Page 34 of Plea
The moment I stepped inside, a short light skinned woman walked over to me. She had to take two steps to keep up with every one I took, and as funny as that was to me, I stopped to look down at her. After she blew and smiled, I chuckled.
“Hi. Are you the owner of this place? Venus Atkins?”
“I am.”
She extended an envelope in my direction, and when I took it, she said, “You’ve been served.”
“I know this bitch didn’t,” I grumbled, ripping the envelope open.
The more I read, the more irritated I got.
This petty ass nigga was suing me.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Carson
A Little Earlier in the Day
I appreciatedAsia 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 andthirty 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 afuckabout your sorry? Youaresorry, 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 thatblack 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.
