Chapter 41
Seth was seeing stars and little birdies floating around his head as a beaten up J & J Security dragged him back to the Authority's office. Stephanie had tried to get Randy back on their side, prior to tonight, but the Viper had put a nail in his proverbial coffin. That was why Seth and Randy would do battle at WrestleMania. When J & J Security entered the office with a dazed Seth Rollins and the name 'Dean Ambrose' muttered out of their mouths, her blue eyes narrowed. What the hell was Dean Ambrose attacking Seth for?
"What happened?" She demanded coolly, folding her arms in front of her chest while Seth was placed in a chair to sit down.
"Nyla attacked him, Miss McMahon!" Jamie informed her, trying to shake off the lasting effects of that stupid RKO. "Randy came for her and Nyla attacked our future champion!"
That explained the scratch marks on Seth's chest, arms and the lower half of his face. Stephanie had given Seth free reign when it came to Randy, but she didn't think he would actually use Nyla's secret. Now the Authority REALLY had nothing on her, the blackmail was gone and it was used to screw with Randy Orton's already demented mind. The man wasn't all there upstairs, according to what Hunter told her.
"Y-You should suspend her for attackin' him!"
"It was uncalled for, boss." Joey piped in, not nearly as intimidated by Stephanie McMahon as Jamie was. "She was like a wild animal…"
Too bad they hadn't captured all of that on camera. It would've really added more fuel to this fire, but that would also put Nyla on television. Something she NEVER wanted to happen. Not only that, but it was bad enough the daughter had been mentioned in front of millions, though Seth hadn't dropped her name.
"Get him some ice." Stephanie ordered, not sure what to do about this situation because she couldn't have the writers attacking the wrestlers.
A fine would do the trick. She'd done the same thing with Seth when he struck down Macaria. Since she'd fined $50,000 for the assault, Stephanie would do the same thing with Nyla. It would be a warning and they could all go on with their lives. If Seth was smart, he wouldn't provoke Nyla anymore now that the secret was out and Randy knew the truth about his daughter.
It wasn't a huge problem in her eyes, but NOW she had a bigger issue in Dean Ambrose. He was supposed to be going after the Intercontinental championship at WrestleMania and staying far away from Seth Rollins. That was her only stipulation to Nyla – keeping Seth away from the two former Shield goons. Nyla had reluctantly agreed, as long as she could choose what Dean and Roman did next, who they could feud with. Stephanie agreed and no other problems had surfaced beside little things tweaked here and there. For the most part, Nyla was excellent at her job and the fact she had sent Roman after Lesnar, the current WWE World Heavyweight champion, sat well with her.
The Authority ALWAYS had a plan B when dealing with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, after all.
"Fuck, my face hurts!" Seth whined, growling at the ice being pressed against his throbbing head and hated Dean for doing this to him. On concrete flooring, didn't the man realize he could've given him a concussion?! "I need an aspirin!"
"Seth, shut up or you can go to your own dressing room," Stephanie ordered, rolling her eyes and wondered what happened to the man who had leaped off balconies and taken death-defying chances while in the Shield. "I will fine her."
"THAT'S IT?!"
"Well, you DID strike a woman down with your hand and you were only fined for it, Rollins." Stephanie reminded him equably, tilting her head and watched his drop, his temper immediately simmering. "That's what I thought. Good boy."
Seth was starting to wonder if Stephanie even cared about his wellbeing or the Authority anymore.
"It's fractured, nothing to be done about it except ice and rest." The trainer, Larry, apprised, wrapping Nyla's hand in tape and then placed ice over it. The pressure would help with the pain, surprisingly.
Nyla grimaced, gritting her teeth and Roman held her other hand, which was just bruised, but not fractured. When she tackled Seth to the floor, her right hand had bent the wrong way and thus, the fracture was born. She was not a physical person and hated confrontation, but Seth had crossed a line he couldn't come back from. Randy knew the truth now and she had no doubt in her mind he would try to take custody of Neela. Telling a judge it was just a fling between them would only make her look like a whore to the jury and Randy would probably win since he had a lot more money than her.
"Stop thinking the worse," Roman ordered, rubbing her back and watched the tears trek down her cheeks, kissing a few of them away. "Everything is gonna be fine. You're not gonna lose Neela." If he had to, he would help her get a lawyer since she'd just paid hers off to fight off her parents.
"It really can't get any worse than this." Nyla countered in a mumble, wincing at her throbbing hand and didn't bother wiping her tears away.
Actually, it could because, as soon as they walked out of the trainer's room, with painkillers in a bag for Nyla, they came face to face with Stephanie.
"Great." Roman wrapped his arm around Nyla's shoulders to give her the silent support he knew she needed.
Stephanie shook her head at the writer's hand wrapped up in ice and sighed heavily, a twinge of guilt rushing through her at what she was about to do. "Nyla, Seth told me what you did to him…and I'm afraid I can't condone that. So, I'm fining you for your actions. Writers shouldn't be putting their hands on the Superstars. Man or woman." The women had really come into their own, but there was still a ways to go before they were rid of the 'Diva' moniker.
"He deserved it." Roman growled, wishing he would've speared the little dick after Ambrose's Dirty Deeds.
"Be that as it may…" Stephanie held her hand up, shaking her head. "I have to do what's best for business. Seth was fined heavily for striking an employee. Therefore, I have no alternative except to fine you, Nyla, $50,000 dollars. We DO have a zero tolerance policy in place here for a reason."
That would drain some of her savings, unfortunately, unless Stephanie took it right out of her paycheck. "He had no right going out there and talking about my personal life on television, Stephanie." She didn't raise her voice, in too much pain and the adrenaline rush she had was gone.
"Again, that gives YOU no right to attack him the way you did and put your hands on a WWE Superstar. You are a writer, that is your job is to write scripts and come up with storylines. There will be no more physicality backstage or I will be fining anyone involved, which is why I'm on my way to Dean Ambrose's locker room to inform him of the fine he'll be receiving as well." Another $50,000 dollars out of the man's pocket for his actions.
Roman watched Stephanie saunter away and shook his head, tempted to spear her now. "Come on, we'll deal with this." He would be paying that fine on her behalf, not believing what a terrible night this had been.
Outside of Roman's dressing room stood Randy Orton, who still had the paternity paper in his hand. He had calmed down a lot and no longer wanted to rip Nyla's heart out of her chest. Looking up, mystic icy blues met fear-filled amber and Randy stepped forward, stopping when Roman stepped in front of him. Nyla didn't stop him, too scared of what Randy might say or do to her and clutched her wrapped hand against her chest.
"I just wanna talk to her."
"Uh huh, sure you do." Roman didn't buy that for a second and would not allow Nyla anywhere near this psychopath.
"Roman, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, and I say this with all due respect, this isn't your business. I need to talk to her alone. And I'm not going to ask again." Randy's voice had lowered an octave, his temper slowly rising again and clenched his fists at his sides. "Don't be a coward, Nyla. I'm not gonna hurt you."
Shutting her eyes, Nyla dreaded this day and slowly stepped out from behind Roman, who had been blocking her completely. "Go inside, Roman."
"But…!"
"I'll be fine. Randy's right, we do need to talk." Nyla hoped she didn't regret this decision and looked up into his worried grey-tinted eyes, his contacts in for the show, swallowing hard. "He won't hurt me."
Roman frowned, looking back and forth between the two and reluctantly kissed the top of her head, his eyes landing back on Randy. "If you touch a hair on her head…"
"I won't." Randy promised, holding his hands up to show he meant no harm.
Unwillingly, Roman walked into his dressing room and shut the door, giving them the privacy they needed.
Nyla didn't move toward Randy, keeping distance between them, but they were still able to talk to each other in normal voices.
"Why didn't you tell me, Nyla?" Randy demanded, cutting right to the chase and waved the paternity paper that told him he was a father to a little girl he never knew about.
Truth and honesty were best when dealing with Randy. "Because I didn't trust you. What we had together was a fling and we were both young and stupid. We didn't even think to use protection while having sex and we should've. I was actually on birth control, but there's a reason it's only 99% effective. There's always that 1% of it failing and, surprise – surprise, it failed with you." It still amazed her since they'd only slept together a handful of times. "You were just starting your career and I didn't want to interfere with that. It's why I stopped having sex with you and I had to take a leave of absence to have her."
Back then, Randy was an arrogant, pompous asshole and he'd be the first admit it. He didn't care about anyone or anything, young and foolish. She had fallen for his charm and she wasn't the only one he had slept with either. If he didn't have definitive proof in his hand telling him he was the father of her daughter, their daughter, Randy wouldn't believe it.
"What's her name?" Randy asked, his voice growing quiet and clutched the paper tightly in his hand. "Does she know about me?"
"Neela. Neela Ann." Nyla replied just as quietly, the throbbing in her hand slowly diminishing and felt tears sting her eyes. "She has your eyes…"
"Probably a good thing that's the ONLY thing she inherited from me, then." Randy joked dryly, rubbing the back of his neck and didn't know what to do about this.
"And I told her the angels came down to bless me with her one night. I don't think she believes that story anymore, but I'm gonna keep saying it until I feel she's old enough to understand what happened." No, Neela didn't know anything about her biological father.
Randy scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Angels? That's the best you could come up with? She's 9 now, Nyla. She's gonna want to know who her father is. Or is Roman playing the Daddy role in her life now?" He couldn't stop that jab from flying out of his mouth, a hint of resentment in his tone.
"Randy, I don't regret not telling you because you wouldn't have taken it seriously back then. I didn't need the added stress from you, on top of my job and everything else." Nyla explained, moving to lean against the wall, just in case some of the wrestlers got wild hairs up their backsides to try trampling her with another equipment trunk again. The New Day came to mind. "And no, Roman is not playing the Daddy role because we haven't been together that long." He didn't need to know she lived with Roman, though, and Roman's parents looked after Nyla while she was on the road working.
"So why doesn't she travel with you? You're constantly on the road, so who is looking after her?" Randy frowned at the possibility of a nanny or some stranger raising their daughter instead of her own mother.
"She's in good hands, trust me. I would never leave her without being completely safe and happy. I don't want her traveling with me because I want her to have as normal a childhood as she possibly can. This place is dangerous. And…if I'm being honest, I didn't want you finding out about her. I knew you would put two and two together if I ever brought her on the road with me." Nyla admitted, lowering her eyes from him and stepped back when he took one forward, wanting to keep the same amount of space between them.
As much as he hated admitting it, Randy didn't blame her and that was why Kim, his wife, and their children didn't travel with him often. "I want to meet her, Nyla. I want to get to know my daughter. I have that right." This would turn the little girl's world upside down, but Nyla would have to deal with the consequences of keeping this from him all these years. Both of them, actually.
Nyla slammed her eyes shut, waiting for that request and wished Randy would just let it go. This would destroy Neela; she didn't want to put her daughter through the emotional turmoil. "And if I refuse? You'll take me to court, right? You'll put me and her through hell in order to get your way?" A hint of malice laced her tone as slightly narrowed amber orbs rose to meet icy mystic.
Instead of answering, Randy remained silent and thought about what his wife would think about this sudden turn of events. He could always play what Seth said off as part of the storyline and she would never know it was real. Did he really want to jeopardize his marriage for a kid he didn't even know about until tonight? It was selfish of him to think this way, but at the same time, Randy had to do what was best for his family. It was obvious Nyla didn't want him near Neela anyway. He had his daughter from his previous marriage, the three boys and their own daughter with his current wife, to deal with.
"No." Surprise registered on her face as Randy smirked, shaking his head. "Trust me, I'm not doing this for your benefit, but…I think it'd be best if we just let this go. My wife is very important to me and I know she wouldn't be happy to discover I knocked up someone at work." Even if it was in his early days. "You understand what I'm saying, right?"
He wanted to save face with his wife, in summary. Nyla felt a surge of anger course through her, but didn't react and simply gave a stiff nod. "If that's what you want to do, I'm all for it. Roman would be more than happy to take up the Daddy role in her life anyway."
"Good. I'll tell Kim it's just part of the storyline and be done with it." Randy felt a twinge of guilt at his words, but it quickly vanished as he balled up the paternity test paper and tossed it in the nearby garbage. "See you around, Nyla."
All she could do was watch him walk down the hallway, shaking her head sadly and joined Roman in his dressing room, both relief and heartbreak flowing over her.
