Fireworks 3 and 4

Chapter Seventy-Two

    "So, if it were up to you, you'd expose her?" Mia asked.

    Drake shrugged. "I let people try me for a minute, until I get to my breaking point. Once I get to that breaking point, it's time to make an example out of someone. What she's trying to do is beyond out of pocket. Making assault allegations of any kind can put a stain on someone's career that never goes away. If it were up to me? I'd light her ass up to the point where no one else ever attempts anything like this again."

    Mia exhaled loudly.

    On his end of the line, Chubbs said, "Hold on, we have more information coming in."

    "More?" Drake asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I didn't think that was possible. We already have a shit ton to work with."

    "Give me a minute," Chubbs said, his voice sounding farther away. A moment later, he could be heard mumbling to someone else in a low voice.

    Drake slid an arm across Mia's shoulders. "You're still worried about taking the low road."

    "It doesn't feel right, Aubrey."

    "You don't have to do it," he reminded her. "But you asked me what I would do."

    "I know." She sighed miserably and leaned on him. "A part of me wants to. The other part is just...worried about who I'll become if I go down that road. You know? I'm stressed and worried about taking action like this, but if I do it, will I become someone who doesn't think twice about ruining someone's life?"

    His eyes narrowed in contemplation. "So you're worried that ruining her life will taint you somehow?"

    "I'm worried about the implications an action like this would have on my soul," she clarified. "Or who I am as a person."

    "That's not something I can clear up for you," he said honestly. "In my experience, there have been some shady things I've done for the sake of vengeance. Have I done things I never thought I'd do? Absolutely. Is it easier for me to do something shady now that I've done shady shit already? Absolutely. Do I think that it's turned my soul completely black or some shit? Absolutely not. I don't go around ruining lives just for the sake of doing it. I don't take pleasure in doing it when I feel pushed to that point. The world isn't black and white. It isn't just good and evil. There are a lot of gray areas."

    "Right," she said softly.

    "Fuck," Chubbs blurted out. "Okay, we just hit a gold mine with two crazy pieces of information."

    Drake cleared his throat. "Go ahead."

    "We found out why her arrest record didn't come up when she was hired by the dance company. They have a different spelling of her name on file, a spelling not linked with her arrests. They have her name spelled with a Ph, and the last name also has altered spelling. Both her first and last name still sound the same phonetically, but have helped her to dodge being linked to her past crimes." Chubbs paused and then his voice sounded far away again. "Hey, can you run a check on this spelling of her name? See if anything else comes up? Thanks, man." Then he was back on the phone. "As far as the second piece of info, after she stopped messing around with this Anthony character she accused of being the father of her child, she started seeing someone else. Someone who's going to look real familiar since we've dealt with him recently. Sending you an image now."

    Mia braced herself while watching Drake twist his phone around so she could see its screen.

    He accessed his text messages and about thirty seconds later, a text image came through. "Are you fucking serious?"

    "Farrah is sleeping with Real Ish?" Mia demanded.

    "They linked up as recently as last night, going by his social media accounts," Chubbs stated. "He posts her, but she doesn't post him."

    "At least she's not completely stupid," Mia muttered.

    Drake slanted a look at her. "I don't know what to make of that info," he said into the phone speaker.

    "We don't either," Chubbs admitted. "A thought that occurred to me is that the whole thing could've been a setup. Revenge for putting Real Ish on blast to the press."

    "Shit, we think it could have been that deep?" Drake wondered aloud.

    "Disappointed that it wasn't just because you're so hot and irresistible?" Mia joked.

    He laughed and shook his head. "What? No, of course not."

    She gave him a look.

    He laughed again. "No, alright? There was just no way she knew I was going to pop up on that day, and she got the dance job before Mia went at Real Ish publicly. Is it possible that she took the opportunity to stick it to us after what her man did? Sure it is, of course it is. I'm just saying it could have also been just a chance thing."

    "Either way, it's pretty damning," Mia said tiredly.

    "Does this help you to make a decision one way or another?" Chubbs asked.

    "Not really," she said. "Did she speak on my issue with Real Ish at all on any of her social media accounts? You're saying she didn't post him, but do you see anything that could be related to me speaking out about him?"

    "It would only take a minute to check," Chubbs said, and a moment later the sound of snapping fingers could be heard.

    Oliver sounded tired. "Are we close to wrapping this up? I have a conference call with the label soon. I might have to hop off and have you guys update me later."

    "Two minutes," Chubbs said. "The say after you outed him on the radio show, she has a string of tweets that could be related. One says:

'Why would he want a basic bitch when he has a full meal over here?'

'Bitches are out here lying on my man and Ion't like dat.'

'He probably rejected her flirtation and made her salty.'

And she has a response to someone else, probably one of her friends. The response says, 'Because bitch who is she? No one would know who she even is if she wasn't linked to Drake. Bitches think they can stir up some shit just to get put on. She doesn't know she's fucking with the wrong ones. That's my man and I'm sticking beside him.'"

    Mia's eyes met Drake's.

    He stared back at her wordlessly. 

    "Light her ass up, Chubbs," Mia said without breaking eye contact with her man. "We'll let her know she's fucking with the wrong ones."

    "You and I will talk about how to cover our asses on a separate call, Chubbs" Oliver said before abruptly disconnecting from the call.

    Mia took a few steadying breaths, vaguely aware of Drake's arm around her shoulders. Was that the right call to make? Maybe I should tell Chubbs not to bother.

    But Chubbs and Drake were already brainstorming. All they'd needed was the go-ahead. Then they were like two teenagers planning a prank on some mutually shared nemesis.

    With a sigh, she leaned back and listened to the two planning. I just hope and pray that this doesn't backfire on any of us, she thought, closing her eyes.