Supreme Mars novel Chapter 68

Early next morning, Lydia sent Emilia to the kindergarten as usual while Leo began his usual exercise routine.

Leo was still in the middle of doing one-armed pushups when he was interrupted by Marie's boisterous voice.

"Holy shit! Shit! This is some crazy news!"

Marie charged out of her bedroom like a whirlwind and hurried towards Leo.

When Leo got up from the floor, a phone was thrusted in his face. "Check this out!"

Leo took the phone and read the title of the news article Marie had wanted to show him: "Breaking News! The son of Julton Pharmaceutical's Chairman is a closeted submissive!"

Scrolling down, Leo saw the same video Cheryl had recorded back at the suite. The video was five minutes long, and it showed a man being tied up and whipped repeatedly by a woman.

The unsavory bits of the video were blurred out, but the face of the man in the video was exposed. It belonged to Cedric Reyes, the son of Thomas Reyes.

Leo returned the phone to Marie and dropped to the floor to continue doing pushups.

"What?" Marie stared at Leo in shock. "Nothing? You've got nothing to say about the fact that Cedric is into bondage and kinky sex?"

"I've already seen it earlier," Leo said. "It's all over the press now."

Marie's jaw clicked shut. "Wait a minute..." Her eyes narrowed into slits. "This isn't your doing is it, Leo?"

Leo leaped to his feet, then shrugged. "Who knows?"

The more cryptic Leo was, the more Marie suspected that Leo was behind this. "Come on, Leo," Marie whined as she followed Leo around like a lost puppy. "Just tell me... Please? Was it you? Did you leak the video?"

Leo's phone rang before he could speak. The call was made from an unknown number.

Leo answered the call. "Who is this?"

"Are you Leo Cohen?"

The husky voice belonged to a woman.

"Yes. And you are?"

"I'm Teresa Collins, the legal representative of Julton Pharmaceutical."

"Julton Pharmaceutical?"

Marie flinched at the name. She didn't expect to hear from them so soon. And from their lawyer, no less.

Marie turned to face Leo, wanting to ask him what they should do, but Leo was already speaking into the phone. "Is there anything you need, Miss Collins? If not, I'm hanging up."

"Were you behind the footage in the news?" Teresa asked.

Leo smirked. "You clearly believe it was me, so why bother calling?"

"Delete it." Teresa's voice trembled as she tried to suppress her anger. "What you did is against the law. Julton Pharmaceutical can sue you for this.

"Also, we'll be holding a press conference later today to clarify things. We'd like you to show up at the press conference and admit that the video is your doing."

Leo chuckled. "Admit to my doing? What's there to admit? The truth is out there." Leo paused. "Cedric Reyes has a thing for BDSM. That fact doesn't change, whether the video exists or not."

"Not if you admit to setting the whole thing up to make Julton Pharmaceutical look bad," Teresa snapped. "That's exactly what we want you to do at the press conference. And then you'll pay us a compensation fee."

Leo chuckled. "Is that so?"

"And don't think you can get away with not showing up, Mr. Cohen," Teresa said. "We've already done a thorough background check on you. We know that you have ties with the Ford family of Emerdale. Rest assured that drastic measures will be taken against you and the Fords if you refuse to cooperate."

A smile formed on Leo's lips. "Is this the best you can do, Miss Collins?" Leo let out a laugh. "In that case, you, and the rest of your PR team for that matter, should hand in your resignations."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I'll tell you one thing," Leo said. "And I'm willing to bet that you people will change your minds about holding the press conference after hearing it."

When Teresa was silent, Leo took that as his cue to make his big revelation.

"You should know that Shawn Harris is already in police custody," Leo began lazily. "It's been more than 24 hours since he was brought to the police." Leo paused pointedly. "I'm sure you know what awaits him, Miss Collins. That's right, he'll be interrogated by the police." Leo smirked. "All it takes is one slip of his tongue, and you and your employer will be dealing with a much bigger scandal than Cedric Reyes' torrid sex life."

Leo could now hear Teresa's heavy and ragged breathing through the phone.

"Now," Leo continued, "I'm sure you can tell which is the lesser of two evils, Miss Collins. If you want the original copy of the video... I'm happy to give it to you." Leo paused for a few beats. "What I want is very simple. Tell Cedric to show up in front of my house this afternoon. He is to kneel in front of my house and apologize for his wrongdoings."

Leo promptly ended the call. When he lowered the phone, he noticed the look of shock on Marie's face.