Present Day

February, 6 Months Pregnant

I swear every time I call his phone, I get no answer.

I'm panicking over here, Babe. Pick up the phone!

Desperate measures for desperate times. I scroll through my contacts and touch Leon's name. If anybody can get to the bottom of this, he can.

"Leon! Oh my God, it's so good to hear your voice. Do you have any idea what's happening right now?"

Leon sounds as if he's sitting up. "No, what's going on? Phoenix told me it was cool to take the night off. You still at the company party?"

"Well, you should've stayed, it's a fucking zoo out here! The cops and ambulance are everywhere and they're looking for some girl. They said she drugged an executive and robbed him! I don't want to say this out loud, but I think Phoenix is in trouble—"

"—I'm there. Calm down, Aria. You have the baby to worry about. Wait for me out front." Leon hangs up.

More squad cars pull up and cops jump out, drawing their weapons as they head for the building. I cover my mouth as several cops instruct the crowd to move back and begin setting up a perimeter around the building.

This can't be happening.

Thankful for the blanket, I wrap it around my shoulders tighter.

You're freezing your ass off. Literally.

Understatement of the year.

The crowd seems to swell with more bystanders as the police mark off the area with yellow crime scene barricade tape. All I can see wrapped around the perimeter is "Police Line Do Not Cross" repeating again and again and again. A guy comes up from behind.

"Hey, what's going on, here? Somebody get killed or something?"

I frown.

The guy snickers at his poorly timed joke.

I shrug and walk off. I don't have the energy or the strength to put that asshole in his place.

Leon pulls up. He opens the passenger door of his navy Cadillac Escalade. "Get in, let's warm you up."

I jump in, thankful to be away from all the chaos. Leon drives around the corner and parks.

"Have you talked to Phoenix?" I ask frantically.

Leon shakes his head. "Called a bunch of times. Something's not right." He looks me in the eye. "Repeat what you heard. Exactly."

Blinking rapidly, I try to remember. "OK. Yeah. I was standing next to this cop. His radio. He was talking into it. The lady on the other end said, uh. There was a suspect presenting as female, black, five feet seven. She said she drugged an executive and tried to rob him but someone caught them? I think. Wait. I think she said security! She said security caught her and she pulled the fire alarm!"

"Where were you when this happened?" he asks.

"Um. I was stuck. I had uh accidently took the elevator to the basement. When the alarm went off and water was pouring out of the fire sprinklers! OK. It's starting to make sense." I shake my head. "It's Phoenix, Leon. It's Phoenix!"

"OK. Let's not get too emotional. I need you levelheaded. OK?" Leon grabs my arms. "Oh my God, Aria! You're soaking!" He gets out of the truck and goes to trunk and returns with clothes. "Here, put this on. It's big, but it will keep you warm. Go ahead and change, I won't look." Leon turns away and looks out the driver window.

Staring at the side of this face, I cautiously peel the wet sweater dress off along with my soaked bra and pull the oversized grey sweatshirt on. The warmth is more than I knew I needed and more than welcomed. "So, what do we do?"

Leon turns around.

"No! Wait! I'm not done yet."

"Sorry about that."

I remove my boots, so grateful my socks are still dry. But the wet panties have to go. I slip on the grey sweatpants and bask in cozy, warm cocoon. "Thank you, for this!"

"No, problem. You dressed?" Leon asks for reassurance.

"Yes! OK. So, what's next?"

Leon faces me. "I'm getting in touch with security, that's what." He picks up his phone and calls someone.

I watch intensely.

"Stefan! Man. What's going on? I can't get in touch with Phoenix."

"Can you put him on speaker?" I beg.

Leon obliges. "Man, I saw her! With my own two eyes. I was doing the rounds and I happened to be on the executive level. I saw this girl, she's pretty new, an intern, I think. She was scandalous. Wearing red lingerie—"

"I fucking knew it!" I yell angrily.

Leon puts a hand up.

"Everything alright?" Stefan asks.

"It's cool. Carry on." Leon replies.

"Well, I saw her. She was in the boss' office."

"Clarify, boss," Leon says.

"In Mr. Prescott's office."

Blinking non-stop, I take a minute and stare out the window. Hand on forehead. "I knew she was no good. I tried to tell him." I try to keep my breath steady. "I tried to fucking tell him!"

Leon puts a hand over mine. "Calm, remember?"

I turn to see his face, beginning to blur. The tip of my nose burns.

"Breathe." He instructs me.

I take a deep breath once and again slowly.

"So, what happened?" Leon asks Stefan.

"The girl is diabolical. Mr. Prescott already looked worse for wear, but that wasn't enough for her. I saw her take some blue and white capsules. She opened a couple over a drink and mixed it in before giving it to Mr. Prescott. As soon as I saw it, I walked into the office and confronted her. Mr. Prescott collapsed. He fell from is chair and the distraction was enough for her to get past me. She pulled the fire alarm and jetted out. I had to choose between chasing after her or getting Mr. Prescott help."

"No, you did right. Glad you got there when you did. I'm going to find where they've taken Mr. Prescott. You keep me posted on this girl's whereabouts. I'll check in later." Leon hangs up the phone.

I turn to Leon. "I saw him on that stretcher. He didn't look good, Leon. He didn't look like himself. We've got find him." I can feel my urgency becoming panic, quickly.

Leon huffs. "Aria, I know this is hard. You've got to be easy right now. We don't need you both in the hospital. Stress is not good when you're this far along." He hands me a napkin. "Breathe. We will get to the bottom of this."

"OK." I nod, wiping my eyes. "OK."

Leon goes through his contacts. "Let's see who we can get to tell us what we need to know." He continues scrolling. "Ah ha! Morris. My man." Leon taps the name. "Hey man, how's it going? I need your help. Need to get some information." Leon nods. "Cool. Uh, you heard anything about a man on a stretcher leaving Prescott Realty?" Leon pauses, listening. "OK, get back to me asap."

Leon looks at me, almost apologetically. "You know, that intern? I tried to tell Phoenix about her. She seemed off. Sent my Spidey senses off the Richter."

"Brooke, that's her name," I tell him sniffling. "I tried to tell him too. But he wasn't having it. Don't mess with his precious fucking Brooke." I look out the window.

"You know, I think it was the pressure. These last few months have been nothing but pressure on him." Leon laughs lightly. "Pressure makes diamonds, right. You know, the merger, Windsor Court and the city council putting up blocks, you, the baby, the twins, Nora? Can you imagine how much pressure this man's been under? And for a sustained amount of time? Being around Brooke probably felt like an oasis or some shit. You know, not to blame you or anything, but from what I know, she didn't act as if she needed anything from him. From what he told me, she was good at filling in the gaps and getting things done. And Phoenix needed as much help as he could get. But he turned to the wrong person for that. I could see her coming a mile away. And he would've seen it too had he not been blinded with so much responsibility. So many people counting on him."

Guilt.

"I was up there." I pause waiting for Leon's anger. "I saw Brooke, in that red lingerie. And I saw Phoenix. Sitting his chair like a king at his throne. Watching her like she was a piece of candy he couldn't wait to open. But I was blinded. Clouded with accusations and fear and worry that he had chosen her over me. I never saw that he actually needed me in that moment. He needed me to come in and check that fucking bitch. Instead, I ran. Convinced that I had lost him, when the reality was, I should've been there saving him. He needed me! And he's just a man, a human like us all. He was vulnerable and I wasn't there! I fucked up, Leon. I fucked up so bad!" I cover my face with my hands.

"Here, that napkin is soaked." Leon passes me another napkin. His phone rings. "Good work! My man." Leon starts the Porsche. "I know where he is."

We pull off.

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Is Aria finally coming to her senses? Do you think it's too late?