"You want to pick on someone, why don't you fucking start with me?" I ask and the entire room turns to look at me.

I know what you're thinking.

This is it, another one of those scenes where the ending results in an investigation, or a press conference, or something like that.

Well, no.

You've never seen anything like this before. I guarantee it, because this is gonna be fucking hilarious and you're never ever gonna forget it.

"Seymour Lee, I think you better get the fuck off that bench and out of that dais," I say walking up to where Daphne and Lucas are sitting.

Lucas stands up and looks at me. He whispers urgently.

"I appreciate you coming here and trying to stand up for her--" he starts to say but I cut him off.

"And you," I interject.

"And me," he says after a pause and our eyes meet. We nod at each other. What? Just because I love the fucker doesn't mean I'm going to turn into some woman over him. I'm still the big bad alpha male, and I guess so is Lucas, but I'm the fucking bad boy. Nothing fucking changes. I'm not gay. I just love a man. Big fucking difference.

"Anyways, I appreciate this, but you need to make sure you don't inadvertently step over the line and get thrown out," Lucas says to me.

And almost as if on cue, Seymour says from the raised dais, "Mr. Strong, you're scheduled to testify before this committee tomorrow. Should you wish to be present at the proceedings today, you may do so—from the visitor's section."

Oh hell fucking no.

No one tells me where to go or what to do. Not after that motherfucker nearly got me to destroy the people I love.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you, you lousy piece of fucking trash?" I say out loud and there are now loud murmurs and whispering.

You don't go into a venerable institution like the Federal Reserve and call out a government employee in such language.

It's not civilized.

Well, fuck that, then. I'm not a civilized person.

If our institutions have failed us, it's time for us to smash them.

"How many people complain that the government has stopped working for them?" I say out loud, and turn to the audience and the press. "How many people describe a situation where the government no longer cares about the people that it's supposed to be representing?"

A lot of people are nodding at my words, but I'm pretty sure they don't know the connection that I'm about to make.

"That man," I say, pointing my finger toward Seymour Lee, "That man was supposed to be representing the government. He claimed that he was from the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA. And that he represented the government wanting to buy an airline."

People are following what I say at this point.

"Mr. Strong, do you have a point to make here?" Seymour says, banging his gavel. "Or are you simply here to distract us long enough for us to forget that your friends are in trouble?"

Bingo.

I can tell that dude is starting to get fucking worried.

"May I remind you that you are operating under a condition of immunity," Seymour says. "That immunity could be revoked at any time."

"By the time I'm fucking done with you, it's you who's going to be needing the fucking immunity, bub," I shoot back and I see Seymour go white and the room starts erupting in muted whispers.

What could I have up my sleeve? What could I possibly know?

"So now we have a situation where two respectable people—one from the aviation industry and one from Wall Street, are having their reputations publicly tarnished, and it could very well lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs and I gotta ask you, what kind of government takes that kind of an approach to its citizens?" I ask the crowd and people start to voice their agreement.

I can feel the newspaper photographers taking their pictures and I see the television cameras train their lenses on me. I'm live to half the world now, baby.

Prime time.

Good.

It's time to drop my bombs.

"It's not the government at all that wants to do this," I say out loud. "At least, not ours."

Boom.

This time people don't try to hide their whispering. What could I mean? Not our government? Then who?

"Mr. Lee," I ask, turning to face the dais and a very quiet Seymour Lee. "Who do you represent?"

Silence. The whispering has stopped coming from the audience. The photographers have stopped speaking.

"It's not just the FAA, is it?" I ask.

This time I can see Seymour Lee look around and begin to fidget nervously.

"In fact, does the name Elliot Wright ring a bell to you, Mr. Lee?" I ask again. This time Daphne looks to me. She's giving me a sharp look and I can sense the question in them. What's going on?

You're probably sitting at home, scratching your pretty little head too, aren't ya?

Well, listen, I hope you took my advice and took off those panties at the very beginning like I told you to. Because I really think that they're probably a bit soaked by now, don't you?

I mean, I know you're turned on, babe. I would be too, if I made it this far and was still reading.

You're either rolling your eyes or you're smiling. You either hate it or love it that I'm talking to you.

Kinda like you're either gonna hate it or love it that I'm not telling you what's going on with Elliot Wright and Seymour Lee.

"I believe Elliot Wright is a member of the Board of Directors for Union Airlines," Seymour Lee says and that's when I know I've gotten him.

See, the proper response from him should've been, fuck off. Because since when was he being investigated.

But that response didn't come. Because he knows he's in the wrong here.

"So Mr. Wright had a piece of information that I don't think Daphne Kane was aware of," I say to the room. "You see, in addition to the purchase bids placed by Carter Jeffries and by Strong Capital, there was one other bid that she didn't know about."

I turn to Seymour Lee. "The government of the People's Republic of China."

This is where people start to murmur all over again. What is it that I'm accusing Seymour of?

He bangs his gavel.

"That's enough out of you, Mr. Strong!" he exclaims, banging his gavel. "You have violated the conditions of your immunity."

"No, you've violated the conditions of being a public servant!" I shoot back. "Haven't you?"

Seymour Lee goes white as a sheet all over again.

"The Chinese approached Mr. Wright to buy Union Airlines. They couldn't make a bid for it directly because of the federal laws preventing that. But they could buy assets from the government itself, couldn't they? So they went to Mr. Wright. And he came to you," I lay it all out.

Daphne looks shocked. To be fair, so do nearly 90% of the people in the room.

"They promised a substantial payday to Mr. Wright to malign the reputation of Daphne Kane and get the government as the sole bidder for Union Airlines. The government would pay any price because it could, and at the end of the day it would end up with the assets of Union Airlines, only to turn around and dispose of them to the Chinese. And the Chinese would get a globe spanning airline, without actually having bought it and causing the public relations catastrophe. But rather as a purchase from one government to another. Quietly and under the table. Did I get that all right, Seymour?" I ask.

Seymour Lee snarls at me and I swear to God it sounds like a wild beast.

"You have no proof of this, Mr. Strong!" he shrieks! "I could sue you for libel!"

I shrug.

I knew he was going to say that.

I hope you remember Elliot Wright. The fucker who was trying to convince Daphne to sell the company to the government when this all started blowing up.

"You can try," I say and then I smile to the audience that's watching me. "But you'd have to sue both of us. Want to stand up, Elliot?" I ask into the row of faces in the audience.

And sure enough, up stands the old Board Member.

"All it took was some convincing that his fortune is better with me than with me as an enemy, you see?" I turn and ask Seymour who looks like he's going to faint. "After all, everyone knows the fucking Shark of Wall Street. I think they fear me more than the Chinese, or the U.S. Government. Go figure."

I swear to God Seymour starts sputtering. But I stop paying attention because the room literally explodes in a sea of sound. People are up. The photographers are snapping pictures of anything they can—Seymour, me, Daphne, Lucas—you name it.

But only one couple is in my head now.

I turn to Lucas and Daphne.

"Guys," I say, but Daphne takes a step over toward me and places her finger on my lips.

"Shh, don't say anything," she says softly. "You saved us."

Lucas looks at me. I look at him.

"I love you both," I say softly, oblivious to the chaos around me. "So fucking much."

The three of us embrace together.

"Nothing will ever part us again," Daphne says to us. "I know."

Lucas nods. I nod back.

We have unfinished business, and Daphne sees that. She steps back. He steps close to me. He sizes me up.

Finally, he says, "Come here, you," and takes step close to me and before I realize what's happening, he's kissing me.

It's a deep, probing kiss and we obviously could give a fuck about the people around us because as soon as Lucas kisses me and steps back, Daphne comes forward and I wrap my arms around her and kiss her. I wonder if she can taste Lucas on my tongue and the thought starts getting my cock hard.

I can feel it press against the soft flesh of her crotch.

She can feel it too, because she pulls back and looks at us both.

"Lets get out of here," she commands.

We both nod and turn and walk toward the door.

The chamber is still going crazy. Guards may have come and escorted Seymour out; I can't tell because I don't care.

I'm leaving this place with the people I love.

And I'm starting the first fucking day of the rest of my life with them.