Broken Handcuffs [III]

xxviii.

[ look at Alexa's heart eyes to Nikki like that's a whole MOOD ]

Three weeks after the big "talk" amongst the triangle which then turned into like... a... what would be the shape then? It would still count as a triangle right? We'll say that it was anyways for lack of better terminology. The triangle was finally connected and yet only two vertices still remained in contact with each other.

Leah did disappear off the map much like AJ was forewarned, meanwhile Nicole didn't like the fact that Leah still up and left without a briefing or anything. Now she had ties to the relationship and she simply couldn't leave everyone out anymore. AJ understood Nikki's side but also was aware of Leah's, which was to keep it as clean as possible until she was ready for whatever she had to do. Until then, both AJ and Nikki agreed to keep their eyes open for any weird activity on RAW and Smackdown Live.

They were both extremely busy on their own brands— well, AJ more than Nikki in a way. With AJ being Smackdown Women's Champion, she was in a long overdue rivalry with Becky Lynch over the title when Charlotte butted into the picture and won it herself, thus sparking the straight fire that was Becky Lynch's heel turn. Although AJ was rather intrigued with how the story would unfold between the old friends/new enemies, she also got rather attached to being champion and wasn't giving up just like that. When Becky cut a promo on Charlotte taking her spotlight, AJ cut one about Charlotte not even belonging in the match to begin with.

Fans were really invested in Smackdown's product and AJ loved the attention. Meanwhile on the other side of the spectrum, none of the women knew what was going on with their title picture on RAW. Ronda Rousey was the champion of that show which raised a lot of questions when women like Nia Jax, Ember Moon, and Sasha Banks were on a tear lately, as well as the vets like the Bella Twins, Alicia Fox, and Mickie James. Nikki hated that she carried her entire championship match against Ronda and still lost. It was low of WWE to ask of her, but seeing the smile on Ronda's face that night made her feel a tiny bit better.

The first suspicious activity was the night of Survivor Series 2018.

The teams were as such: Smackdown had Asuka, Naomi, Sonya Deville, Peyton Royce, and Billie Kay while Raw had Mickie James, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax and Tamina. They were the women for the five on five tag match later on that night. Meanwhile the main event was Ronda Rousey versus Charlotte Flair versus AJ Lee. Becky had been injured during the invasion by Nia Jax and although Becky handpicked Charlotte to take her place in the champion versus champion match, AJ butted in once again and made her own stipulation: If either of them won the match, they'd be the sole number one contender for Becky's title. Becky agreed since it'd be less stress on her part and "It doesn't matter, I already own Charlotte but I wouldn't mind making you my bitch too AJ."

The night was progressing fast however the women weren't up yet.

"Hey," Shane McMahon called for Nicole at one of the catering tables and when she came closer, he sat down to indicate that he had intentions for something more than just a greeting. Nicole mirrored his action.

"What's up, what are you doing here?" She greeted warmly.

"I'm here because Leah's been missing as of late. The last time I called her, it said her phone number was no longer in service. Her home is up for sale, there's virtually nothing about her anymore and needless to say, I'm a bit worried. When was the last time you were in contact with her? Did she seem okay?"

"The McMahons are after me Nicole, and I didn't want to tell you because they know how close we are. They're going to try to manipulate you but don't let them."

Nicole snaps out of the memory but puts on a face as if she was combing her mind for the answer, "Um, the last time I talked her was that day at corporate when she quit. I still don't know what happened but she was pretty shaken. I'd never seen her that angry before. Do you know what that was about?" She tries her own attempt to mine for information. Shane raises his eyebrows but nothing else is revealed in his demeanor.