𝑂𝑽𝓁xt.𝓒𝐎𝓂

The moment they all walked into the general conference hall of the company, Tom, Bryan, Harry, Jade, and Jeff got on the stage, while Mia was assigned to ensure that things went smoothly by moving around and monitoring the activities in case anyone decided to be stupid and upload the contents before time.

Bryan was seated in the middle, with Jade and Tom flanking both sides. Harry was seated beside Tom, while Jeff was seated beside Jade.

Because only reporters from the most reputable news agencies in the country were invited, the hall was not packed full.

In the hall were about ten reporters with their aids, two people from I-Global’s PR team, one member of I-Global legal team, and two security guards who were stationed at both the entry and exit doors of the hall to ensure that no one entered or left until they were done.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you are all welcome to this press conference. And thank you for coming on such short notice,” Tom started, getting all their attention.

“Although Mr. Jonas has told you the rules already, I’m going to repeat myself. If anyone dares to leak any information in this room out before we give the go-ahead to do so, I will not only make sure you lose your job, and the agency you present is shut down and converted into a bakery, I will sue you for all you are worth. For that reason, and to be sure we are on the same page, you are to sign the non-disclosure without consent agreement form on your desk before we begin,” Tom ordered, ignoring the noise coming from the reporters as they murmured amongst themselves.

Once they had all settled down and had finished signing the non-disclosure without consent form, Tom signaled to Harry to continue.

“Before we start, I will introduce myself and everyone seated here with me. I’m Harry Jonas. Although Mr. Hank says I’m Co-CEO, he uses me like an assistant and pays me peanuts,” Harry joked, and the reporters laughed while Tom snorted.

“Seated beside me is no other than my employer, Thomas Hank. First of his name. Founder and chairman of I-Global, slave driver, and….”

“Shut up,” Tom hissed, forgetting that his mic was still on, and everyone laughed while Harry grinned at him.

“Moving on, I’m sure I do not need to introduce Bryan Hank since he is the major reason you’re all gathered here. The beautiful lady on Bryan’s left is Jade Hank, the one and only Princess of the Hank family. Although she is a recent addition, she is part of I-Global’s legal team and will be representing Bryan Hank. And lastly, the man beside her is someone I believe you are all familiar with. Jeff Winfrey, Bryan’s former manager, who is now the director of I-Global entertainment,” Harry said, while Jade watched him like a lovestruck puppy as he did his thing.

“Now to business. The purpose of this press conference is first to clear up the scandal that went viral on the internet last night about Bryan Hank. Bryan won’t be defending himself. He will rather be explaining himself with evidence. The second thing we will be doing is responding to the video CEO of Golden Star Entertainment Agency uploaded a while ago on the agency’s social media page and website, with evidence too. And finally, I-Global will be releasing an official statement. As you all know already, during I-Global’s annual anniversary, we announce the addition of a new subsidiary, but this year there will be two subsidiaries. I-Global airlines, as you already know, and I-Global entertainment. Bryan Hank will be the first entertainer we sign. He will be signing the contract today as the last part of the press conference. Once again, you are welcome. You can now direct your questions to Bryan Hank in an orderly manner. Please stick solely to questions related to the issues I’ve mentioned, and make good use of your opportunity. You only get to ask one question,” Harry said before leaning back in his seat.

Gone was the playfulness on all their faces as everyone was now in their professional mode, ready to tackle the mess.

A hand shot up almost immediately, and Bryan gave the lady a nod to go on, “Some pictures and videos were released on the internet last night but were taken down shortly. Were you the person in those pictures, or was it doctored?”

“It depends on the videos and pictures you are talking about. If you are referring to the videos of a club fight, then yes. I was the one in the videos. It wasn’t doctored,” Bryan said calmly.

“Is it true that the guy you beat up is your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, and she was the reason for the fight?” Another reporter called out.

“Is it just me, or did that sound like two questions in one?” Bryan asked, turning to look at Jade.

“He definitely asked two questions,” Jade said with a nod.

“Is the guy Sonia’s ex-boyfriend?” The reporter asked quickly, not wanting to lose his chance.

“Yes, he is.”

“Can you tell us the reason for the fight?” Another reporter asked.

“No,” Bryan said, and the reporter realized he had phrased his question wrongly.

“However, I will let the guy in question tell you the reason himself,” Bryan added, and although the reporters wanted to ask how he planned to do so, no one wanted to waste their question slot on such a question.

They watched as Bryan turned to Jeff, and taking that as his cue; Jeff cleared his throat.

“I’m largely to be blamed for all of this. I’m not saying this as Bryan’s manager or because I was asked to take the blame. Bryan wanted to create a bit of conflict in his relationship to spice things up, and he asked for my help. I contacted Sonia’s ex-boyfriend, Derek, without Bryan’s knowledge, asking for his help to make Bryan Jealous, but things got out of hand,” Jeff said, and unlike most interviews, everywhere was silent as they tried to understand what Jeff was saying.

No one was in a rush to ask questions, even though they had a lot of questions.

Seeing this, Jeff picked up his phone, “To prove this, I will give Derek a call and place it on speaker. That way, you can all hear what happened for yourselves,” Jeff said as he dialed Derek’s line.

Jeff placed the call on speaker as he had said he would immediately after Derek received the call.

“Hey! I was just going to call you. Don’t you think I deserve a raise after what I did last night?” Derek asked in an excited tone.

“A raise?” Jeff asked while everyone else remained silent so that they could all hear Derek.

“Of course. The money you paid me is not enough for the job I’ve done or the beating I received from Bryan last night. That bastard was determined to kill me,” Derek said with a chuckle as he licked his busted lip.

“Bryan Hank beat you up? What could you have possibly said to annoy him so much?” Jeff asked with a chuckle, goading Derek to reveal more details.

“It wasn’t so hard. The poor bastard is in love with Sonia. Too bad for him that people like you and I exist who don’t want to see them together,” Derek said in an amused tone.

“Did you want to call me only to boast, or are you going to tell me exactly what you did to make him so angry? You realize that he could file a complaint against you if you crossed a line you shouldn’t have, and that could be messy,” Jeff said impatiently.

“He won’t do that. He loves Sonia too much to expose her to any of that. He doesn’t even want me to say any foul words about her, so how do you expect him to sue me when he is trying to protect her image?” Derek asked smugly.

“You can’t be too sure….”

“I am. I studied him already. If he were going to sue me, he wouldn’t have beaten me up in the first place or deleted the video from my phone. Besides, he refused to give his statement at the station. I swear that bastard is too full of himself to want the public to know I had Sonia before him,” Derek said, and Jeff sighed.

“So you deliberately made him beat you up?” Jeff asked, and Derek chuckled.

“I was only trying to confirm if he fell for the stunt I pulled in the afternoon. I did a live video talking about horny bitches like Sonia, who would jump on the nearest available cock. I tagged Bryan in the video, congratulating him on losing a bitch like her. I didn’t expect him to suddenly show up at the club where I was drinking with my friends,” Derek said with annoyance.

“Well, it worked out well for us both, didn’t it? We both got what I wanted….”

“What did you want?” Jeff cut in.

“Everything. The money from you, the fame I’m getting from it all. My Instagram followers increased. Right now, everyone is against him and Sonia, and they’re both bound to crack under all that pressure regardless of how much love they feel for each other. He even left her at the station last night,” Derek said, laughing happily.

“Yes. You did a good job. Everyone believes you’re the victim, and Bryan is bullying you,” Jeff said, and Derek roared with laughter.

“Yeah! Too bad for him. I almost want to feel sorry for him, but no man. Whenever I remember how he almost broke my jaw for saying we were fucking the same bitch, I get pissed,” Derek said with an angry hiss.

“Anyway, I need more money. You know, to get myself treated and to keep things rolling,” Derek said, and Jeff sighed.

“Unfortunately, I don’t owe you any money. I never asked you to get into a fight with Bryan. Our deal ended after I paid you yesterday,” Jeff said, and Derek scoffed.

“You owe me, man. It’s either you pay me, or I go to Bryan….”

“And tell him what?” Jeff cut in rudely.

“I will tell him everything. That you contacted me to ruin his relationship with Sonia,” Derek threatened, but everyone listening to him in the hall could tell he was bluffing.

“Are you blackmailing me?” Jeff asked incredulously.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it that. But you could call it that if it makes you pay me….”

“You are free to tell Bryan everything. Better still, I can help you do that….”

“Do what?” Derek asked incredulously.

“Tell not just Bryan but everyone what you just told me. You admitted that Bryan attacked you because you insulted Sonia and not just because he was jealous….”

“Why would anyone believe you? Besides, you don’t have any proof…” before Derek could finish speaking, Jeff hung up, and all eyes turned to Bryan, who was gritting his teeth in annoyance.

“Phew! Who wouldn’t hit a jerk like that? I know I would,” Jade said, and Tom nodded.

“I definitely would too, and damn the consequence,” Harry said in support while Tom looked at Bryan with an unreadable expression.

“Tell me you broke his ribs. And this is not my question,” one of the female reporters asked, and Bryan chuckled for the first time.

“I was close to doing that before the cops showed up,” Bryan said, and the lady nodded in satisfaction.

“Good job,” Tom said, giving Bryan a thumbs up.

Although, as the CEO, he wasn’t in support of Bryan’s action as it wasn’t good for the company. But as his brother and as the boyfriend of Sonia’s best friend, he was in support of Bryan’s actions.

He knew he would do worse if anyone said shit like that about Lucy, be it privately or in public.