Chapter 4 Phb-four

• "Lucas, Miss Deasy's calling!"
• From the direction of the door, Ariana, Deasy's secretary, suddenly appeared. She asked Lucas to meet their boss right away.
• Lucas nodded in agreement, got up, and hurried to Deasy's office. If he was late, she would scold him again.
• "Good morning, Ma'am," greeted Lucas after knocking on Deasy's office door. Through his glasses, he saw the room's owner engrossed in some work on her desk.
• "Come in."
• "Is there something I can help you with, Ma'am?"
• Deasy looked up and handed him a green folder to review.
• "Double-check the financial report that Mr. Adri just handed in. I think something is not right."
• Lucas nodded and reached for the folder. But not wanting to miss the chance, he quickly brought up another matter to Deasy.
• "Ma'am, shouldn't we also review Mr. Daniel's financial report?" Lucas suggested. He had always been curious to examine the flow of funds in and out of Mr. Daniel's accounts. He had secretly investigated all other division heads and some top executives, except for Daniel and Deasy, as Deasy held the master file for their finances.
• "Why do you want to check Mr. Daniel's financial report?" Deasy narrowed her eyes, her face showing a big question mark.
• "I don't mean to suspect anything, Ma'am. But, who knows if Mr. Daniel has been secretly using company funds for personal expenses. He seems to live a hedonistic life."
• "But Daniel is wealthy, Luc. Besides, I have already checked his financial report up until last August, and everything was clean."
• Lucas nodded. His hopes of investigating directly were crushed. If Deasy gave permission, he could have access to the financial reports of the four remaining individuals, including Daniel and herself.
• "But if you want to check it again, you can. I'll give you a copy of the file."
• Lucas smiled inwardly, feeling happy that what he hoped for would soon come true.
• "Then, I'll wait for it, Ma'am. So I can work on it as soon as possible. Once I have the results, I'll share them with you."
• Deasy simply nodded, waving her hand in the air as a signal for Lucas to leave the room as there was nothing more to discuss.
• "And ... about last night, Ma'am," Lucas whispered softly before fully leaving Deasy's office. "I-I hope, you ---"
• "Lucas, stop!" Deasy interrupted, shaking her head. She put her index finger on her lips. "Never mention that incident again. I won't report you to the police. But please, I hope you forget what happened between us. Don't ever bring it up again."
• "Don't you want me to take responsibility?"
• Deasy laughed sardonically. Lucas's words were ticklish to her ears.
• "Don't be naive, Luc. Nowadays, it's very common for two strangers to meet and have a one-night stand. So, why bother with responsibility? As I said before, I have no interest in marrying you."
• "Why?" Lucas asked innocently. "Is it because I'm just an ordinary staff who's not on the same level as you? Or because you're worried you won't be satisfied with someone older like me? Just take a good look; I'm not small."
• Deasy glared at him, her face turning red. How could Lucas say that so casually in front of her?
• "Enough, Lucas Orion. Whatever happened between us, I don't need your responsibility. Now get out of my office before I get even more emotional with your rambling!"
• ***
• At exactly six in the evening, Lucas had just finished his work. After tidying up his desk, he hurried to the basement.
• Humming to himself, Lucas walked towards his car. Just as he was about to get in, a tall man suddenly appeared and approached him, startling Lucas to the point of wanting to curse.
• "Goodness, Felix! What are you doing, appearing out of nowhere like a ghost? You scared me!"
• "I'm sorry, Sir. I apologize once again," the tall man said remorsefully.
• "Besides, why did you follow me to the office? I've told you not to come near the office. What if someone sees us? What then?"
• Felix looked down, feeling conflicted about what he had done. There must be a compelling reason for him to risk approaching Lucas at his workplace.
• "I've tried calling Mr. Lucas's cellphone multiple times, but it's not active. There's something very important that I need to tell you."
• Lucas didn't respond immediately. He chose to get into the car first and asked Felix to follow.
• "What important matter do you want to discuss?" Lucas inquired.
• "I received a message from Miss Laura that Miss Diana will be coming to England tomorrow to meet you. I believe she wants to discuss the progress of the wedding plans."
• Lucas let out a long sigh. He almost forgot that he was already engaged to someone through an arranged marriage set up by his parents.
• Despite being born into a wealthy family with multiple business ventures, Lucas's life wasn't all smooth sailing. Since he was young, he was accustomed to working hard and striving to achieve his goals, including leading a large company.
• In order to ascend to the throne, Lucas was given a task by his father to investigate a case of alleged fund embezzlement that occurred in one of the branch companies, which had remained unsolved until now. If Lucas succeeded in solving the case, his father promised to hand over the entire leadership of the company to him. That's why Lucas had to work hard, even disguising himself and blending in for the past year to investigate what had been happening in his current workplace.
• "What time will Diana arrive in England?" Lucas asked.
• "Around 10 in the morning, Sir."
• "Alright, just schedule a dinner with her at our usual place. Make sure she doesn't disturb my work."
• Felix nodded. Since there was nothing else to convey, he hurriedly left, allowing Lucas to go about his way. Unbeknownst to Lucas, someone had been observing them from afar the whole time.