Becoming First Lead

xv - Digging

●NIKKI POV●

We pulled up to the driveway at Aria's home . I had a pit of dread in my stomach as I saw a familiar car in the driveway. Austin. I hear Alex grumbling next to me, cursing the car he sees .

"There must be a good reason why he's here," I say.

"Yeah and I'll give him a good reason to leave," he spits out. I roll my eyes as he huffs .

Before we can even ring the doorbell  Warren opens the door , "get in."

"What the hell is going on?" Alex asks .

"That's what we've been trying to figure out ourselves," he answers his brother.

As we enter the house and into the livingroom we notice Austin on his phone, looking furiously and yelling at whomever was on the other end .

Aria was putting out some drinks when she saw us . With a weak smile , "come sit down and have a drink."

"This early?" I joke , trying to find a way to ease the tension .

"We're tracing the storyline and how it got to where it did," she pauses and looks at Alex, "you're not going to like this at all."

Before we can ask any other questions another person joined us , "Steph!" I cry out as I hug her . She has a determined look in her eyes as she embraces me tightly .

"Are you guys okay? I have my connections out trying to figure out where the source started," she says.

"I'm just confused, Austin and I went on one day date . The second one never happened because....." I trail off thinking about my date with Alex.

Alex stood next to me and held my hip posessively, "because we're together now."

Stephanie smiles at the two of us , "I better be invited to the wedding," she says and winks. But then her playfulness disappears, "in all seriousness , this Austin news is huge.  Someone either has it out for him, or for you Alex."

"Gee thanks," I say again , "I guess I really am chopped liver."

"Oh shush that pretty mouth of yours," Stephanie says , "it's not that you're nobody. Just in the business world these two men are one of the big leaguers. Austin comes from a very prominent family . And Alex, well everyone knows the Wells brothers ."

Just as she was finishing her sentence she received a call . Stephanie excused herself as she went into another room . Over on the other side Austin was just getting off a call . He looks up at us and Alex squeezed me in closer .

"I'm sorry this is all happening. I was in shock when the building manager rang me up and told me that the front entrance were filled with reporters," he says with sincerity.

Before I can say anything else I get a text . I open it and see a message from my father:

My babygirl, I saw the news. Please tell me this isn't true, especially since we've never met the guy.

I sigh as I hit the call button . I know if I text it , he wouldn't be able to understand me .

"Daddy, it's not true," was the first thing I said before he can greet me.