Chapter 226: Two Can Play

Anita paced around her office biting her nails nervously as she thought about Tom's phone call to her and then paused when she realized that she was biting her nail. Her mother was going to kill her if she caught her exhibiting such dirty unladylike behavior.

She dropped her hands to her side as she sat down on one of the seats in her office. Had she played this card too soon? Although she had no fear since she knew that there was no way it was ever going to be traced to her. She had dotted every i and crossed all the ts. She was confident.

One major reason she had publicized this piece of news now instead of after talking to Lucy, was so that she wouldn't be suspected. Seeing how Tom had even called to warn her, she had thought he did that because he had seen the news already. So now they couldn't blame her of doing it because she was mad at them. 

Knowing that Lucy was already dating Tom, she knew that Lucy was likely not going to want to let go of him, especially if Lucy gets to find out that Tom is actually the CEO. So by doing this and every other thing she planned to do, she was going to cause friction in their relationship and end up making Lucy end things with Tom on her own.

She still intended to call Lucy and act like a concerned friend. Nobody would suspect her of being behind the rumors if they saw that she was making efforts to be a good friend to Lucy. None of them needed to know just yet that she knew Tom's real identity.

Picking up her phone she dialed Lucy's line. She wanted to know Lucy's reaction to the publicized news, and also clear any doubt Lucy already had that she was behind it.

Lucy who had just finished trying to convince her parents not to travel down unsuccessfully, sighed when she saw Anita's call. What did Anita want this time? Maybe she was calling to find out her reaction to what was happening? Although she wasn't exactly sure yet if Anita was the one behind this, her gut feeling told her that Anita had a hand in it. 

She received the call, and placed it on recorder just in case Anita might say something that would prove that she was behind it, "Hello, good morning!" Lucy greeted as she took off her glasses and placed them on the desk in front of her.

"Hey, Lucy! I hope I'm not calling at a bad time?" Anita asked, pretending not to know about the news which was all over social media.

Lucy's brows pulled together at Anita's question. How could she be asking her such a question as though she didn't know what was going on? Lucy wondered. 

"I'm fine. Just in the middle of work," Lucy said, surprising Anita.

Middle of work? She was still at the company working? She had expected her to run away from work or be somewhere crying because of people's reaction to the news, or was it possible that the people at the company weren't giving her negative reactions?

"I'm sorry to bother you. I could call back later if you can't talk now," Anita offered instead. 

"It's no bother. What's up?" Lucy asked, trying to sound normal since it was obvious that Anita was acting like she didn't know what was going on. There was no way she was going to believe that someone like Anita was yet to see the news flying around social media. 

"Uhm, Tom called me this morning. I don't know if he mentioned it to you" Anita said and paused as she waited to hear Lucy's response.

Lucy didn't know why, but she didn't like hearing Tom's name from Anita. It always made her stomach churn, and it made her heart heavy. She preferred when Anita used to just refer to him as 'Your driver'.

"Lucy?" Anita called questioningly when Lucy didn't say anything.

"He did?" Lucy asked, pretending not to know.

So he didn't tell her. Anita assumed that Lucy's silence was because she had been surprised, "Yes. And he had a lot to say. I just wanted to let you know that I'm very sorry. I had no idea that he is the boyfriend you were always talking about. I wouldn't have told you any of that yesterday had I known," Anita apologized. 

She didn't know? Was that true? Lucy wondered. "I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I didn't know how to go about it after you told me how you feel about him, I'm sorry," Lucy said, wanting Anita to also keep believing that she was naive enough to believe everything she was saying.

Anita sighed, "It's okay. I guess it's my loss. I should never have let my mother's words get to me in the first place. I guess she should be happy now that her plan has worked and I won't be with him anymore," Anita said in a wry tone.

Lucy who was feeling very wary of Anita and knew she had to be careful, said nothing as she listened to Anita. She really couldn't figure Anita out. 

"We can still be friends regardless of this, right? I really like you and I don't want to lose your friendship over this," Anita said making Lucy narrow her eyes suspiciously.

She was just going to keep believing the worst of Anita until Anita proved to be otherwise. It would too dangerous to just believe that Anita's intentions are pure.

"Are you sure it won't be awkward? I mean, it won't be easy for you to be friends with me knowing I'm dating your ex," Lucy said as she picked her glasses from the desk and wore them. 

She honestly didn't want to be friends with Anita anymore, but neither did she want to cut her off in an offensive way. Especially since Anita had not exactly given her any real cause to believe that she meant her harm, she was only following her intuition.

Anita sighed dramatically, "Doesn't mean you should become my enemy, does it? Or wouldn't that be a double loss for me?" Anita asked making Lucy's brows furrow.

Was she perhaps judging Anita too harshly? Lucy wondered. Thankfully she didn't have to respond as Tom's office door opened and she quickly stood up, "Let's talk later. I have to get back to work," Lucy said with urgency and hung up the call immediately.

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Tom stepped out of his office with the directors he had been meeting with, and once they left he looked at Lucy, "How are you holding up?" He asked with concern.

"Anita just called," she informed him, making his face twist in a scowl.

"And what did she say she wants this time?"

Without responding Lucy searched for the recorded phone conversation on her phone and played it before handing the phone to Tom.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he listened to the phone call, "She is probably doing this so that we don't become suspicious of her," Tom said when he finished listening and returned her phone to her.

"Or maybe I'm just being paranoid and she's actually being genuinely nice?" Lucy asked.

"That's exactly what she wants. She wants you to question your suspicion. Don't fall for her trick."

Lucy looked at him curiously, "Why are you bent on believing the worst of her? What if..."

"Do you know what she said when I told her I was done and wanted us to break up?" Tom cut in before she could finish her statement since he could guess what she was about to ask. 

"No. What did she say?"

"She said, good riddance," Tom said without humor, "Does that sound like something you would tell a man you love but can't be with because of your mother? If she had been honest with you about everything, then maybe I would have believed all she is telling you. But she's a liar and I know we can't trust her. Don't let your guards down," Tom advised.

Lucy sighed. If only she hadn't gotten involved with Anita in the first place, she wouldn't have to be doing any of this with Anita.

"Have you heard from them yet?" Lucy asked, referring to the people Harry had contacted to help them search for the rumormonger.

"No, I haven't. As soon as I do I'll let you know," Tom assured her.

"I don't think I would be able to spend the weekend with you as planned. My parents and Lucas are coming over," Lucy explained.

"Because of this issue?" Tom asked, and she gave him a nod.

If Tom wasn't already furious about the situation of things, he became even more annoyed now as he had already planned out how he was going to spend the weekend with Lucy. 

"I guess you don't want them to," Tom said as he watched her, and she shrugged.

"I love them, but right now I just want to be alone and I don't think they would understand that. We just have to fix this quickly," she said with a resigned sigh.

"Sure. We will. Would you want me to meet them now?" Tom asked, not bothering to sit as he stood in front of her desk just in case someone walked in and saw him there. He knew that she wouldn't want this to be added to the list of things being gossiped about.

"I don't know. Let's just take it as it comes," Lucy suggested, and Tom gave her a nod.

"Hang in there, okay? We will fix this," Tom promised.

Lucy gave him a weak smile and watched as he returned to his office. Her eyes fell on her phone and she suddenly felt the urge to talk to Sonia. She knew that she couldn't talk now because of the reality show, so she texted Sonia instead.

'Hey, busy celebrity! Call me as soon as you can. Love you.' Lucy texted. 

She had been thinking about this all morning and she had come to the conclusion that suing the rumormonger or reacting angrily or pathetically to the news was going to give that person some satisfaction. She didn't want that. She wanted to disappoint the person instead.

She needed Sonia's permission before she could do what she had in mind. While Tom focused on finding who had done this, she wanted to deal with it appropriately by squashing the news so that it would never come up to haunt her again.

Maybe if she hadn't been in shock eight years ago and had defended herself in court to the hearing of everyone, no one would have had any reason to make up such stories. So it was time to deal with it once and for all. 

Whoever had posted this on the internet has only succeeded in helping her face one of her fears. Thanks to the person, after now she wasn't going to be needing therapy anymore.. She was just going to open up and share her story with the world.

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