Billionaire Lawyer's Secretary - Chapter 10: Chapter 10

Adrian's icy glare softened, but his hand stayed put. "Your phone."
Elara tried to break free. "Let go of my hand. I'll go delete it."
Adrian was losing patience. "I said—your phone."
"I didn't bring it. Ow!"
Adrian tightened his grip on her wrist. "Didn't bring it? Then what'd you use to call someone earlier?"
Elara felt guilty, stammering, "I..."
Fury hardened Adrian's face, and he squeezed harder.
Elara, sensitive to pain, trembled. "That hurts! Let go. How can I get my phone if you don't let go?"
Adrian let go and waited for her to pull out her phone.
Elara rubbed her red wrist, pouting, but stalled. Adrian's patience ran out, and he stepped forward to search her.
Elara quickly took the phone from her pocket and hid it as she turned on the screen. Adrian noticed something and rushed to grab it. Knowing she couldn't win, she turned her back.
Adrian kept his distance at first, but Elara was stubborn. He ended up pressing her against the door.
Elara felt his chest against her back, making her unable to move.
Seeing she still clutched the phone, Adrian wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
Elara wriggled and struggled, but he was stronger. Adrian held her tight and grabbed her phone.
"Mmm..." Adrian grunted as she bit his hand. He let her go, ignored the pain, opened the phone, and turned on the screen. The reason why she refused to give it up was clear.
Adrian scoffed, "Ms. Langton, do you know how little effect a recording like this has in court?"
Elara was furious. "Who cares about court? I'll expose you online."
Adrian sneered, deleting her recording as he lectured. "You seem to like online rumors. Think that works? Watch out, or you'll get backlash and not know how you died."
"You're too nosy."
"Yeah, a proud girl like you never listens." Adrian deleted her post, picked up his phone to send a message, and stuffed both phones in his pocket.
"Huh? You deleted that, so why are you holding my phone?"
"Ten minutes. Have Montgomery Group's PR team draft an apology, and you post it."
"Deleting it isn't enough? Now you want me to write an apology too?"
"What? Isn't that necessary?"
Elara was done arguing with this unreasonable guy. She clammed up, tears welling in her eyes. She just wanted this over so she could crash.
Adrian watched her small frame shake as she cried, her eyes all teary and pitiful. He felt weirdly drawn and snapped, "Why are you crying?"
Elara wondered what else Adrian had going for him besides his looks. Every word out of his mouth made her want to punch him, but she knew she couldn't win a fight or an argument. She remained silent.
Ten minutes later, Adrian got the apology from PR. It was long, so he added Elara and sent it that way. Then, he copied it to her phone and posted it on Tweet.
"Apology's up, pinned to your Tweet. Keep it there for over a month, or I can't promise that the video of you in my room won't leak. You influencers need good PR. Don't mess up your rep."
He handed her phone back and warned, "Surely, people can't judge a book by its cover."
Elara didn't get it at first until she saw the unread message on her phone: [Heard the male models at Aurora Club are hot. Next time, let's get ten!]
Elara flipped out, shoved Adrian, and took off.
The private room door slid shut. Adrian finally looked at the bleeding bite mark on his hand. "Tsk, that was a nasty bite."
Elara, eyes red, rushed out of the room at the end of the hall and ran into Julian, who was looking for her. "Where'd you go? Couldn't find you anywhere."
"Got bitten by a beast!" Elara stormed into their room, grabbed her bag off the sofa without saying hi to Ruby and Victor, who were laughing over drinks, and left.
"Elara! Hey? Where'd she go?" Ruby wasn't about to let her friend leave like that. Plus, she saw Elara's red eyes, so something was up.
Ruby turned to Victor and said, "Mr. Montgomery, I'm out, too. Thanks for the meal. Enjoy your drink. Dinner's on me next time."
Victor was sharp; he noticed something was off with Elara and just smiled and nodded.
Just as Ruby left, Adrian walked in. Seeing the anger on his face, Victor guessed what he'd been up to. Earlier, when Elara left the private room, Adrian followed her. She left upset, and Adrian walked back slowly. Victor asked, "Did you upset her again?"
Adrian argued, "What do you mean 'again'? I was just talking to her."
"Talking to her? And you made her cry?"
"She's stubborn and cries too easily; not my fault."
Victor sighed, "If only you had half the patience for others as you do for Josie..."
"Victor, what's your problem today? Why keep bringing her up?"
Knowing Josie was off-limits, Victor changed the topic. "So, how'd your talk go?"
"The post's gone, and she put out an apology."
"Huh? That fast?"
Adrian mocked, "Do you think I'm like you? Always flirting with Ruby?"
"Adrian, shut up. Wasn't I just being nice to get on Elara's good side?"
"Is that so? Did your Ruby fix the problem for you?"
Victor fell silent. Remembering Elara's red, teary eyes, he couldn't help but feel scared. "You didn't force her, did you?"
"I'm a lawyer. I just talked sense with her, that's all."
"I hope so."