Chapter 27: Lauren's POV

Two weeks. I haven't seen Lucas or Christian or heard from either of them in two freaking weeks. I tried calling, I tried texting and sending emails and letters. I tried going to the mansion, but I was told the whole family is on holiday and no one is at the house. And then I was told I can take all my stuff since it's already been packed for me. I took a deep breath and tried my best to ignore the ache in my heart. I'm losing my friends. I'm losing two people who are so important to me and I have no idea how to get them back. I looked at one of my texts one more time. Hey Lucas Can you and Christian at least text me back or answer my calls? I know my behaviour has been odd and sometimes inappropriate. I crossed a line and I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Please text me back? You promised that Charlotte being back in your life won't change anything. I'm your friend, Lucas. I was there when you needed someone the most. Right now I need you. Please don't abandon me. Still no reply from him or Christian. "Did you even hear what I said?" Melissa's voice echoed in my head. I quickly looked away from my phone and tried to focus on what she was saying. We were having our morning coffee, but the caffeine wasn't doing anything for me. Lucas literally chased me out of his house and then didn't come to work for two weeks. When I went back to his place to just talk to him and apologise for whatever he thinks I did wrong, the moment I set foot in the place, the servants told me they had strict orders not to let me sleep there or even be in the house if Lucas wasn't there himself. How the hell does Charlotte keep getting away with this? She has only been back for two months. How has she turned Lucas against me in just two months? "I'm sorry." I rubbed her shoulder as we walked back to the office. "I'm all ears now. What did you say?" She sighed and groaned. "I said, I think there's going to a disciplinary hearing soon..." "Okayyyy." I waited for her to go on. "...for you." She finished her sentence. I chocked on my coffee and was forced to spit it out. "What?" I asked her. "Why? How? What makes you say that?" She patted my back while I tried to catch my breath after nearly chocking on my coffee. "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Jona is in the process of compiling a detailed audit of every mistake you've ever made since joining the company and setting out how much each mistake cost the company." I tried to stay calm, but I just couldn't. I knew that Jona was going to try and separate me from Lucas the second he joined the company. Charlotte put him here so that she could have one of her puppets torment me while clawing a space for herself in Lucas' life. But surely even Jona can't get rid of me. I mean, I haven't made that many mistakes and even if I have, they couldn't have cost the company that much...and everyone makes mistakes. Even Lucas makes mistakes. I can't be the only one to get punished. "I'm telling you this because I've covered up for you quite a few times, Lauren." She said nervously. "I don't want it to cost me my job ... so I think I should come clean before Jona starts blaming me for things." I just drank the coffee, but suddenly my mouth felt so dry. What's she talking about? When did she have to cover up for me? "What...what are you talking about?" I asked her. She bit her lip nervously and looked at me like all the pity in the world just couldn't help me. "Lauren," she smiled nervously, "you're a really nice girl. You're friendly and you always want to lend a helping hand." ... I searched her eyes for whatever she was hiding from me. So far, she wasn't mentioning any mistakes I made. "However... you're really bad at ... most things." I tried pulling my hand away from her, but she held on to it while she insulted me. "I'm not saying this to hurt your feelings. I just want you to brace yourself for Jona's report and findings because from what I've seen, the company can sue you and maybe even send you to jail for some of the mistakes you've made." I started taking deep and slow breaths to calm myself down while she spoke. I tried to listen to the rest of the things she was saying, but there was this terrible ringing in my ears that blocked out most of her voice. "Lucas...Lucas approved of this investigation?" I managed to ask her. She shook her head. "Mr Greyson has been on leave for the past two weeks so the head of the legal department has been taking care of things in his stead. And ...", she hesitated, "since that whole thing with the Ohio permits and you changing the application after it was submitted ... he approved Jona's request to launch an investigation." I started fanning my face, hoping that I'll be able to breathe properly, but it wasn't helping. "So Jona waited for Lucas to take leave?" I asked her. "Since when does Lucas take leave? The man's a workaholic." I wasn't sure what I was rambling anymore. My brain just popped a bunch of words in my head and my mouth just grabbed each word and hoped that something coherent came out. "I think Ms Ericsson insisted that he take leave since his mother and sister are here for the banquet. Last I heard, him, Ms Ericsson and his family all went to Hawaii." I looked up at her to find her still looking at me with pity in her eyes. She has to know that each one of her words is like a knife to the chest. She has to know that hearing that Charlotte convinced Lucas to take leave and then went to Hawaii with him and his family is the absolute worst thing I could ever hear. ... and then she got Jona to go on a witch hunt ... she waited for Lucas to leave. "My dad is a shareholder." I muttered to myself. "He won't allow this. He'll ... he'll.." "Shareholders don't have that kind of power." She almost whispered. "At the end of the day it's up to the board of directors ... and given the magnitude of the merger, I doubt your dad will want to cause too much trouble. He wouldn't want to risk being ousted or something and lose millions of dollars. Everyone wants in on Greyson Corporation. I don't think he'll risk his position as a shareholder." She took out a bottle of water out of her bag and handed it to me. We were in the middle of the sidewalk and because we had stopped walking, we were causing traffic and angering people. But I didn't care about any of them. Getting sued.. going to jail... What the f**k. I drank the whole bottle of water, but the inside of my mouth still felt dry. Lucas won't let Jona do this to me. He knows I just want to help him. That's all I've ever wanted. Yes. Lucas will come back and he will fix this whole mess. I tried my best to smile while I repeated that thought to myself. Lucas will come back and he'll fix this whole mess. "Lauren", she drew my attention back to her, "I told you this because I don't want you to think I went behind your back. Thing is, Jona has already asked me about a few things that don't add up and he wants me to answer for them...I need to tell him the truth or else I'll get into trouble." "It's okay." I threw away the plastic bottle and managed to take another step towards the office. "Lucas will come back and this whole investigation will turn into nothing. Jona is coming after me because he's friends with Charlotte. You can tell him whatever you want. It won't matter." She tried to give me a hug, but it was so awkward and short that it felt like a dead fish trying to shake my hand. "Thanks." She smiled awkwardly. I tried to walk faster back to the office, but my darn heels didn't allow me to. I wanted to be as far away from her as possible. I wanted to be far from everyone. I noticed I was getting weird looks at the office and I've noticed that people just don't want me helping on any projects anymore. People don't even want me going on a coffee run for them. I thought I was being paranoid, but now I know why. It's because of that f*****g Jona. "I've noticed that you really hate Ms Ericsson...?" She broke the defeaning silence between the two of us. "Did she do something to you?" My lips started trembling from the anger of just thinking about that woman. Where do I even start? Do I start with the fact that she was the president of every single important club back in school while I was apperantly not good enough to be in those clubs? Do I start with the day she snooped in Lucas' locker and found my note to him? I still remember that day. She smiled like a damn princess and then told me not to think about getting close to Lucas. She didn't regard me as a threat or as someone good enough for her to try to scare. No... she just smiled and went on about her day after telling me to stay away from him and because I was me, I didn't bother telling her to go stick a f*****g bomb up her butt. I tried to calm down, but it was getting more difficult with each passing second. I need to call Lisa. She'll know what to do. She always knows what to do. "Yea." I finally answered Melissa. "We went to Highschool together. She was the Queen Bee and I was the shy girl who wasn't even good enough to be in her shadow." "But, isn't she a foster kid?" She asked. I almost threw a punch at her right there and then. People always cling onto that fact as if it means Charlotte can't be a horrible person. She might have been a foster kid, but that woman could always magically bend the world to her will. There's absolutely nothing Charlotte can't do and there was no guy she couldn't have. I was okay with her running the whole school. Heck, she can run this whole country if she wants. I just want Lucas! That's all I've ever wanted, but she had to have him too because the poor foster kid gets everything she wants. Boo hoo. Well not anymore. This time, I get to have what I want. "That doesn't change the fact that she's a b***h!" I replied without thinking. The second those words came out of my mouth, I stopped walking and found Melissa looking at me like she wished she could get hit by a car just to escape this conversation. "Sorry about that." I gulped. "Why don't you go ahead. My shoes are killing me and I need to call someone." She couldn't get away from me fast enough, but I was glad about that. I started calling Lisa the moment she was out of view. "Hey." She answered her phone. "Lisa, we have a problem." I tried to talk slowly despite my nerves getting the best of me. "There's some kind of investigation going on at work and I think I might get fired or sued or something." "Do you technically work there?" She asked in a mocking tone. "What is it that you even do?" "You know what?" I clenched my jaw. "I knew it was a mistake calling you. This is why I didn't even tell you that Charlotte is back. You're so f*****g mean, Lisa!" She chuckled while more and more tears gathered in my eyes. "Calm down." She laughed some more. "Come see me tonight and you can tell me all about it. I'll fix it for you, Lauren. You don't need to worry." I started taking those slow and deep breaths again. Her words were calming me down. I just need to remember that I may not be able to deal with Charlotte, but Lisa can definitely deal with her. She'll deal with Jona and Charlotte and everything will be fine. "In happier news", she ignored my nervous breaths over the phone, "I found you a date for the banquet since Lucas Greyson will no longer be keeping his word." "Lisa..." I started to complain, "if I can't go with Lucas then I want to go alone. If I go with someone, I won't be able to talk to Lucas and sort out what's been happening between us." I could hear her dealing with a crying child and nannies in the background. I doubt she's even listening to me. "You're going with Connor Cornwall." She ignored me. "His dad is a partner at the law firm Charlotte works at. Our dearest Charlotte and Connor are both up for partner and only one of them can get the promotion. Connor's dad wants his son to be a shoe-in, but unfortunately the majority of partners want Charlotte." Of course they do. "Connor will accompany you to the banquet. Do as he says and by the end of the night, Charlotte will be out of the picture again." "I'm not going to the banquet with some strange man!" I tried screaming into the phone. "The press will think we're dating. That's why I wanted to go with Lucas." She gave out that annoyed sigh of hers. "Don't worry about the press." She scolded me. "Just go to the banquet with him and DO AS HE SAYS. Lucas and Charlotte will be broken up by the end of the night and your work situation will probably also get sorted out." "Okay." I caved. "If it means I'll get Lucas back then ... I guess I'll go with this Connor Cornwall to the banquet."