Chapter 43: Lydia

“What the hell do you think you’re doing Drake!” Dianne yelled pinning Drake under her glare, not even bothering to acknowledge Lydia’s presence.

“A pleasure to see you, as always Dianne.” Lydia responded to Dianne’s hysterics.

The hallway stirred to life as Drake’s employees started to leave the conference room, each one pausing as they saw Dianne standing in front of their boss and his fiancée with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. Drake’s employees knew he had an estranged relationship with his family as Drake had never felt the need to lie to his employees about his life. Aside from his relationship with Lydia, which everyone now knew about, Drake had pretty much been an open book.

The lowest paid of the employees, a male named Issac, who worked as a recorder, slid his phone out of his pocket, slyly turning on the video recorder, before positioning his phone in his hand, where the camera could see Dianne, Drake, and Lydia, but no one could see the phone. He knew if whatever argument they were having continued, that the media would pay big for the story. The Whittenberg Scandal, as Drake and Lydia’s relationship was being called, was a major hit with the society pages lately.

“DON’T TALK TO ME YOU TROLLOP!” Dianne yelled at Lydia, no longer caring if she caused a scene, “Drake, how could you do this to your family. You are tarnishing the Whittenberg name.” Dianne whined, taking a softer tone with her son, making her appear soft and gentle.

“The Whittenberg name was already tarnished mother.” Drake sneered, “Long before I even considered entertaining the idea of a relationship with Lydia.”

“Tarnished?” Dianne scoffed, “There wasn’t a single smudge on the Whittenberg name, until you decided to let that whore into your bed.”

“Whore,” Lydia’s eyes glistened, not with tears, but with revenge, “You would dare to call me a whore?”

“It’s not an insult darling, it’s what you are. You serviced men with your body for payment, therefore making yourself a prostitute, which in turn is the definition of the word whore. Come on Lydia, you’re proud of your past, you should be proud to be a whore.” Dianne replied, a snarky grin on her face, thinking she’d finally bested Lydia.

“GET OUT!” Drake yelled.

“Now, now, Darling,” Lydia cooed, patting Drake on the shoulder, “We must be hospitable to mommy dearest. After all she came all this way. And please Dianne, it’s the 21st century, there’s no need to be a prude.” Lydia replied sweetly.

“So I’m a prude because I don’t whore myself out for a few bucks?” Dianne asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Oh did I say prude?” Lydia asked, raising her hand to her mouth, “Oops, I meant hypocrite.”

“Really darling, hypocrite? Perhaps Drake should put his money to better use, instead of paying for what’s between your legs he should buy you an education. Its a shame, the future lady of Whittenberg enterprises doesn’t know even the simplest of definitions.” Dianne laughed.

A few of the board members who hadn’t voiced their disapproval at Lydia’s promotion to majority shareholder snorted at Dianne’s comment. Drake shot them venomous looks as he took a mental note on who had laughed.

“One second, errr..let me look up that definition. Maybe I used the wrong definition.’ Lydia responded playing the dumb blond that Dianne was making her out to be as she fumbled with her purse, pulling out her phone, “Almost there. Ahh here we are.” Lydia responded using her thumb to increase the volume on her phone.

The crowd and Dianne waited for Lydia’s phone to play the audio recording of the word Hypocrite, and Drake looked at Lydia, with a confused expression on his face. He wasn’t sure where she was going with this.

***So Daniels, will you support Gregory during his candidacy as he runs for governor.*** Dianne’s voice could be heard saying over the audio on Lydia’s phone.

Lydia smirked at Dianne, watching her soon to be mother in law’s face pale as soon as she realized what audio Lydia was playing.

***That depends on what you’re offering Dianne.*** A man responded who everyone assumed to be Daniel.

***Gregory can have half a billion wired to your offshore account within a matter of minutes.*** Dianne’s voice replied.

***I’m a rich man Dianne, I want something that I cannot have.*** Daniel responded.

***Daniel, I am a married woman*** Dianne stated.

***Exactly, you are something I cannot have. If Gregory wants my support, he’ll let me have you** Daniel replied.

***Oh Richard*** Dianne moaned, as background noises of clothes being torn off and objects being thrown from a desk were heard in the audio.

“Hypocrite a person who indulges in hypocrisy. Hypocrisy, the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform.” Lydia said as she paused the audio recording on her phone, “There’s more to the recording, I just don’t think it’s appropriate to play with your son being present and all.”

Drake chuckled, Lydia’s wittiness and snark was one of the many reasons he fell in love with her.

“Th..th..that’s obviously a fake.” Dianne stammered, her face flushed red.

“I also have the video recording, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to play that or not. We could go back into the conference room and I can cast it for everyone to see. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind me airing your dirty business since you didn’t mind threatening to air mine.” Lydia stated crossing her arms and glaring at Dianne.

“EVERYONE OUT!” Dianne screeched, her tone commanding.

Even though the crowd was full of Drake’s employees they still feared the repercussions of angry Dianne Whittenberg. Dianne could blacklist them, making their life a living hell, so the crowd quickly dispersed.

“Simmins, Ervin, Smith, and Peterson; expect and email tonight from Grace with your exit documents and the description of your severance pay.” Drake stated, glaring down the employees that had laughed at Dianne’s antics.

Simmins seemed like he wanted to argue with Drake’s decision, but one look at Drake’s face made him decide otherwise as he followed the rest of the group out of the building.

Issac was the only employee prancing out of the building. With the video recording he had, he was sure to score at least half a million, bringing in over ten times his annual salary. He decided to contact every major magazine and society news source tonight and see who would offer him the biggest play out for exclusive rights of his recording.

As soon as the last employee exited the room, Dianne got into Lydia’s face, their noses almost touching. Drake wanted to reach in between them and put some distance between Dianne and Lydia, but he’d learned by now that Lydia could hold her own.
“Where did you get that recording!” Dianne hissed.

“What can you say, I have friends in low places. Senator Daniels owed me a favor.” Lydia smirked.

“Daniels would never stoop that low.” Dianne replied, looking at Lydia in disgust as she took a step back.

“What can I say, I guess I do it better than you Dianne.” Lydia replied her smirk growing bigger as she watched Dianne lose her superior demeanor bit by bit.

“I’ve made people disappear Lydia. Don’t be fooled and think I can’t make the same happen to you.” Dianne stated, as she turned on her bright purple pumps, and walked out of the room.

“Oh and Drake, tell Sampson that if he doesn’t want me to tell Madilyn about last summer, that he’d better be at the manor tomorrow night for dinner.” Dianne called out behind her, not bothering to stop and look at her eldest son.