LEILA

They expected me to hide, but I was done hiding, this time, I was ready to bloom on my own, Just me, and for me now.

By noon, frost enterprises boardroom was filled up with lawyers, advisor's, people who spoke in phrase instead of words. They thought today would be damage control, but my elegantly self says different.

I walked in alone.

No Aiden by my side.

Just me ready to sail.

That alone unsettle them more than my presence ever could.

"I'll be brief", I said while placing a tablet on the table." Panic they say thrives on confusion and I don't intend given it a room".

Murmurs erupt.

Mara voss stiffened.

I tapped on the screen with a determined spirit.

Then I added.

" My mother's agreement has been misinterpreted". I continued calm and focused.

"Not by frost enterprises but by parties who stood to gain from my instability".

A pause in the room, silent follows, then murmuring.

Everyone seems to be dissatisfied with my presence, but mara seems to showed a sign of satisfaction.

I didn't care whatever they think or have to say.All I wanted was to be heard.

Then I slid the real weapon across the table .

"Here are the amendments she filed two weeks before her health".

Their faces leaned forward ready to see what was inside , I didn't wait to get asked, I shot directly.

"She revoked guardianship". I said "conditionally".

A lawyer frownd " condition on what?"

I smiled then whispers to myself.

Whosever this unknown person is, must really want to see me thrive in success.well am glad he/she always gives me a way out.

"On proof that Aiden frost would never make decisions for me without my consent" I replied.

The room went silent

"And since I never get consented" I continued,

" Any authority assumed beyond financial protection is legally void, and even in finances aspect its only when needed".

Mara's pen dropped.

The boardroom seems to be under my control, I choose to control it because, I never intended being owned or managed by some organization.

"I'm not here to accuse anyone" I said softly.

" Rather am here to clarify everything".

I looked directly at the camera at the edge of the room. This time even steadier.

"And also to inform the board that I am not controlled, that I am competent".

I stood, ready to walk away, I victoriously concluded it amazingly with a request.

"Any further questions can be directed to my counsel_ my counsel I said not Aiden's". I added while walking out elegantly.

***

AIDEN

This was not how it supposed to happen.

I watched from the private office, just as the screen muted, my heart pound like it was trying to escape my ribs.

Leila didn't flinch or looked at me for once.

Not for approval.

Not for reassurance.

Not even for a rescue.

She didn't need me.

And that_ that alone terrified me.

I had built my life on control because chaos once destroyed everything I ever loved.

"I told myself I was protecting her, but watching her now, I realized something brutal, and I persive the determination in her".

" Protecting had become possession".

"And possession had nearly cost me her".

When the board meeting ended, I didn't move.

The office felt too large, and too quite.

I kept replaying her voice in my head.

It was steady, measured, determined and unafraid.

She had rewritten the narration without me, how I wish she knew that there's so much to it than it seems.

I pressed my hands to the desk breathing shallowly.

For the first in years, I feel my chest in so much pain, panics and in unmanaged state.

I had once sworn never to feel this again, not after learning love could be leverage and yet _ here it was.

The woman I built walls around had learned how to Walk through them without me.

"You were suppose to need me" I whispered to the empty room.

That wasn't love, that was fear disguised as devotion.

My phone rang, I thought she finally came around and wants to talk things out, well my last hope was shattered again. It was mara voss.

" She outplayed us all" she said, "you've taught her so well" she added.

"No" I replied gently. " I underestimated her, her intelligent and her power" I added shakenly.

Well i deserve everything that happens.

***

I left the building without looking back.

The city felt different when it wasn't pressing down on me.

My phone buzzed.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Lydia won't stay put on this, watched your back.

I smiled faintly, then a type on my phone.

_am counting on it _

Because now, I know she would move recklessly.

And reckless people revealed everything.

This time I want to see what you've got Lydia.

......

Power doesn't hurt but truth does hurt the most.

I stood alone in the frost study, long after the board meeting ended.

My reflection fractured in the glass walls.

Every surface here had once felt like safety but now it felt like a surveillance kept to monitor me.

I picked up the file again hoping all this would just be a dream, but all I see was my mother's name staring back at me. I felt trapped and betrayed.

She had written so carefully like she knew somehow I will read them in lines.

***

The clause I missed earlier seems to blurred into my vision clearly.

_in the event Leila refuses protection, all contingencies shall activates__

"What contingency?" I whispered to myself, another question of no answers unlock.

***

AIDEN

Outside the study I was, contemplating either to enter or not.

I heard the shift in her breathing, even before she spoke.

I just knew things weren't that great in there.

That was how I always knew before the distances in the moment trust collapse.

I walked in unnoticeable soft, and before I could even asked what the problem was, she snapped in with another counterattack question.

" You didn't show me this part." She asked.

I stood still and timid.

"Because I never intended for it to be activated." I replied.

Her laugh hallow in the room, I always do see the hatred and disappointment in.her eye's.

"That's not an answer" she replied.

I move closer, this time I was ready to face it.

"Leila i_."

She stepped back, even before I could continued.

And that single step did more damage than every headline combined, it shatters me.

" What's left for me to know Aiden" she asked again.

I went silent, this point, I rather not say a thing, it's better than saying things rashly.

***

I didn't wait for him to speak, I already knows contingency didn't exist on protecting people, they existed to override them.

I turned toward the dest, hands braced against it.

" So if I walk away" I asked slowly "what happens next?"

Aiden didn't answer, he didn't deny anything and he never moved form where I stood.

The room felt so tiny, I knew I will never get an answers, yet I pressed on for it .

Aiden wasn't dump after all as he never say anything no matter how hard I go on him.

"So will you stop me?" I asked .

"No" he said hoarsely, "I will stop the world from hurting you".

I laughed ironically.

A laugh so fake that it starled us both.

" You sounded just like my father" that hit him hard.

His face changed, I knew I had hit his limit but who cares.

***

I have been called many sorts of names like ruthless, cold and dangerous, but no one has ever compared me to anyone, well it was hurtful coming from her.

" You didn't mean" I said jokingly hoping to clear the air between us.

She turned, eyes glassy and sharp.

"I mean every word".

I reach for her instinctively but she flinch and step aside.

It was from there I knew, I had lost that one woman.

***

My phone vibrated one... twice... Then a message appeared.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Ask him about the last clause.

I immediately switch the screen, I looked up at Aiden.

He was watching my phone like it was a loaded gun, and he appear clueless.

"Can I asked a question?"I asked.

"Yes" he replied

" What's the final clause to all this?"I added.

He swallows hard, and then__

Too late, another message arrived.

UNKNOWN: your mother didn't just protect you......A pause and the last line took forever to show then with a suspense it hits the screen. SHE MADE YOU A LEVERAGE.

I raised my eyes to Aiden, he was standing there innocently.

And for the first time since I met him, I wasn't sure if I was standing beside a protector or inside a cage built in control....