Chapter5
1195 Words
The Price of Being in His Orbit
Lynette’s Pov
The banging on the door rattled through my bones.
“Mr. Stonebridge! Open the door. Now!”
My pulse shot to my throat. Justin went still beside me. The kind of stillness that meant something was about to explode.
He crossed the room in three strides and opened the door.
Henry Stonebridge didn’t walk in.
He stormed in.
His presence alone sucked all the air from the room and the way his eyes landed on me?
Like I was a stain that had seeped deep into the marble.
“What in God’s name have you done?” Henry snapped at Justin, brushing past him without waiting for an answer.
He held a phone in his hand. The screen was lit. Even from across the room, I could see the headline.
“STONEBRIDGE HEIR CAUGHT IN HOTEL ROOM SCANDAL.”
My stomach dropped.
Henry lifted the phone like it disgusted him. “I just stopped this from hitting the press, barely. Someone leaked it to half the financial blogs and two board members.”
He stepped closer. His cologne hit the back of my throat.
Then he turned the full force of his glare on me.
“And you.”
My legs went weak.
Justin stepped forward instantly, blocking half of me with his body. “She had nothing to do with this.”
Henry’s expression sharpened. “Don’t insult me. Don’t insult yourself. This is the same woman tied to the last scandal. The same woman who mysteriously keeps appearing in compromising situations with you.”
“I said she’s innocent.”
Henry’s lip curled. “You said that last time. And then what? The board spent a week questioning your leadership. Our investors nearly pulled out. My phone rang nonstop because you……” he jabbed a finger at Justin “…lack the discipline to control your own staff.”
My breath hitched. “Sir, with all due respect, I have never….”
“Silence,” he barked.
The word cracked through the air. I flinched.
Justin’s jaw tightened. “Henry….”
“No.” Henry held up a hand. “Not another word from you. Especially not to defend this.”
This.
Like I was an object. A problem.
He rounded on me fully now. “Do you have any idea what you’ve almost cost this company? What you’ve cost my nephew?”
“No,” I whispered. “I don’t understand any of this. I didn’t….”
“You didn’t?” His eyes narrowed. “Photos don’t create themselves. Private hotel rooms don’t magically produce illusions. Either you orchestrated this, or you allowed yourself to be used.”
I shook my head violently. “I swear…I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, you swear?” His voice dripped acid. “You think your word means something here?”
Justin took a step forward, voice low and harsh. “Back off. I said she’s not responsible.”
Henry ignored him, continuing his slow, deliberate examination of me—like he was searching for the reason that justified being interrogated by him.
“With your background,” he said coldly, “your debts, your little side jobs, I should have known better than to let Justin hire someone like you.”
Shame burned my cheeks. How did he…?
Justin stiffened beside me. “Henry, enough.”
But Henry moved faster than either of us expected.
He grabbed my arm, hard
Not enough to injure, but enough to make it clear this was no invitation—it was dismissal.
“You’re coming with me,” he said.
Justin’s voice thundered across the room. “Let. Her. Go.”
Henry didn’t even look back. “If she’s innocent, she’ll walk out of this just fine.”
He yanked the door open and shoved me into the hallway.
My heel slid, ankle twisting, but I caught myself on the wall.
“Sir, please”
“You think Justin is naïve enough to see what you’re doing,” Henry hissed, “but I built this company. I’ve dealt with social climbers like you for forty years. You all have the same desperation. The same excuses.”
“I haven’t done anything!” The words trembled out of me. “Someone is framing us!”
His laugh was short, humorless. “Someone? If there was a threat to the Stonebridge name, trust me, I would know.”
He grabbed my chin, forcing my face up so I had no choice but to meet his predatory stare.
“You’re fired.”
The floor dropped under me.
My breath vanished.
“You’re…I’m….w..what?”
“Fired,” he repeated slowly, as if speaking to a child. “Effective now. The security will escort you out. Your access is revoked. You’ll collect your things under supervision.”
My chest cracked open. “Sir, please…if you just let me explain…”
“I don’t need your explanation,” he snapped. “I need stability. I need control and you…” His gaze swept over me with contempt. “…are chaos.”
Something shattered behind us—Justin’s voice, filled with anger.
“Henry! You can’t fire her!”
Henry turned just as Justin reached us, grabbing his uncle’s wrist and pulling his hand off my face.
“I can and I did,” Henry said calmly. “You’ve already dragged us through enough embarrassment. I’m not letting this woman take the company down with you.”
“She didn’t do anything,” Justin snarled.
“And I don’t care,” Henry replied.
He faced me again, looking almost bored.
“You will leave quietly. You will not speak to the press. You will not contact Justin again. Violating any of these terms will result in legal action. Are we clear?”
My voice barely came out. “You can’t just….”
He leaned in, eyes glinting with malicious certainty.
“Oh, Miss Banks,” he murmured.
“I can do anything.”
The elevator dinged down the hall like some cruel punchline.
Justin moved in front of me again, his voice a low growl. “This is your legacy, Henry? Throwing innocent people under the bus because you’re afraid?”
Henry’s jaw flexed. “My legacy is protecting this company from scandals you’re too blind to avoid.”
He turned away from us, adjusting his cufflinks.
“Security will escort her out.”
He started walking.
Justin lunged to follow but Henry threw a final dagger over his shoulder.
“You step out of that room with her,” he said, “and you will prove every rumor right.”
Justin froze.
Because Henry knew exactly where to stab him.
I felt something in my chest tear. Slowly. Painfully.
Henry walked away.
Justin stood there, fists clenched, jaw tight, breathing like he was fighting himself.
And I…I stood between them both.
Finally, Justin turned to me with eyes burning with a guilt that nearly crushed me.
“Lynette…” he whispered.
But it was too late.
Everything in my world had already collapsed and the person who destroyed it?
Had walked away without even looking back.
- Writer
