"Shouldn't you be studying?" Lucas frowned at me. "You're busy playing referee for a situation that doesn't need you to get involved in. You're writing your board exams in a few weeks. Lauren needs to stop running to you, crying. She's distracting you."
I clenched my fists. Lauren is just as important as my board exams. She doesn't like confrontation so yes, when I realise things are too much for her to handle, I step in.
She doesn't know how to tell Lucas that tomorrow Jona will have been working as his assistant for precisely two weeks and there have not yet been any talks of letting him go. In fact, as things stand, it seems like the man might be getting a permanent contract here.
"Don't you worry about me studying." I replied angrily. "Is Jona leaving or not? You know Lauren really likes being your assistant."
I could tell by how he was closing his eyes, rubbing his temples and trying to control his breathing that he was losing his patience. He's only ever patient when it comes to Charlotte.
"I'm running a f*****g corporation with profits that a number of countries can't even reach with their GDP." He was still rubbing his temples and clenching his jaw. "Jona can do the job of three assistants without breaking a sweat. Lauren was still confused about things despite being with this company for f*****g years, Christian."
He stood from his chair and from how dark his eyes got and how his face contorted, it looked like I was about to get punched right in the face.
"So to answer your question," he continued, standing inches from my face, "Jona isn't going anywhere. Not a single assistant has been able to keep up with the workload here." He pointed at the rows and rows of files in his office. "Jona breezes through it like it's nothing. Not only is he staying, but I'm going to give him a permanent position as my personal assistant."
I was too stunned to speak.
How does Charlotte do this? That woman has the ability to get anything she wants. It's like this world is waiting to give her whatever she asks for. It isn't just Lucas who seems to be affected by her. I remember seeing this even while growing up.
She was a foster kid in a school for kids with the richest parents in Oklahoma. They all knew she was only there because of the school's outreach programme. She should have been bullied, beaten, teased and yet she ended up being the president of a bunch of clubs, performing better than all those kids who had private tutors and even becoming the school's head prefect.
She ran that school, right alongside Lucas - the IT couple of all times.
And now she has her claws in one of the biggest companies in the country and it took her less than two weeks to do it.
How the f**k does she do it?
"You need to focus on passing your exams." He took a step back and tried to calm himself down.
"Because I've already failed them before?" I asked what he was obviously insinuating.
I'm not the perfect f*****g Lucas Greyson so of course I failed those f*****g exams.
"Chris...that doesn't matter to me.You know that right?"
I pushed him.
Even if it doesn't matter to him, it matters to me. Living in his shadow and constantly being compared to Lucas is just a f*****g nightmare. Failing my board exams the first time around was like announcing to the world that I'm the lesser brother.
"I want you to focus on studying because I remember how crushed you were when you found out you didn't make it the first time around." He ignored the fact that I pushed him. "You being happy is all that matters to me, Christian and I know that passing those exams is going to make you really happy."
"I know." I swallowed the big lump in my throat. "Pity I'm not like the amazing Charlotte Ericsson who passed hers on her very first try."
I suddenly felt his hand on my shoulder. "She's sleeping over at the mansion for the next two weeks." He smiled like he didn't just roll out a bomb in his office. "Maybe ask her for some help. She would be more than happy to help you."
I looked at him with nothing but shock on my face.
He's been sleeping at Charlotte's place for the past two weeks. Every single night without fail. Lauren has been on edge because of it, but I've welcomed the peace it's brought in the whole Lauren v Charlotte saga.
"Lauren is going to be there." I reminded him. "She refuses to leave just because Charlotte doesn't want her there. Are you ready to break up their cat fight? I see Charlotte beating the living hell out of Lauren."
He gave me a glare to indicate that he wasn't impressed by my response. "Charlie said she's going to play nice. She said she'll treat Lauren the same way she treats Annabelle."
My eyes went wide.
That's the biggest lie I've ever heard and it's absolutely impossible. Annabelle absolutely adores Charlotte. Even after what she did to Lucas, she kept defending Charlotte like the woman didn't rip our brother's heart from his chest. Growing up, Charlotte made it her mission to protect Annabelle. My sister has a very soft demeanour, just like mom, and people tried to take advantage of it a lot. They still try to take advantage of her.
Charlotte and Annabelle are tied at the hip. There's no way that Charlotte will treat Lauren like that.
I started laughing. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
"And you believe that?" I asked him. "The only way Charlotte will play nice with someone she regards as an enemy is if she's planning their downfall. And so far, I'm more than certain that Charlotte is planning Lauren's downfall...and succeeding."
He groaned and sat on one of the couches in his office. "I told her Lauren is a part of my life now. She understands that and she promised to ... make an effort with her." He didn't seem convinced himself.
"Charlotte is my family, Chris." He sighed. "And so are you and Lauren. I want my family together and happy."
I shrugged and shook my head. I'll have to get Lauren some boxing gloves so she can stand a chance against Charlotte.
I wanted to give him a snarky response, but the sincerity of his words kind of stopped me. Lucas is a big family man. He got a mansion that big because he's always wanted a loud house filled with laughter, kids running around and friends and family. Something like that is much easier to achieve back home in Oklahoma, but kind of hard to do in the city. However, he insists that he can find a way to make it work regardless of where he is.
"I should get going." I gave up trying to resolve this Jona debacle.
I was headed for the door when Melissa came bursting through, something that has never happened before.
"Mr Greyson!" she looked like she was about to start jumping up and down."You need to see this. Jona, he- You just have to see it, Mr Greyson!"
Lucas and I left his office to see what all the commotion was about.
We found the head of the legal department with a few members of his team all looking at Jona as if he just performed a miracle.
"He did it." The head of legal muttered with a smile. "This kid got the permits for the Ohio quadrant C sites. My team has been at it for months without success and this kid did it in two weeks."
"That's impossible." Lauren muttered from behind.
She seemed to have been on her way to see Lucas. She was wearing beautiful backless black dress that fit her body like a glove and her bright, blonde hair was tied in a bun. However, despite looking that good, her face now looked as white as a ghost.
"Not for me." Jona retorted lazily. "Why don't you tell Mr Greyson why that permit application kept failing, Lauren?"
All our eyes were now on Lauren. There's no way she knows anything about this application. Only legal and engineering has been dealing with it.
"How would I know?" She almost dropped the papers she was holding. And now her pale white face was as red as a tomato.
"What did you do Lauren?" Lucas cut off anything else she was about to say.
"I don't-" She started talking, but Jona responded for her.
"She kept amending the application AFTER it's been submitted. She was messing it up and if I didn't have a friend at the Ohio engineering department who risked her job to tell me this, the application would have been rejected yet again."
We could all see the beads of sweat forming on her face. But more than that, she was panting, heaving and of course ... crying.
"I was just trying to help." She said nervously. "I thought I could make the application process go faster. I didn't mean to mess it up. I promise."
A crushing silence settled amongst everyone.
Even I couldn't save Lauren from this. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been lost because the permits kept being denied.
Lucas has every right to fire her and even sue her for gross negligence.
"That's okay." His response shocked us all.
We were all literally sitting with our mouths wide open.
"You made a mistake." He continued. "We got the permits now. That's all that matters."
"That's all that matters?" The head of legal started to argue. "Four hundred and eighty thousand dollars, Mr Greyson!" He roared. "That's how much we lost because of HER mistake. A mistake that should have never happened. She's not a lawyer and although she has an engineering degree, we all know she's no engineer!"
"That's enough!" Lucas narrowed his eyes at the man. "She made a mistake. You can all get back to work now."
Everyone else scattered, except for the head of legal and Lauren. Even Melissa just left her desk. She could see that a bomb just exploded here.
"You were about to make me fire my team." The head of legal glared at Lucas. "I've been with this company since your father was the chairman. I'm one of the people who fought off the vultures after his death to make sure that his son would be the one to take over his company." He shook his head in disbelief and just stared at Lucas.
"This girl, this girl who's not even half my age made me doubt my abilities to do the most simple task; a task that can cost millions if not done correctly and you're brushing this whole thing off as if she didn't just embarass this company?"
Lucas glared right back at the man.
He was right. None of us could refute that.
"Fine." The man finally gave up when Lucas didn't give him a response. "But in the future, I don't want Ms Mitchell touching a single thing from my department. I don't even want to see her on my floor or even knowing what we're doing."
The man marched off, leaving us to deal with Lauren's muffled sobs.
"You should go clean your face, Lauren." Jona said coldly. He didn't bother looking at her. "This is a place of work. Try crying in a corner or the bathroom next time...like a normal person."
She hurried off to the bathroom without a second to spare.
I looked at Lucas. I had no idea what he was thinking.
"You should get back to studying." He smiled as if Lauren didn't just embarrass the company infront of us. "I'll see you at home tonight."
I left without going to check up on Lauren. This was a huge f**k up. She should have gotten fired, punished, sued.
What the hell is wrong with her?
When I got in my car, I decided to go to Lucas' place instead of mine.
I have an apartment of my own. I could go there, meet with my study group and try to go through a few chapters or cases, but we probably won't get much done. We'll spend the first hour trying to study and after that we'll just be talking all kind of nonsense. It's a lot of work to go through and I think most of us are just overwhelmed by it all.
Maybe at his place, I'll get some work done.
Aksara