Chapter 234 - FRAUD CELEBRITY COUPLE

After Lucy's dad and Lucas had left for the hotel, and her mother had settled in for the night, Lucy went to the living room to join Sonia, "What's happening? You've been on the phone all evening," Lucy asked as she dropped on the couch beside Sonia who was scrolling through her phone with a glass of wine in front of her.

Sonia looked at Lucy, and then let out a sigh as she handed her phone to her. Displayed on the screen was a news article with the caption, "FRAUD CELEBRITY COUPLE!!!" and attached to it was a photo of Sonia and Bryan together captured from one of their shoots. 

"As if I knew that this was going to happen," Sonia said as she picked up the glass of wine in front of her and sipped from it.

"Have you heard from Bryan? What did he say?" Lucy asked with a concerned frown as she started reading through the article. It seemed like whoever had written the article had evidence to prove that both Bryan and Sonia had lied about their relationship.

"No. I've tried reaching him but his phone is switched off. His assistant said no one has been able to reach him since I left," Sonia said, and Lucy embraced her.

"I'm sorry. All of this is my fault," Lucy said apologetically, and Sonia scoffed as she pulled away from the hug.

"What nonsense are you uttering? It's not like they're making things up anyway. It's true. We deceived everyone," Sonia said with a shrug, as she started to distractedly tap her feet.

"Should I try to reach Tom and ask him if he has heard from Bryan?" Lucy asked since she knew that Sonia was only pretending to be okay. Seeing how she was tapping her feet, she could tell that Sonia was worried and trying to distract herself.

Sonia shook her head, "I already ended things with him. What's the point? Let's just focus on why I'm here. Why didn't you tell your parents about your plan?" Sonia asked, wanting to change the subject and Lucy shook her head. 

"We both know that they will likely say no, don't we? You know how protective they are, so what's the point?" Lucy asked, and Sonia nodded her head as she took her phone from Lucy.

"I guess so. So when do you want us to make the video then?" Sonia asked wanting to do something as she wasn't sure she could stay still for much longer. 

"Let's find time to do it tomorrow after I hear from Tom," Lucy said, and then took Sonia's phone from her when it kept buzzing with Instagram and twitter notifications.

Her phone was buzzing with so many messages from fans of both herself and Bryan, some of whom were expressing their disappointment at the pair for deceiving them, others whom were demanding to know the news was true or not, and some others whom believed that regardless of what was going on there was chemistry between Bryan and Sonia, and hoped that the BrySon ship would sail. 

"Let's do something fun. You want to play a game or see a movie?" Lucy asked, wanting to distract Sonia. 

"Look at you trying to cheer me up, when I came here to cheer you up," Sonia said with a wry smile.

"We are one, Sony. I got you," Lucy promised as she pulled Sonia closer to her so that Sonia was leaning on her with her head resting on Lucy's shoulder. 

"I got you too, Lu. And I love you," Sonia said with a sigh as she wrapped her arm around Lucy's waist.

They both sat there in comfortable silence, and while Lucy thought about the video she planned to make, and whether or not to tell Tom about it, Sonia thought about Bryan and the nice time they had shared the previous night and early that morning. Who knew that so much could change within twenty-four hours? 

"Did I tell you that I and Bryan finally did IT last night?" Sonia asked with a smile in her voice and Lucy raised a brow.

"I thought you said you were waiting?" 

"Yeah, I was. But I just couldn't wait anymore. If I had known all of this would happen today I wouldn't have wasted all that time waiting," Sonia said with a sigh. 

"I'm sorry," Lucy murmured as she patted Sonia's hair gently. They both sat up when Lucy's phone started ringing, and he picked it up expecting that it was probably Tom who was calling. She sighed when she saw that it was a call from Anita, and threw the phone on the couch. 

"Who is calling?" Sonia asked curiously when she noticed Lucy's reluctance to receive the call. 

Sonia raised a brow when she picked up the phone and saw that it was Anita who was calling, and then she received the call, "Yeah?" She asked without minding her manners. 

Lucy looked at Sonia questioningly, but Sonia said nothing as she stood up and put some distance between her and Lucy. 

"Lucy?" Anita asked with a confused frown, not sure if it was Lucy who had taken the call or someone else on the line. 

"What do you want?" Sonia asked irritably. She needed to transfer some of her frustration and irritation to someone else, and Anita was the only available person at the moment.

Anita cleared her throat as she sat up on her bed. Lucy was always soft-spoken and polite, so hearing her sound this impatient and aggressive was quite unsettling, "Uhm, I guess I'm calling at a bad time..."

"No. It's not a bad time. What do you want?" Sonia asked rudely.

Although Anita wasn't comfortable with the tone, she didn't let it deter her, "I just went online and saw some news about you on social media..."

"And?" Sonia cut in rudely.

"Uhm... I was worried and I thought I should check on you to know how you're doing," Anita said, trying to sound concerned.

"That's very sweet of you. Now let's drop the pretense, okay? What exactly do you want from her?" Sonia asked rudely.

"I beg your pardon?" Anita asked as she got off her bed. So this wasn't Lucy? "Who am I speaking with?"

"This is Sonia, Lucy's very crazy best friend. I'm sure you've heard of me."

"She has never mentioned you," Anita said in a cool voice. Judging by all she had heard about Lucy's best friend, she was obviously not as naive or gullible as Lucy was. 

"Too bad you haven't, maybe if you had, you wouldn't be trying to mess with my bestie. Now listen, I don't know what you want, or what games you are trying to play with her, and I honestly do not care to know either. My best friend is NOT interested in being friends with you. You rejected Tom when he came to you, and now she is dating him. Tom no longer wants you, it is Lucy who he wants, and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Lose her number," Sonia said, and hung up before Anita could respond. 

"Was that necessary? What if she was really just trying to be friendly?" Lucy asked with a concerned frown.

"Always trust your instincts, Lu. You were wary of her even before you realized that she was Tom's ex-girlfriend, and you also said Tom is suspicious of her too. What other proof do you need? Plus, I don't care whether or not she is just being friendly, I'm all the friend you need," Sonia said as she dropped on the couch beside Lucy.

"Let's get drunk and gossip the brothers until we sleep off," Sonia suggested with a wink as she poured more wine into the glass, and handed Lucy the glass while she drank directly from the bottle. 

*************

Disguised in their costumes, Tom and Bryan walked into a dark room where a young college student was seated, and tied to a chair with a black bag thrown over his head.

"Please don't hurt me, please," the young man cried when he heard the footsteps. 

Tom signalled to one of the men who had captured the college student to take the black bag off his head so that they could see his face.

Both brothers exchanged a look when they saw how young he was. They hadn't expected whoever had posted such malicious content on the internet to be this young, but then again they should have expected it. It was the social media age after all, and people could hide behind their phone and post all manner of things. 

Once the bag was taken off his face, the young man looked at the two men who were standing before him with strange looking beards, and were dressed in matching black suits and black shades.

"Please don't hurt me," he pleaded. 

"How can you hurt people's reputation and their emotions, and expect not to get hurt?" Tom asked incredulously.

"I didn't do anything. I haven't done anything wrong," he pleaded tearfully.

"Who paid you to do it? I will suggest that you think carefully before you respond to my question. Your rash action has put me in a tight spot and I am beyond pissed. I'm not a violet person, but I wouldn't hesitate to hit you if you waste my time any more than you have already done," Bryan threatened, and judging by the way his hands were balled in a fist, the young man could tell that the man before him was barely managing to control his temper.

"I'm sorry. I only did as I was told. I saw the news articles and I thought it was true," the young man pleaded as tears ran down his face.

"I asked who?" Bryan barked at him angrily.

"Some random guy walked up to me and my friends at the club and asked if we were up for a job. We only did as he asked us to, and we were paid after making the posts," he explained amidst his tears. 

"You were paid in cash?" Tom asked, and the young man nodded. 

"And there is no way you can reach this man?" Bryan asked, and the young man nodded.

"Why should we believe you?" Bryan asked, looking like he wanted nothing more than to beat the young man to a pulp, "Give me one reason why we should believe you and let you out of here alive?" Bryan asked as he looked around the room dramatically.

Seeing how Bryan was looking around as if he was looking for something with which to harm him, the young man started sobbing, "I swear to you, I'm not lying to you. My friends..... One of them recorded everything the man said with his apple wristwatch," he quickly confessed when Bryan picked up a piece of metal.