Coffee, Brownies and the Ruthless CEO (MxM)| FILLING THE VOID series, BOOK 1

45. Chapter - I'm not that easy

OLIVER's POV

Seeing the mess all over the news, I wasn't sure whether to be grateful or angry at Victor's performance. I didn't want to admit it, but his words would greatly help my situation. Being the villain who kept his son a secret wasn't a rumor I wanted to be associated with. Apart from hurting us personally, it could hurt my business as well, and I couldn't afford that. Then again, if it was really Victor who leaked the information about Matt, he didn't deserve one bit of sympathy or gratitude from me.

When the first wave of anger wore off, and I had a minute to think about everything, I knew he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't call me in the morning if he did leak it to the press. But after everything that had happened between us, I couldn't silence the tiny voice in the back of my mind that was telling me it was possible. The more than fifteen missed calls from him on my phone were speaking in his favor, but hearing his voice was the last thing I wanted at the moment. I was too exhausted and mentally drained.

After the disaster in the morning, we had to stay at home the whole day, and the phone calls from my friends and family members were coming all day. Josh wasn't as lucky as me and had to leave for work one way or another. It was the first time I appreciated the fact our garage was built on our property. Thanks to that, he could leave without having the reporters bother him. The leeches weren't as stupid as one would have thought and stayed behind the fence, which made his way out easy. On the other hand, though, if they trespassed, we could have sued them, and that would be really satisfying after all the trouble they caused us.

I never understood how the people who worked for the gutter press could live with themselves. They were almost worse than the plague. Intruding into other people's private lives didn't sound like a greatly spent time.

"I'm telling you for the millionth time already, I'm fine. Exhausted, but fine. Don't worry mom," I said, hearing the rattling of keys coming from the main door. I didn't realize it was already so late, but the idea of having my fiancé back home made my exhaustion subside a little.

"I'll call you back, Josh just came home, and I need to talk to him. Love you." I hung up, springing up and running right to the entrance hall. Matty was sound asleep after being cranky all day long due to our ruined plans, and I seriously needed some time to talk this out with a person I trusted the most in the world. A person who could calm me down just by being in the same room as me.

"Hi," he said the moment our eyes met. He looked way better than I thought he would, and the relief I felt was impossible to describe with words alone. I was terrified this incident would harm our relationship because being in the public eye like this wasn't exactly a situation people desired. Moreover, Joshua liked his privacy. Having all these people watching our every step was too much to handle.

"Hi. How was your day? Please tell me this mess didn't affect your work." Waiting for him to take off his shoes, I went right for a hug. I needed to feel his warmth.

After a minute of complete silence, my heart almost stopped at his words.

"It did."

My deepest fears were coming to life, and my wild imagination wouldn't stop coming up with one terrible scenario after another. This was all negative publicity for his company. And whatever some people said, negative publicity usually did more harm than good.

I was about to pull away to look at him for some kind of a signal he wasn't blaming me for the problems when his strong arms pulled me back into a tight hug, his chest vibrating with laughter.

"My colleagues wouldn't stop asking stupid questions and making stupid jokes about me becoming a celebrity. It was hell." He chuckled, giving me a soft kiss on my head.