Chapter 121: Chapter 121

Merlina didn’t realize she had sat down until she felt the edge of the bed press into the backs of her knees. Her whole body collapsed, the emotional load she’d been carrying suddenly doubling in an instant.

She stared at the document again, her fingers crinkling the corners, though she didn’t feel them moving.

She had never been sued before, never even held a lawsuit with her name printed on the front, with every word inside pointed straight at her.

Filed by Conor Lesnar.

Filed under CCL Group.

She stared at those words like they didn’t make sense. CCL Group. That was Craig’s family’s company name. And this was prepared by their Legal Team.

He hadn’t said anything. Not a word. Not a hint. Not even a pause in his voice that might’ve told her something was coming.

She wanted to believe he didn’t. She wanted, so desperately, to believe he wouldn’t let something blindside her. But then... if he didn’t know, how?

This was his brother.

His family. His last name stamped across the letterhead. This was his world.

She was being sued by her boyfriend’s brother.

And she hated to admit it, but at this point, she didn’t even know if boyfriend was the right word anymore. She didn’t. She wasn’t sure of anything.

From across the room, Megan turned, still halfway inside her closet, then paused. She had seen it.

The stillness in Merlina. The way her back hunched in, not like someone sitting, but like someone bracing. The look in her eyes, glassy and wild, like the world had just shifted under her feet and hadn’t stopped spinning since she received that document.

But Megan didn’t say anything.

Phoebe was already in the room, her toothbrush hanging out of her mouth and foam at the corners of her lips as she padded barefoot across the floor. She caught sight of the document in Merlina’s hands, and slowed her steps.

"What’s that?" she mumbled, not thinking much of it, probably some college notice, a missed assignment, maybe something from admin. Annoying, not catastrophic

But still, she wanted to know, so she took few steps closer to Merlina, leaning in, until she caught a better look.

The paper wasn’t flimsy, like a flyer or class schedule. It was thick, stamped with official seals. Legal seals. Her eyes darted to the words at the top, and her voice faltered.

"Hold on—" she said, rushing to the bathroom. She spat out the toothpaste, rinsed her mouth in a hurry, and came back running, still wiping her chin with urgency.

Merlina hadn’t moved. She sat there, silent, too stunned to speak.

Phoebe crossed the room in two strides, snatching the paper gently from Merlina’s unresisting grip. Her eyes scanned the top half, her brain taking a moment to catch up.

"Plaintiff?" she read aloud, her voice rising. "Conor Lesnar? Wait...what?"

At the sound of that name, Megan finally turned around fully, jeans half-dangling from one hand. "What’s that?"

"Oh my God," Phoebe said, her voice held disbelief mixed with something casual. "It’s a Law suit. Personal battery and defamation of character. Filed by Conor Lesnar’s legal counsel."

Megan’s eyes widened. "Wait. Is he...he’s suing you?" She looked at Merlina then, really looked at her, for the first time in what felt like ages, concern softening the sharpness in her face.

"I...I don’t know," Merlina managed, her voice hoarse. "I don’t even know...what this is about."

Phoebe’s face had hardened, she sat down beside Merlina, reading every line quietly. "This is serious," she said after a moment. "It was prepared by the CCL Group’s legal division. It isn’t just Conor pressing charges, this is backed by his father’s entire empire."

Megan sat across from them, stunned into silence. "But... why? What did you even do?"

"I don’t know," Merlina whispered. "I mean...I know I hit him. Once. Back at Eclipse Club. It was the first time we met, but...it wasn’t—" Her hands rose to her face, pushing through her hair, breathing fast and shallow now.

"It was one second. A moment. We were yelling, and then he said something about my mom, I barely touched him. He was fine. I hadn’t spoken to him after that, everything seemed fine. At least, I thought it was." Merlina’s voice cracked on the last word, like it couldn’t bear the weight of this reality.

Phoebe turned slowly, her gaze settling on Merlina with unsettling calm. Her eyes narrowing slightly, almost like she was trying to study every line on her face, trying to read something invisible just beneath her skin.

Then, tilting her head, she asked with a half-smirk curling at the corner of her mouth, "What does Craig have to say about all of this?"

Her voice carried that familiar edge. Mocking, sharp, and a little too amused for the moment.

Merlina looked at her, her stomach tightening at the tone, and at the look behind Phoebe’s eyes.

She swallowed and turned her head away. "I just got it, Phoebe. Literally, just now. I haven’t told him."

Phoebe let out a sharp laugh, shaking her head.

"So he wasn’t aware of this? No way. I mean, come on, he could’ve stopped this. It’s his family suing you. It doesn’t make sense that he doesn’t know."

Merlina didn’t respond.

Her throat burned, like if she tried to speak, it would all come pouring out. Tears, rage, confusion. A part of her knew Phoebe was right, but she hated hearing that out loud.

Just then, Phoebe stood up from Merlina’s bed, dropped the file beside her, and crossed to her side of the room.

"Well," she said, grabbing her hairbrush from the dresser and gesturing toward the papers like it was all just some casual observation, "at least now you know they don’t like you. His family, I mean."

Merlina looked up at Phoebe, her face soft and stunned, like someone who’d just been told their bad dream was real. She didn’t speak, but her eyes were loud, so loud with hurt and anger pooling behind them.

"What?" Phoebe asked, as she caught the look, then turned back to her dresser.

"It’s clear. If his brother’s suing you. The family’s probably in on it." She said, brushing through her hair in quick, careless strokes. "I mean, nothing says you’re not welcome louder than a lawsuit." She turned to Merlina, then shrugged, "At least now you know they don’t want you as their daughter-in-law." She repeated.

"Phoebe, come on," Megan cut in, finally breaking her stunned silence. Her voice was firm. "This is serious."

Phoebe turned to her, completely unbothered. "I am being serious too." There was fake concern stretched thin across her face, like she couldn’t even be bothered to sell it properly. "Isn’t it better to know now? If his family’s going to hate you, better now than ten years in."

She set the hairbrush down gently on the dresser, like nothing she’d said had just left a crater in the room, she began pulling out her books with unhurried ease. Merlina couldn’t even look at her.

"Better now than when you’re planning a wedding, or living in their house, going on family vacations—" Phoebe waved a hand lazily, like she was plucking ridiculous ideas from the air. "To um...where? Paris?" she added, feigning deep thought, then let out an exaggerated sigh. "The earlier, the better. Everybody moves."

"What is your problem with me, Phoebe?" Merlina’s voice came out shaking, furious and wounded, even cracked down the middle.

Phoebe blinked, still halfway toward her desk, caught off guard.

Merlina stood up from her bed, like something had snapped in her spine "I get it," she went on, voice rising. "I lied. I messed up. But what the hell is wrong with you?" Her hands were trembling now, fists clenched at her sides. "Can I just have five freaking minutes in this room to breathe? To think? You’ve been on me for the longest, and now you’re turning this into some kinda shade, like you’ve been waiting for this ?"

Phoebe turned, arms crossed, unfazed. "I’m just being honest—"

"No, you’re being cruel," Merlina cut in. "You’re being petty and vicious and...God, can you just stop for one damn minute?" Her voice cracked again, tears now lining the edges of her eyes. "You freaking BlairWaldorf wannabe."

Phoebe’s eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"I don’t want to be your friend, not anymore.I don’t want to fight you, either. And I sure as hell don’t want to impress you." Merlina’s voice dropped, but her words hit sharper than ever. "So just... fuck you, Phoebe. I don’t ever want to speak to you again."

Phoebe didn’t say anything.

For once, she didn’t have a comeback. Just stood there with her arms folded, her eyes narrowed, like she couldn’t quite decide whether she was hurt or just stunned.

Merlina didn’t wait to find out.

She grabbed her bag, her phone, the damn lawsuit, and turned toward the door like it might be the only thing left in the world that wasn’t suffocating her.

The second her fingers found the doorknob, she yanked it open, desperate to leave before one more word, hers or Phoebe’s, made her break completely.

Walking down the stairs, her vision blurred at the edges, but she kept moving. Half-blind, heart racing, fury and humiliation boiling under her skin like acid.

She was staring at her phone, thumb scrolling through pages of notes from her Torts class, flipping between her school’s legal research app and a half-written message to one of her study forums.

"Can a person sue for battery if there was no injury? Does intent matter?"

Her mind was racing, she knew the theory. She knew how to break down a complaint. But none of that knowledge was helping right now, not when her own name was stamped on the cover page, not when the plaintiff was Conor Lesnar.

She didn’t see the figure outside until she crashed into it. Her shoulder collided hard with a chest, broad, solid and warm. She stumbled back, dazed.

"Oh... sorry," she muttered, her arms instinctively tightened around the papers, guarding them against the sudden jolt.

"Merlina," Craig said. His voice was low, urgent, and something about the way he said her name made her throat close up. Like it was a question and a plea all at once.