Evelyn dropped into my chair, spinning around smugly. Her lips curled into a sinister smile. "It won't be long before the Dickerson Group is mine. As soon as I give Lucas a son, my status will be unshakable! Daniela, you're just a washed-up heiress from a bankrupt family—what right do you have to compare yourself to me?"
Not long after, Lucas's voice drifted in from the hallway. "Daniela, how is the land acquisition in the southern suburbs coming along?"
He pushed the door open, only to find Evelyn wearing headphones, playing video games on the CEO's computer.
"Lucas!" Evelyn ripped off the headphones and jumped up to greet him.
"Where is Daniela?" He scanned the room, confused.
"Daniela... she..." Evelyn stammered, then put on a distressed face. "She *insisted* on working in the cleaning department. I couldn't stop her!"
Her eyes filled with instant tears. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have made so many demands. I made her unhappy."
"Stop crying. I'll go talk to her." Lucas sighed and turned to leave.
He found me working in the storage room a few minutes later.
"You're unhappy, so you deliberately came here to work to spite me?" His voice was tight.
"I didn't..." I started, then stopped and nodded. "Sorry. I was being willful."
"I knew it—Evelyn is talking nonsense."
Lucas looked at me with reproach, but his tone held a trace of something softer. "But you know how it is. She loves me too much, that's why she acts like this. Don't be too calculating with her."
I had given up on Lucas the moment he first cheated.
But now, seeing him defend Evelyn so blindly, ignoring logic and reason, a familiar ache throbbed in my chest.
After all, this was the man I had once loved deeply.
The man who had once protected me against the world.
"Don't worry, I'm not that petty." The practiced smile slid into place like armor. "What's the status of the land in the southern suburbs?"
Lucas Dickerson shifted gears seamlessly. "That plot has hit its ceiling. Zero room for appreciation. We need to offload it immediately."
"Selling now would be a bloodbath." A sigh escaped—convincingly reluctant. "We'd be taking a massive loss."
"Even so, it has to go. Holding onto it will only bleed us dry." With that final verdict, he turned and walked away.