From Villain to Virtual Sweetheart: The Fake Heir's Grand Scheme(BL)
Chapter 66: The Price of Interference

Chapter 66: The Price of Interference

The clock was ticking.

Micah could hear every second drumming against his skull, each tick like a countdown to a disaster. Tick. Tick. Tick. The sound wasn’t just audible, it was pricking his skin, dragging him into terror. His pulse throbbed in his ears, and his breath came shallow as if the oxygen in the room had thinned.

His tense nerves showed no sign of relaxation.

He was still inside Leo Mckay’s hotel suite.

Rather than a suite, it felt more like the scene of a crime.

The room was bright, with all lights on, but for Micah, it felt darker than any night he had seen. The hotel vents were constantly working, but they still couldn’t erase the suffocating stench of alcohol, sweat, and something else, something thick and fishy that clung to the air like a sinister fog. Micah’s nose wrinkled involuntarily. He fought the urge to gag. The smell was more than offensive. It was a constant, repulsive reminder of what had almost happened here... what would have happened if he hadn’t shown up.

He stood in the middle of the room, frozen, arms stiff by his sides, body vibrating with barely suppressed adrenaline. The gravity of the situation, of what he had done, was slowly sinking into his mind and body.

His gaze flickered from the drugged and naked figure of Leo sprawled unconscious on the bed to the closed door of the side room where he had locked the manager. A shiver passed through him.

He hadn’t signed up for this.

He was at a loss for what to do next. He had come here expecting a PG-rated scandal to expose, something spicy, dramatic. Instead, he had been handed a gruesome R19 nightmare that even he thought wasn’t fit for any age to watch.

Micah swallowed hard, the sound loud in his throat. He glanced at the clock on the wall again.

He needed to act fast. His thoughts were racing.

What if that bastard manager had contacted the paparazzi beforehand? What if they were already on their way, ready to barge in and capture Leo’s embarrassing moment?

And why the hell would the manager do something like that? From those cameras, it was obvious that he was aiming for blackmail, but why? In the novel, Leo’s manager had been a good, loyal, upright man. He had followed Leo even after Leo left Twilight Entertainment. The two had a bond. Micah had thought so, at least.

But, What if.... Leo was being forced to work for this manager?! The thought hit him like a slap. The colour drained from his face. A chill ran down his spine at the horror of the possibility. What if the manager had been using him, controlling him the whole time? The predator watched every move Leo made... waiting for the moment Leo stepped out of line... so he could crush him.

And what was the role of that vice director in all of this? His head throbbed from excessive thinking.

Micah slapped both his cheeks hard. It wasn’t time to have these thoughts. The sound echoed in the too-quiet room.

"Get it together, Micah," he mumbled under his breath.

He needed to make a decision.

Part of him, the part filled with disgust and anger from reading the book, wanted to snap a photo of naked Leo. But even as the thought crossed his mind, his heart refused it vehemently. What would be the difference between him and those four male leads from the book? Those self-serving hypocrites who used Darcy for their own ends? He couldn’t stoop so low.

"Let’s skip this time," he mumbled.

But now what?

He was in a dilemma. He wanted to leave, but every fibre in his being rebelled against it. What if the manager woke up? What if he had an accomplice waiting nearby, ready to step in and finish what the manager started? Leo was in no condition to defend himself.

Micah sighed loudly, dragging a hand down his face. "Great. Now, I’m stuck playing knight in shining armour."

It was too late to back out. He had interfered. He had crossed the line, turning himself from a bystander into an assailant, attacking the manager.

Leaving Leo here was out of the question. He knew he would regret it in the future. But he had his own principle. When the time came, he would deal with its consequences.

Right now, Leo’s safety has become his responsibility. Like it or not.

The bright side was that others, even Leo, were in the dark about his presence and who he was.

He looked over at Leo again, the once dazzling celebrity reduced to a flushed figure sprawled against crumbled sheets, mouth slightly open, eyes closed, brows furrowed faintly as if trapped in a dream or, more accurately, a nightmare.

Micah’s chest tightened, and he rubbed his face vigorously.

He realised something horrible. If he hadn’t come tonight, Leo would have... he didn’t finish the thought.

Micah’s hands curled into trembling fists at his sides.

Good thing he was unconscious... If he had been awake if he had been aware enough to understand what that manager was about to do to him, what kind of scar would that leave?

Not to mention, it was done by someone he trusted.

Oh God, that would be a fatal blow.

No wonder, Leo, in the book, could not touch Darcy. Not even when Darcy wanted him to. Every time he would flinch, freeze, and push him away.

Micah shivered, wrapping his arms around himself as if trying to scrub away the crawling disgust on his skin.

" I should have hit that scum harder!" he muttered through clenched teeth.

The rage rose in him, but he forced it down. Now wasn’t the time.

He was still pacing the room when it happened.

Knock.

Micah jolted from fright. In the silent room, the sound was so sudden, so sharp.

"Oh, no!" he breathed, eyes widening as he remembered. "The actress!"

How could he forget?

In the novel, the details were vague, just a few lines retold through the actress’s venomous words to Darcy, boasting, taunting, claiming that Leo had ’taken her first’ before Darcy ever came along.

Hadn’t she said a reporter caught her leaving Leo’s room?!

Of course, Leo, in the book, had denied it. He said to Darcy that she only knocked at his door and that nothing had happened.

Knock...knock....

The sound resumed. Each tap at the door felt like a death toll. Micah’s breath hitched.

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