Meeting Lucas

From the window of the upscale restaurant, Lucas Carter watched the city move. He swirled the coffee in his cup, fingers drumming absently on the marble tabletop. His patience, already stretched thin, had begun to fray at the edges.He had been waiting for nearly two hours.

Evelyn Rayner's assistant had called him the previous day. Miss Rayner has scheduled a meeting with you at nine sharp. Not requested but scheduled. As if his presence was merely a footnote to her, a detail too insignificant to consider. It was a power play.

And now, making him wait like this was another one.

Lucas exhaled sharply, rubbing the back of his neck. His gut twisted but not with anxiety, but with the gnawing realization that she was controlling the tempo of this meeting before it had even begun. He had met Evelyn a few times before, and though she had always left an impression of calculated brilliance, tonight unsettled him.

Still, he had no doubt that she would accept the Zelius Project.

She had to.

The project was brilliant, the potential profits astronomical, anyone in her position would see its worth. He was certain. She wouldn't say no. Others might have feared rejection, but not Lucas. He was not afraid.

And yet, a sliver of unease slithered up his spine.

His gaze flickered to the entrance. The rhythmic, confident clicks of heels against the polished floor, a slow metronome of authority. Heads turned. Conversations hushed into murmurs and then, she appeared.

A young girl starting her own company at sixteen and, within a year, carving a name for herself in an industry dominated by men twice or thrice her age. Lucas had admired her from afar, watching her through television screens as she stepped onto the grand stage to receive her first award at just seventeen.

And then, he saw her in person for the first time.

She was nineteen. He was twenty-three. It was the foundation day banquet of TGM Group, an event where only the titans of the industry gathered. The Thornton family had invited the biggest names in the market, but among them, the youngest giants were Evelyn Rayner and Adrian Vaughn.

She had been dazzling that night. A star burning so brightly that everyone around her seemed to dim in comparison.

Even his elder brother, Neil, the same Neil who looked down on everyone was fawning over her. Neil, who had always carried nothing but disdain for Lucas, had humbled himself before Evelyn Rayner.

But Lucas?He had not even been allowed to attend.

He had stood on the balcony of the second floor, watching from the shadows, his eyes following Evelyn's every move as she maneuvered through the crowd, a vision of effortless power. She had been untouchable even then.

He had wanted to go downstairs. To stand in the crowd, to make his presence known. But he couldn't. He wasn't allowed to. So instead, he watched.

He watched as she commanded the room with nothing but her presence. He watched as men twice her age stumbled over their words in front of her. He watched as she smiled, not the soft, warm kind, but the kind that promised she knew exactly what she was doing.

Since that day, he had followed her every move. Through magazines. Through interviews.

At first, he had been content just watching. But human nature is a cruel thing. It never settles for just enough. He wanted more. He wanted to be noticed by her. He wanted to be acknowledged by her. And today, that moment had finally come.

Evelyn entered the restaurant. Her dress sculpted to her frame, the fabric pooling mid-thigh. Dark waves cascaded over and her skin pale and stood in striking contrast to the bold red of her lips. She walked as though she owned the world.

Lucas sat up straighter, his pulse thrumming.

But Evelyn felt nothing.

When she woke up that morning, she had felt nothing but dread. She didn't want to see him. Not yet.

She wanted to enjoy her home, her friends, her family, the people she had once lost. She wanted to feel alive again, because for so long, she had been dead inside, suffocated under the weight of betrayal and regret. But she knew the truth. She couldn't enjoy life while a poison still lingered in it.

Remembering the past, the trap he had set, the love she had blindly given him, it made her stomach churn.

In her past life, just two months before the merger of Eve Group into TGM Group, she had realized everything. Only then had she seen the game he had played with her heart.

She had been a fool for a decade. Everything had been happening in front of her, yet she had been too blind, too naïve, too trusting to see it. When the bubble finally burst, all she had was regret and despair. The damage was irreversible.

Looking at the man in front of her, she felt nothing but disgust. She had been a fool once. But not this time.

She sat down across from him, her eyes locked onto his. She extended her hand. He hesitated. And just as he reached forward, she pulled away. Smoothly. Effortlessly. Instead, she turned to the approaching waiter. "A macchiato. No sugar."

Lucas's hand hung in the air for a second too long before he clenched his fingers and dropped them onto his lap. The silence stretched. "The Zelius Project," she said finally, her voice a melody of silk and steel. "I'll invest."

Lucas let out a breath, satisfied. "That's good to hear, Miss Rayner"

"But."

She tilted her head slightly, a slow, deliberate smile curving her lips.

"There's a condition."

His smirk was instant. "Of course. And what might that be?"

"I don't want you in that project."

Silence.

Lucas's expression remained composed, but she saw the way his fingers tightened.

"I want the real person behind the project," she continued, her voice like a blade to his pride. "Not the pimp trying to pass it off as his own."

Lucas exhaled, smirking despite the blow. "That's an interesting choice of words, Miss Rayner."

She rested her chin on her hand. "Is it? I thought it was rather accurate."

His fingers drummed against the table and he stilled.

She took another sip of her coffee, savoring the silence. She placed her cup down, rising to her feet. She walked away, she paused.

"Oh, and Lucas?" she murmured as she turned back.

"You have one hour to think this through, in one hour I expect a call and next time you try to play a game, I don't think I'll be as forgiving as this time. Maybe I should've just called Neil Thornton and give an update about what his little brother is up to these days. I believe he'll rather appreciate my gesture." She said with a smirk

And with that, she was gone.