After Aidan hung up the phone, he turned around to see Leanna choking on the water and coughing incessantly.
So, he walked over and lightly patted her back as she immediately locked her phone.
He averted his gaze and asked slowly, "What are you chatting about?"
Leanna stuttered, "N-Nothing."
Then, she picked up the glass again and chugged the water in one go.
When she was done, he picked up the stuff on the counter. "You forgot your meds."
Leanna was dumbfounded. "Oh."
So, she poured another glass of water before turning around to look at Aidan. "The video of you playing the guitar was posted online."
He pulled away the aluminum and took two pills out before answering, "I know."
Leanna recalled the phone call he had just now and figured it was probably about the same thing. So, she asked, "Are you going to take it down?'
Aidan placed the pills in her hand. "Why? It's expensive to take it down."
She pursed her lips in dissatisfaction. "I didn't know that you like being the talk of the town."
He replied, "I don't. But—"
He suddenly leaned forward and placed his arms beside her on the table, circling her in before continuing, "This is to keep you on your toes."
Leanna couldn't help but eye him strangely.
How did he see her chat?
He curled his lips into a playful smirk and passed her the glass of water before drawling in Dellshorean, "My love is endless."
My love is endless.
Leanna took the glass of water and avoided his confession. "Sorry, I don't know Dellshorean. I don't know what you're saying."
He continued, not affected. "Well then, you will need a translator like me when you attend fashion week later."
"Louis will suffice."
"He's busy."
"How do you know?"
Aidan insisted, saying, "I usually have a strong intuition about things in the future."
Leanna didn't want to entertain him further, so she merely turned around and swallowed her medication.
…
A weekend had passed, and Leanna had fully recovered.
So, on Monday morning, she unpacked her stuff in her room and played with the little guy for a while before going downstairs with Louis.
When they neared the exit of the gate, the door to the Rolls-Royce parked by the roadside flung open, and Aidan came out of the car. "Get in. I'll take you there."
Leanna ignored him but told Louis, "I'm leaving. Send me a text when you arrive at school."
He nodded. "Okay."
After she left, he asked, "Didn't you stay together during the weekend? Why isn't there any progress?"
Aidan harrumphed coldly, "Don't you know your sister changes her mind faster than she changes her clothes?"
With that, he didn't wait for a response and got into his car.
Louis merely quirked a brow at that before walking in the direction of the subway.
…
When Leanna arrived at her company, all she could hear was the employees talking about the video of Aidan playing the guitar last night.
She rubbed her temples as she felt a headache coming.
Jonathan entered her office soon after, saying, "Miss McKinney, I got in contact with Jessamine. She said she'd make the police report this afternoon. I've sent some men to accompany her just in case Mr. Ollander tried to do something."
"Did you contact the other victims?"
"I did. But… They did it for personal gains; some got a huge reward while others became part of the higher management. If we asked them to testify against him, it would expose their dirty deed as well. So..."
So, no one was willing to stand out.
However, Leanna didn't let that get her down as she replied, "It's all right. Leave them be. He won't be able to leave after the police receive Jessamine's statement. As for the rest, we'll let the detectives handle it."
"Okay. I'll be taking my leave now."
"Wait," Leanna called him before letting out an awkward cough. "Is… That still trending?"
Richard was momentarily confused before finally realizing what she was asking about and answered honestly, "As far as I've checked, it's gone down for now.''
She let out a sigh of relief. She was actually thinking that if it was still trending, she was willing to spend some money to remove that post.
Aidan was the president of the Pearson Group. It would be weird if he kept topping the trend for such things. It would also create unnecessary gossip for the Crossley Group as well.
However, Richard added, "But…"
"But what?"
"The Pearson Group's official Twitter account posted something half an hour ago."
So, Leanna whipped out her phone as she frantically searched for the post.
The Pearson Group's official Twitter said, 'We didn't expect President Pearson to appear before the public in this way. Thank you, everyone, for your love for him. Regarding last night's events, we have two things to say. One, please don't address the president as 'husband' as he will only have one wife in this life. Two, she isn't an ex-wife but a girlfriend and would be his partner for life in the near future. We would appreciate it a lot if everyone used the right terms.'
Leanna read the tweet and scoffed as Richard silently left the room. She placed the phone down and took a deep breath. What did I do in my past life to deserve such a pest?
At the same time, in the Pearson Group's president's office, Aidan was scrolling the replies under that official tweet with a smile on his face.
Jonathan saw the smile and asked tentatively, "President Pearson, I didn't know you played the guitar."
Aidan stopped reading and looked up at him with a deadpan expression.
Jonathan immediately avoided his gaze, acting as if nothing had happened.
Then, Aidan questioned, "What's the situation with Jimmy?"
"The investigation is still ongoing. It's just like we predicted. He refused to admit it and insisted that he was falsely accused. He said that Leroy used him. However, regarding the previous sexual harassment case… Madam contacted the victim, and the victim said that she'll make the police report in the afternoon."
Aidan's long fingers tapped against the table as he mumbled, deep in thought, "It seems that no one is willing to stick their necks out for him now. He's going to lose his ground soon enough."
Just then, Jonathan's ringtone chimed, and he walked to the side to answer his phone.
After a minute, he came back and reported to Aidan with a solemn face, "The Pearson Family called. They said Mr. Justin wants to see you."
Aidan's fingers froze. After a long pause, he answered. "Tell them I'll go over in the afternoon."
Jonathan asked for confirmation, "Are you really going to go, President Pearson?"
"Why not?"
"Even though Mrs. Pearson committed suicide, she caused an undeniable rift between you and Mr. Justin with her actions. Please reconsider your decision."
Aidan merely answered dispassionately, "Well, he can't possibly set traps all over the house to kill me."
Jonathan didn't answer immediately, but he turned to inform the other person on the line about Aidan's answer.
The ploy that Sienna left behind before her death seemed only to have one end. However, it was like a game of chess where one move could lead to many possibilities. If one were not careful, it would be checkmate.
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