Chapter 192 A disgrace
_Ezekiel’s POV_
I saw the photograph in the morning the moment I woke up fully from the intense hangover. I had grabbed my phone lazily and out of habit, tapped open the first social media app on my screen.
There it was, sitting right at the very top of my main feed.
It was a picture of me and Pierre from the night before, the image was taken during our kiss in the crowded club. The lighting was too clear, our faces were clear enough that there was absolutely no way to read the moment differently or explain it away as something else.
We were locked in a deep unmistakable embrace, and the whole world could see it.
I immediately sat straight up in bed, throwing the covers aside as I stared at the bright screen for a long frozen moment. My heart was pounding hard against my ribs.
Without wasting another second, I dialed my Larry. Larry picked up the phone on the third ring, his voice sounded calm and alert, like someone who had already been awake for hours and was simply waiting for my inevitable phone call.
"Larry," I said into the speaker, keeping my voice tight. "Take that damn photograph down immediately."
"It is already on fourteen different major platforms, My Prince," Larry replied calmly. He sounded completely unbothered and detached from the panic rising in my chest.
"I do not care how many platforms it is on," I said, my voice rising as I began to lose my temper. "I want you to take it down from all fourteen of them right now. Hire whoever you need to hire, send legal notices, just wipe it off the internet!"
"I am currently trying, but you need to understand the situation," Larry explained carefully, speaking in a patient tone. "The photograph is performing extremely well in terms of public engagement. Every single time my technical team manages to get one post removed, it instantly appears on three more accounts. People are reposting the image much faster than we can file official takedown requests. To be completely honest with you, it is hot gist right now."
He said the phrase hot gist with fascination, as if he wasn’t even concerned that I kissed a man. That tone irked me so much that I wanted to fire him on the spot, but I held it back because I needed him and he was the only one in my entire life I could trust at the moment.
"Larry, I do not give a damn about engagement or numbers!" I shouted into the phone, standing up from the bed and pacing back and forth across the hardwood floor. "My life is falling apart on the internet!"
"Well, technically speaking, the numbers are actually quite impressive," Larry added thoughtfully, oblivious to my growing anger. "Your profile reach has increased by over four hundred percent in just two hours."
I gripped the phone tightly and proceeded to tell Larry several harsh things that I would normally never say to him. I used every colorful word in my vocabulary to explain exactly what would happen to his employment status if he did not fix this mess immediately.
The conversation ended with Larry quickly agreeing to try much harder before he hastily hung up the phone.
My crashout continued for the entire next hour. Every time Larry filed a new takedown request, ten new reposts popped up to replace it. The photograph had taken on a wild life of its own now, and it was spreading completely out of my control.
I sat back down on the edge of my hotel bed, still wearing yesterday’s wrinkled shirt and boxers. I stared helplessly at the live tracking sheet Larry kept updating and sending to my phone.
Watching the number of platforms and shares multiply by the minute gave me a deep feeling of complete powerlessness. I was someone who was very used to fixing every problem with money, status, or power, but I was discovering that this specific problem could not be fixed by any of my usual methods.
I quickly dialed Pierre’s number to warn him about the rising storm before it hit his pack.
The line rang twice before Pierre answered, someone from his pack leadership had already sent him the photograph. Our phone call was short and awkward. The conversation ended before I could say something, he wanted me to stay away from him. How could I do that?
Shortly after I hung up with Pierre, my phone screen lit up with another incoming call.
The name displayed across the screen made my stomach drop into a tight knot: Father.
I stared at his name, closed my eyes for like three seconds, and took a deep breath before sliding the button to pick up.
"Father," I said softly into the speaker.
My father did not shout at me as I’d expected because it was the very first thing I waited for.
Instead of yelling, he spoke in a low voice, "Ezekiel," my father began slowly. "Over the years, I have expected many difficult things from you. I prepared myself for your recklessness, your expensive financial decisions, your diplomatic mistakes, and even that chaotic situation during your second year away from home that we agreed never to speak of again." He paused for a moment, his breathing coming through the phone line. "I expected all of those things," he continued coldly. "However, I did not expect this."
"Father, let me explain," I tried to interrupt, but my voice trailed off.
"Is what I saw in that photograph true?" he asked directly, cutting me off with authority. "Are you involved with Pierre Ashford intimately?@
I swallowed hard, gripping the phone until my knuckles turned white. "Yes," I answered honestly. "It is true."
A long suffocating silence stretched over the phone line, my father did not scream or hurl insults at me. He just remained completely quiet for what felt like an eternity.
When he finally spoke again, his words landed far harder than any explosive anger ever could have."I truly do not understand it," he said softly, his voice carrying a tone that was more deeply sad than cruel. "For many years, I wondered why you never showed any genuine interest in the respectable young women who were presented to you. I told myself it was just your arrogant personality, your pickiness, or your focus on other business matters."
He let out a short, hollow sigh that cut straight through my heart.
"No wonder," father added in a cold distant tone. "You are a complete disgrace to this family, Ezekiel. I do not want to have anything to do with you ever again."
Before I could say another word or defend myself, the line went dead, leaving me sitting alone in the silence of my room.