my floor.
Instead, I told the receptionist to bring her to the conference room I was in.
Since I didn’t plan for this to take long, I agreed to meet Pops at the country club.
He’d gotten to that comfortable stage in his retirement where all he wanted to do was enjoy his wife and his life.
I admired that and couldn’t wait to get to that point either, but I was even more excited about spending my days with Venus and creating new experiences for us to share.
Just thinking about her had a smile spreading my lips.
We’d just spent a week together and I was missing her already.
I’d never been the kind of man that felt closer to a woman while we were separated.
Our time apart helped me think about my feelings for her and the plans I had for us, but I loved being in my woman’s presence.
I thought about all the ways I could make our relationship official as I waited for Asia to arrive.
After the intercom buzzed, I lifted my head and noticed her walking down the hall with Quartney guiding her.
There was a time I got excited about seeing Asia.
Now, I was ready to get this over with so I could be done with her.
I stood when she opened the door, and before I could open my mouth to speak, she was rushing in pleading her case.
“I know I was wrong, but I can explain.”
“Nothing you can say will make this right but go ahead.”
Her shoulders sagged as she plopped down in a seat at the conference table. I didn’t bother to sit back down, opting instead to walk around it so I’d be closer to her.
“I didn’t plan on telling Dru about the baby.
When he made it clear he wasn’t going to leave his wife for me, I thought that was the end of us.
I felt like he’d want nothing to do with the baby, and I was right.
He did offer me ten thousand dollars if I claimed another man was the father of my baby.
“His wife was suspicious because of the rumors, and her sister saw me out. I confirmed that I was pregnant when she saw my belly, and she immediately asked if Dru was the father. I panicked and said it was you, so he told me to stick with that lie. It was only supposed to be long enough for his wife to believe the baby isn’t his, then I could stop. ”
As irritated as I was, I couldn’t help but chuckle as I sat on the table next to her. She hung her head and avoided my eyes in shame.
“So let me make sure I got this straight,” I said, loosening my tie. “For ten thousand dollars, you agreed to hide the truth for a nigga who lied to you, cheated with you, and discarded of you, thereby throwing me under the bus in the process.
“You’ve spun a false narrative that has been watched by seven thousand people on Facebook and two hundred and thirty six thousand on TikTok.
You’ve not only slandered me but risked my reputation, resulting in a stain on my company’s name.
My firm has gone public. People have stock in my shit.
Since you started with your bullshit rumors, those numbers have plummeted. ”
She finally looked up at me. “Carson, I didn’t—I wasn’t—I’m sorry.”
“You think I give a fuck about your sorry? You are sorry, but what does that do for me?” Because I felt my anger rising, I stood and began to pace, needing the negative energy to flow through me.
“I could sue you for defamation and paternity fraud, and that lil ten K will come straight to my pockets along with whatever the fuck else you got.”
“Carson, please!” she yelled, hopping from the seat. “I’ll take all the videos down and never mention you again. Just don’t take this to court.”
“I don’t trust you anymore. You’re a liar. You’ve proven that over and over again.”
“Then make me sign something. I promise I will never mention you again. If his wife still thinks he’s the dad he’ll just have to figure something else out, but I give you my word. I promise I will never say my baby is yours again.”
I’d planned to have her sign something anyway, so I was glad she’d mentioned that.
Damage had been done to our stock, but no clients had mentioned anything about what she’d said yet.
Personally, my life and choices had nothing to do with the firm.
When it came down to our stock and the reputation of the firm for older clients, the board, and investors, they cared more about what partners and employees did while off the clock.
For the amount of money they put into our firm, they wanted to make sure it was being run by people of integrity and respect.
If you didn’t do well by your wife and kids, they didn’t believe you’d do well by people you barely knew.
While it wasn’t that black and white in my situation, I understood where they were coming from.
I’d already prepped a public statement and set up an emergency meeting with the board to make them aware of what was truly going on, but I wanted Asia to sign the paperwork first.
It was a standard NDA that would keep her from talking about me, our relationship, or anything I’ve said and done for her before, but it also had a clause that she had to sign and initial saying I wasn’t the father of her child and that the claims she’d made on social media were false.
I made sure she understood the legalese at the bottom that said if she mentioned me again, she’d be sued for defamation and paternity fraud.
Once she signed, I told her to get the fuck out of my firm and to pray we lost no investors or clients over her bullshit.
I thought Asia’s fear would be the most expressive display of emotion I’d see today, but when I made it to Venus’s penthouse and found her in a puddle of tears, I quickly realized that wouldn’t be the case.
When she didn’t speak, I took the papers out of her hand.
She had disassociated, and I needed to know what had her staring at the wall while tears continued to run down her cheeks.
It didn’t take much time at all for me to process what I was reading.
Emotional distress—$100,000
Breach of verbal contract—$100,000
Intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress—$250,000
Punitive damages—$500,000
Repayment of all expenses for the canceled wedding—$300,000
This petty ass nigga was suing her.
Now I’d threatened to sue Asia, but that was really just to get her to agree to stop spreading her lies.
I wouldn’t have actually taken her to court unless it affected my firm.
Trevor, however, had wasted no time getting an attorney to try and build a case against Venus.
There was no way in hell he thought I was going to let him get a million dollars out of her, or any amount for that matter.
At the most, I could see a judge agreeing that Venus pay for some of the wedding expenses, but if Trevor verbally or contractually agreed to pay for it, she wouldn’t even be responsible for that.
Well, she wouldn’t be responsible for anything financially because I’d take care of it, but still.
“Sunshine,” I called softly, gently gripping her chin. I tilted her head and forced her eyes to lock with mine. “Can you hear me?”
Her eyes blinked rapidly and brows wrinkled as she looked at me. She’d just let me in yet was looking like she didn’t even know I was here.
“Carson?”
“I’m here, baby.”
“Can you help me,” she pleaded, voice breaking as she sobbed. “P-please. I can’t pay him that. I got it, but if I paid him that, I’d have nothing. Please.”
The more she pleaded, the more my heart ached.
“Shh, you won’t have to pay him a motherfucking thing,” I assured her, pulling her into my arms as she cried harder. “And you don’t have to ask. Of course I will help you.”
“I can’t believe he’s doing this to me,” she cried, holding me tighter as I carried her to her bedroom. I tossed the papers on the table in the living room on the way. “This hurts. I never would’ve done something like this to him if the roles were reversed. Ever!”
I usually prided myself on being able to say the right thing, but in this moment, I didn’t know what the fuck to say.
Several things ran through my mind, but they were mostly things I wanted to say to her bitch ass ex.
I remained silent until we were in her room.
After I undressed her, I took my clothes off and got in bed.
I wanted to handle this immediately, but I felt like she needed me here right now more than anything else.
“I know this hurts. I know there’s nothing I can say to take that emotional pain away.
Regardless of how the relationship ended, you trusted him, so I understand you feeling betrayed by his actions.
This isn’t the man you loved. This is a man with a bruised ego.
He’s not doing anything but trying to make you pay—literally—because he knows he has no other way to hurt you.
” When her head lowered, I lifted it by cupping her cheeks.
“I won’t let him hurt you this way either. Okay?”
Sniffling, she nodded. “Okay,” she said just above a whisper. “Thank you, babe.”
Smiling, I gave her a tender kiss. “I’m sorry. I feel like this is my fault. If I would have left you alone—”
“Absolutely not.” Her hands wrapped around my wrists.
“I’d pay any amount of money to be away from him, and I’d double it to keep you in my heart and life.
He’s an immature child who’s acting out because he didn’t get his way.
My feelings are hurt but I’ll be okay. I still don’t regret leaving his ass.
In fact, this stunt is just further confirmation that I made the right choice. ”
I was glad she felt that way, and already, she was starting to sound and look like herself.
I sent the crew a message in our group chat so we could strategize the quickest way to end this.
A part of me wanted to beat his ass and deal with the assault charge that I knew would come, but since Asia had already put eyes on me, this wasn’t something I could handle myself.
As Venus rested against me, I massaged her scalp until she fell asleep. I took that time to check and see what my brothers had been saying.
Kaos: Bet. I blocked the time on my schedule so I’ll be there.
Zander: Yall can just let me know when we pulling up on the nigga.
Tristan: As much as I wouldn’t mind tagging that ass, we already in a little heat because of Asia.
Me: That’s what I was thinking. I was going to go to try and find him today but changed my mind.
Tristan: Ima call Tyler. He gone beat his ass.
I laughed quietly. There was no doubt in my mind that Tyler, Taj’s brother, would do just that.
The man didn’t care who wanted smoke—he gave it with no hesitation.
In fact, Tyler didn’t bring smoke; he brought fire.
And it was always worse if it was in the defense of a woman.
Even if all Tristan did was tell him Trevor was trying to sue Venus because she left him for me, he’d be ready to pull up.
Kaos: Now that’s a good idea. Tell that hot headed nigga to wear a mask. He don’t give a fuck about his face being seen!
What made Kaos’s statement even funnier was he’d beat Serenity’s ex up and hadn’t owned up to it yet because he had on a mask.
Never mind the fact we knew him, his body frame, and tattoos.
As soon as we saw the video and heard his voice, we knew it was him, that’s why he had ol’ boy’s neighbor take the video down as quickly as he did.
Zander: he actually likes that shit
My head shook as I laughed. I told Tristan he didn’t have to do that, but if Tyler was with it, I wouldn’t stop him. Trevor needed to be punished, and if I didn’t have some drama going on myself, I’d gladly be the one to do it.
Only seven minutes passed before Tristan called to tell me Tyler was more than willing to pay Trevor a visit once we had an address on him.
I thanked him and told him to relay the gratitude before sending Gino Trevor’s name and place of employment.
I didn’t want Tyler going to his office unless he absolutely had to.
That was all Gino would need to find Trevor and get me the information I needed to make sure he learned what would happen every time he came after my woman.