Flashes of lights from cameras blind me as I walk through the crowded street. My right hand holds papers that are ruining my life and my left hand is holding a blank channel purse. Total opposites huh? My steps are fast, slick, quick. It's like I'm trying to run away from the crowd, I am. But the only thing I'm actually doing is walking into it, further and further again, there's no escape from this.

I look up at the dark sky, not a star in sight. Not even the sky is happy tonight.

"Is it true?"

"Sophia, can you confirm this?"

"Did you really do it?"

"Sophia, this is the biggest scandal your company has ever been involved in." Is he going to tell me what I ate for breakfast too?

"Sophia over here!"

"We just want answers!"

"Sophia!"

"Over here!"

"Why did Jace remove all his pictures of Kiara on Instagram?"

"Sophia is it true?"

I feel the crowd closen next to me, the heat of everyone's presence goes right through my coat and hits my skin. Suddenly it's so hard to breathe. I can't breathe. A hand grips my arm. No.

"Don't touch me!" I pull away.

"I understand this is your job to get information, but you do not touch me. You don't touch anything but that camera." I tell the reporter. It's never my intention to be rude to anyone. But being in the public's eyes as a teenager, a young woman, and now a mother, you learn that there are boundaries, and you have a right to privacy.

"Just doing my job," The reporter yells over the chaos.

"Your job isn't to touch my wife, now move your camera out of her face." Axton's voice travels through the air. I can't see him, but my mind is already picturing the glare he's giving the reporter. The glare. The Axton McKay glare.

"Soph?" He calls out through the crowd.

"Over here." I call back out to him as I walk to him.

"No, keep walking I got you." He tells me and our eyes meet. I wanted nothing more than to run straight into his arms and cry the stress away. I wanted his arms around me, comforting me, shielding the world away from us. Keeping his words in mind, I turn around and walk through the crowd knowing he was behind me.

---

My heels hit the marble floor as I walk into my headquarters. Everyone's up and about, papers are everywhere, the lobby is in a mess. I can't even see the front desk.

"Olivia!" I call one of my employees. The room goes silent and I take a look at my employees. Fear, fear in their eyes. Not a fear of me. I've made it known how I expect people to work here, and I've made it known how I treat people. So the fear in their eyes could only be for their own lives. I can imagine the questions in their minds. Are we losing our job? Are we going to get a smaller salary?

"Mrs. McKay." Olivia greets me. I feel Axton walk behind me, I thank God for him.

"The employees first, love. We'll find out who did it, I promise. But the employees are more important right now." He whispers in my ear before placing a light kiss on my cheek. It takes me a second but I eventually realize he's right.

"Organize a meeting right now. Everyone in the building should be there." I tell Olivia. She quickly nods and begins setting up for the meeting. I turn to face Axton.

"You can't crumble right now my love. You have a company to save." He tells me. I nod. I've never been this angry before.

"I want to rip every single piece of paper in here," I mumble as Axton pulls me into his arms.

"I know Soph, I know Soph. Be strong for me." He kisses my lips. Slow and sweetly. I resist the urge to pull him back when his lips leave mine.

"You're gonna go in there, talk to your employees, find out who did this and then we're gonna set their world on fire." He looks me in the eyes, his hand gripping mine.

"I'll get the matches." I give him a small smile, making his lips lift slightly.

"I love you." He tells me.

"I love you too Axton."

Ten minutes later I'm standing in front of all the employees of Sophia Rivera Designs.The conference room is filled, some people are standing, some sit silently on the chairs.

"As we are aware, our company is falling apart." I tell them.

"Della and Dante's Designs have been our biggest competitors for the last five years. We all know this." Heads nod and some mumble their agreed responses.

"We also know that we have been working on this fall collection, since last spring. Everyone in here has been working day and night. This office hasn't been closed a single day since last spring. This collection is a big deal. It's probably the biggest deal since the launch of my children's clothing line." Again, heads nod because this is common knowledge to my employees.

"Down to the thread count on our pieces, they were all unique to us. To our company. There was no way, no way that Della and Dante's Designs could have coincidentally done the exact same thing." Chatter breaks out across the room as I walk over to my chair.

"We all know I did not send someone into Della and Dante's office to get their sketches. If there is anyone in this room that thinks so, the door is right there, you can leave right now." I tell them. No one makes a move.

"That means someone in here leaked our sketches a while before and our actual clothing recently, how recent Olivia?" I turn to my PA.

"Last week, Della and Dante made changes to their collection." Before anyone could speak, the door of the conference room pushes open.

"Meaning, whoever sent the sketches saw Della and Dante's clothing before it was released." My best friend says as she walks into the room. Her heels hit the floor and her confidence flows further into the room with every step.

"Della and Dante are very private about their upcoming collections. So, the pieces never made it out of the production location." She says as she walks behind my chair. I notice her ring finger bare and i frown. Shit.

"So, we need security footage of who entered the factory from last week," Axton says, getting up as he pulls his phone out of his pocket.

"I'll take care of that." He tells me, walking out the room. I focus my attention back to the employees.

"No need to worry about your job, unless you had something to do with any of this." Chatter breaks out through the room.

"We have the footage, I just need it emailed to me." Amyra says and everyone's heads snap to her. Her brown eyes move from her phone to the room.

"What? I'm a lawyer, I have connections.." Through this whole mess I could count on her to lighten my mood.

"Do you really have it?" I ask her as Axton walks in.

"Just emailed it to her." Axton tells her.

"Sophia, give me your laptop." She orders me. I open my laptop from the desk and hand her it. While she emails it to my laptop, I take a minute to breathe and once again the conference room opens.

"I brought pie." Jace says as he walks into the room. A smile makes it's way to my face but then it instantly drops.

"Axton..." I mumble.

"I see it too love." He tells me. Jace looks at us like we're crazy.

"Stop looking at us like that, weirdo," Axton says to him.

"Stop watching me like that." Jace snaps back.

"That's some divorce you're going through," Axton mumbles pointing to Jace's neck, and the office gasps.

"Axton!" Jace and I yell at the same time. I swear, Axton's mouth has no filter.

"Shit. Fiddle fudge sticks. My bad." I almost laugh at his use of our daughter's famous phrase.

"Would you three shut up and come look at the video?" Amyra asks as I get off my chair, which she proceeds to sit on. Axton, Jace and I stand behind her as she pulls the camera footage up.

"Whenever you're ready So-"

I don't wait. I click the play button.

Our eyes are focused on the screen and I can feel everyone else's focused on us. The silence in the room breathes down my neck. It's like we're looking at a bomb and we know it's going to explode.

The video begins with Della walking into the factory, followed by Dante, and a few workers and my heart drop when Hayley walks in right after them.

"Well?"

"Who did it?"

"Mrs. McKay?"

"Mrs. McKay?"

I stand there in utter shock.

"No wonder she always liked snake prints so much. Snake." Amyra says, her own venom dripping from her words.

"Soph?" Axton reaches for my hand. My eyes meet his. I shake my head because I already know his answer and I'm not going home. Going home is the last thing I'm doing.

"Call Hayley," I tell Oliva.

---

~3 weeks later~

"I want a darker shade, maybe like maroon." I explain to my employees.

"The fabric itself is very silky do you want something more firm?" One of my employees ask. Before I can reply, Olivia walks into the conference room.

"Mrs. McKay, there's a um, situation outside the office. The streets are crowded with reporters." The panick in her voice makes it clear the situation is something she can't handle. Which means it's tough.

"Wrap the meeting up Este, email me the final notes." I say as I grab my folder and walk out the conference, Olivia behind me. I walk right past the elevator and right past the staircase. Taking a left I push open the large door that leads me into the security footage room. My eyes quickly drop to the large monitor screens.

"God." I mumble as I see the mess outside the office.

"What's the cause for all of us?" I ask Olivia.

"Look closely." I walk closer to the screen and observe just what is on the screen.

"A paper that stated she's fired wasn't enough?" I question.

Anger and somehow hurt settles into me as I watch Hayley march up and down in front of my office.

"What is she protesting?" I ask.

"To see you. Yes." I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Three weeks ago I called Hayley to the headquarters and handed her a paper that stated she was fired, her last pay cheque and a legal document that stated she can have absolutely nothing to do with me, my company, or my family. Hayley had it too easy here.

"We can send security out there, we can call the cops." Olivia suggests.

"No, I can handle this."

I storm out the secriurty room and a few minutes later I'm walking outside the office.

"What exactly are you trying to obtain from this?" I ask her. Her hair blows back from the strong wind, exposing her exhausted face. Her hand rests on her stomach, her 7-month-old unborn child is in there.

"Sophia! I just want to talk to you! For just one minute." I look at the crowd of reporters that are a few feet away, my security guards trying their best to restrain them.

"Can you just look at me for a second?" She pleads with me. My eyes meet hers and every good thing we've ever shared passes through my mind. She had it too easy.

"I brought you into my home, I let you be close to my children, I treated you like you were family. My family treated you like family. My sister treated you like our sister, my mother treated you like her daughter. I trusted you. But you fucked that up as well as your career." Her eyes widen as if she didn't expect me to think this way, as if she doesn't allow me to.

"What made you do it? What could possibly make you turn against the only company you've ever made it at? Was the pay too low? Was the coffee not good? What the hell was it?" I ask.

Of course, she doesn't have an answer for me. When people do you wrong, they have nothing to say to you, but everything to say about you.

"Get off my property," I tell her.

"Sophia-"

"Thank you." I cut her off.

"You really opened my eyes, you showed me there are snakes everywhere." I tell her.

"Goodbye Hayley, I hope we never cross paths again."

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That chapter was for my reputation girls :)

I hope everyone is doing well