Here's a cheeky new AU for ya. The characters might be mildly OOC because I'm switching up circumstances and such, but the idea was fun, so I'm going with it anyway. Haha.
Disclaimer: I wish.
Fallon Carrington was deep – exceptionally deep – into a shame spiral that had started several months earlier. Her father had remarried without much warning at all, she'd been looked over by the new wife herself for the job she wanted, and she had quite literally almost married a man who she didn't even know was her cousin. But that wasn't the worst of it, now.
In the aftermath of Jeff's server being hacked and Anders stopping the wedding, Fallon had lost Michael, who she'd always thought was a sure thing. Maybe not permanent, and maybe it was terrible of her to think it, but she really had believed that he would always be there.
More upsetting than her sudden lack of that safety and comfort, though, was Blake's reaction when he called her into the office, her wedding dress still flowing around her as she walked. "You should be happy, Daddy," she told him as he closed the door and walked past her to lean against his desk. "We fixed it."
"No, you caused it. I'm the one that fixed it."
Fallon rolled her eyes, but she knew he was right. Technically. "If you'd told me the truth about Jeff instead of making me wait for Grandpa to revolt about it, this wouldn't have happened."
"Perhaps. But it doesn't change the fact that you've been nothing but problematic since you returned from Denver. With Cristal, especially, but now this as well." Blake shook his head, and Fallon started to worry that the victory would end up being all for nothing. At least on her end. "This is on you. I told you not to get close to Jeff, but you did it anyway. And I should have given you far less reign to make mistakes like this than I did. I'm not making a poor decision like that again, Fallon."
"...What does that mean?"
"I'm only going to give you so long to turn things around. You think this won't hit the news tomorrow morning? Or that the fallout with Cristal combined with this Colby mess won't tarnish the Carrington name? If you believe that, you're more naive than you seem."
Fallon settled her hands on her hips, looking at the floor and sighing heavily. Then she lifted her chin again. "I'll fix it, Blake."
"You're damn right you will. If anything else happens, you're done, Fallon."
She stood up straighter. "Excuse me?"
"Either you repair your reputation as a Carrington, or you can see yourself out. You put on quite a show today, and have done for months. People are noticing. So I expect you to improve yourself. If you do, then I will give you a leadership position. We'll buy Morell Corp, integrate it, and you'll have the sort of position you've always wanted."
"I wanted the COO position."
"Perhaps," Blake shrugged. "But it's too late for that unless Cristal decides to forgive you. So perhaps you should work on your relationship with her, as well. You have six months, Fallon. And if nothing changes, you know what'll happen."
She turned her chin away, thinking it over. Blake was surely overreacting. The story would hit the press the next morning, yes, but it would pass as soon as some bigger scandal happened. Of course it would.
Or so she thought.
It wasn't Fallon's face that headlined stories the next morning. It was Jeff's. Her pictures were buried deeper in articles where he dragged her through the mud with scandalous lies that even Fallon didn't have an immediate response for. The worst one was the claim that she had gotten into Steven's stash, implying that the drugs she'd never actually taken had caused her to make questionable decisions. That, mixed with his not-subtle-enough suggestion that he could do better than her anyway, made it clear that leveling her own accusations against his morality would not go over well.
Would anyone even listen if she told the truth about his law-breaking? Maybe not. She just couldn't think of who else could do it for her.
Being a Carrington was exhausting. She just wanted a break from it, honestly. So rather than waiting around for her father to yell at her again – especially now that things were, indeed, as bad if not worse than he'd expected – she asked Anders to have her car pulled around. Michael was clearly confused as she snatched the keys from him, walking past without more than a glance to make sure her aim on the keychain was accurate when she reached for it. But she ignored him, getting in and slamming the door shut before he found it in him to question her behavior.
She left Buckhead and headed straight for downtown Atlanta, looking for something different from what she usually did. Something... normal people did. Of course, with Fallon being who she was, that took a bit of thought, so it was nice to have that drive in which to mull it over.
She found a little shopping complex and parked at a meter that she thought would be visible no matter which store she went into. As soon as she'd paid for a couple of hours, just in case, Fallon looked around and made her way into a cafe to seek out some tea.
Standing in line was frustrating to be sure, but there was no way around it, and actually she realized that it was giving her the time she needed to relax. Interestingly, no one was looking at her funny, which Fallon realized she should've thought over in advance. She was already out and about, regardless, so she figured it was too late to start caring about someone recognizing her. Even if they did, the odds of someone approaching a woman who was, apparently, crazy seemed quite low.
Tea in hand, Fallon hoped that the drink would bring her some sort of calm. But then a loud round of applause went up behind her and she whipped around in shock and confusion. Through a side door, the cafe led into a bookstore, where an author was completing an event. People started lining up to have their newly-bought copies signed, as the author sat himself down at a table.
Fallon lifted an eyebrow, wondering what sort of author could pull such a crowd, and slowly wandered that direction. When the bookstore employees started handing out sticky notes for the attendees to write their names on, for the author's ease when it came to spelling, the author looked around at the group, a broad smile on his face. Until his gaze swept across Fallon and the smile faded to surprise and curiosity.
She froze, staring back at him. He was gorgeous, but completely unfamiliar – though his attention certainly suggested to Fallon that he knew who she was, at least a little bit.
The first person in line stepped forward, pulling him back to what he was supposed to be doing – greeting, chatting and signing. Without his gaze locked on hers, Fallon let out a relieved breath. He hadn't made a scene, but also even Fallon could admit that there was something shockingly intense about his gaze. Resuming her typically sardonic internal tone of voice, Fallon made note of just how many female fans this guy seemed to have.
She stepped aside, trying to get safely out of his line of sight, and walked up to the sign announcing the author event. There was a large picture of the man, next to the cover of his book. It looked like an adult fiction novel, or maybe a romance a-la Nicholas Sparks. Her eyes dropped to his name and her jaw actually dropped.
Liam Ridley? He was an exceptionally well-known journalist despite his relatively young age, but that was even before he started publishing novels. Even Fallon had heard of him, though more because of his articles in the business sector than because of his creative writing. She just hadn't bothered to click on his name before to see what he looked like. Which, honestly, was a pity.
Fallon wanted to check in with someone at Carrington Atlantic to see if Ridley had ever done an article about them – because perhaps that was why he recognized her. But Blake was too mad at her to answer. So she hesitated slightly before texting Cristal. After Cristal had seen fit to support Fallon despite the wedding debacle, perhaps they had turned over a new leaf?
Cristal replied quickly, much to Fallon's surprise, explaining that Mr. Ridley had done an article on CA just after Cristal first got her job there. She'd hoped to foster a positive relationship between his paper and the company, but he had soon after left to start his writing career and she'd had to look elsewhere for that help.
So Fallon had to assume that his experience with the company was why he knew her. She didn't want to believe it was because of the articles, honestly. Not when this man potentially had the connections she might need to restore her reputation.
"Can I help you find anything?"
Fallon looked over at the bookseller that had walked up to her, offering a friendly smile. "Oh, not unless you have another copy of Mr. Ridley's book. I found out too late to get a ticket for the event and would really love the chance to have him sign mine."
The employee's smile turned conspiratorial as she leaned in a little. "He's an incredible writer, isn't he? Come with me; I'll get you one and you can pay at the counter when you leave."
So Fallon followed them over to the back of the line, feeling like she might've just gotten incredibly lucky.
