The Paparazzo with a Secret

Chapter 2

Hayden was working in his office, robotically reading and signing the paperwork before him... he sighed as he put his pen down. He may as well take a break before returning to his work...

Reaching out to press on the intercom to notify Loyd, he was interrupted by a loud slam. Looking up he raised a brow at the breathless Sieg who strangely looked as if he would die laughing. "Take a look at this!"

Without further prompting, Sieg slammed the tabloid onto Hayden's desk. One look was all he needed to find out why Sieg had rushed over. The headlines splashed across the page: Veteran Socialite Gets Caught in Obscene Acts!

The picture below it, even though it had been censored a great deal, revealed a man with another in the middle of their... act. Hayden looked at Sieg, prompting him to explain. Sieg rolled his eyes as he did so. "Remember we had that run-in with that commoner woman?"

A flash of that young woman appeared in his mind. "Yeah, it's hard forgetting someone like that,"

"Exactly!" Sieg laughed. "And the man chasing after her?"

"He was quite livid, from what I remember," Hayden's lips twitched upwards at the memory. "she called him... banana-arse–"

His eyes widened in realization and Sieg grinned smugly tapping the tabloid again. "This was the photo he was after!"

Hayden took the tabloid and skimmed the article, cracking a smile. "She has guts, that's for sure,"

Both of them relocated to the seats in the room as they had a talk over tea that Loyd had brought a few minutes prior. Sieg couldn't stop smirking. "Did you see the way she had ditched him?"

"I'm surprised she even had the resolve for that," Hayden laughed. "and pulling off a stunt like that in public, she's experienced alright."

"What was her name again?" Hayden asked as the small realization dawned on him.

Sieg gave a shrug as he skimmed the paper again. "They hid her name, there's only the one who wrote the article."

Hayden was about to ask when the door opened again, this time Oliver appeared. "Heeey! Oliver's heeere!"

"Oliver, have you seen the tabloid?" Sieg jumped the question on the frivolous man waving the paper around.

Oliver laughed. "That one? Of course I have! It's the first one that has ever beaten me on the front page!"

"It's been published in Altaria as well?" Hayden questioned, confused.

"Not just Altaria," Sieg snickered. "it's gone worldwide!"

Hayden's eyes went wide in disbelief. "Worldwide?"

"The man was honestly no good," Oliver sat down reaching out for a snack, popping it into his mouth. "he attends every party he can get himself into, even worse he harasses young women behind the scenes, flaunts his status and pressures everyone below him,"

"You sound like you know him personally," Sieg points out, a small smirk on his face.

"Of course I do! He's an Altarian after all!" Oliver pops another sweet into his mouth.

"Wait, if he's from Altaria... then he chased her all the way to Philip?" Hayden caught Sieg's gaze. Both of them reaching their own conclusions.

Oliver perked up. "Her? Have you seen someone being chased around by him?"

Sieg gave a snort. "More like she was providing the chase for him,"

"Oh! Now I'm interested!" Oliver laughed. "This girl that can make a veteran socialite run for his money, what's she like?"

"She was just your average everyday commoner," Sieg grinned, snickering.

"I'd say she was unordinary," Hayden pointed out. "you don't often see ordinary citizens jumping on top of moving vehicles,"

Sieg burst out laughing. "That's true!"

Oliver volleyed between their conversations. "She must be one heck of a girl! Man, I wish I had been there!"

Hayden and Sieg told the story to Oliver, of how they encountered the woman while walking to the café in town.

Oliver leaned back into the seat. "How lucky, wish I could have met her,"

"We didn't actually get to speak with her," Hayden points out.

"But you've seen her," Oliver counters. "all sorts articles are coming up with no photographer named, not all of them are big ones but it's clear that they've all been taken by the same person,"

Sieg raised a brow. "You looked into it?"

"For a person whose name is in the papers all the time, there's no way that I would let it slip by," Oliver shrugged, his easygoing attitude free of any worry. "so I had Werner look into it a bit, turns out it's sent anonymously through a smaller company."

"That's just plain stalking," Hayden jabs at the other.

"No it's not, it's more like curiosity," Oliver counters. "I didn't go any further than the company!"

The three of them chatted away until evening.

•—•☆•—•

"You still cleanin' your viewfinder?"

I looked up from my meticulous work to see my Boss by the doorway, arms crossed and his usual smoke in his mouth. I gave a snort. "Yer one ta say, this viewfinder of mine is what keeps the bucks rollin',"

He shrugged pushing himself off the doorframe. He threw a USB and I caught it with ease, immediately plugging it into my laptop. Not a second later, files opened up revealing a nasty piece of work. Boss' voice filled me in as I scanned the documents. "Pierro, he's in Liberty right now, rumours got around that he's dealin' under the tables at a top notch gamin' house."

I sent a look towards him. "That it?"

Boss grinned. "Nah, bigger fish would float in seawater if he was nothin',"

I felt my lips quirk. "Lay it on me,"

"He's rumoured to be the head of a dope ring, his sources are unsourced." Boss says with a puff. "Think you can do it?"

"Yer askin' the wrong gal if I weren't," I returned to cleaning my viewfinder. "who'dya think yer askin'?"

"I'm looking forward to it,"