"I will do no such thing," Nicole said firmly, letting go of Lucas’ leg and scooting backwards to get away from him. “You don’t have a choice, Nicole.” Lucas said to her, not liking her tone with him, especially after the fact that she was still breathing in front of him. After he had spared her life.“I’ve already made a video for you. Why would you need another one?” Nicole asked him, her lips down-turned in disapproval of all this.“That isn’t your concern,” Lucas told Nicole, making her shake her head again.“I’m not doing it.” She voiced her thoughts again, moving farther away from Lucas. She wasn’t sure, but she could tell that something was amiss. Lucas already had a video of her telling him all this. Why would he want another one? And if it was just for the fact that he lost the last one, why couldn’t he just say that and get her to do another video for him before he let her go? Unless he was hiding something and whatever it was, Nicole didn’t trust it. He had given her his w

Soon, the long-awaited evening arrived, and Lucas confidently donned the suit. He liked the feeling of the fabric on his skin, and although he wasn't standing in front of a mirror, Lucas could tell he looked amazing by the look on his friends' faces."You're going to steal a lot of rich women's hearts tonight," Jack pointed out as he tapped Lucas on the back."Or men," another added, and they all chuckled. Lucas faked a smile."I have a girlfriend, remember?" he said, putting them back in their place with those three words."Anyway, I'll see you all later," Lucas announced before strolling out of the room. He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the night ahead, especially since Emilia was going to be around.Lucas joined Tobias and his mother, Emilia, at the entrance of the Graham's mansion, where a sleek, luxurious limousine awaited them. The vehicle's tinted windows and polished exterior seemed to gleam in the evening light, showing anyone who looked at it, the luxury

As the evening drew to a close, Tobias and Emilia exchanged polite farewells with Mr. Stockholm and some of the other guests at the auction event. Lucas trailed behind them, his footsteps echoing through the almost-empty space but his mind as quiet as it could ever be after what he had witnessed through the night. As the trio approached the limousine, Lucas' exhaustion momentarily lifted, anticipating the comfort of resting in his bed, but his respite was short-lived as dread filled his heart at what he saw next.Beside the sleek vehicle stood a slim figure, her eyes gleaming in the dim light. The girl from the auction, now Emilia's possession, gazed up at Lucas with an unsettling mixture of fear and confusion. She turned away, not wanting to be seen by the people who now held her life in their hands.Lucas's heart sank, the evening's tension reigniting. The girl's presence was a harsh reminder of the night's unsettling events. Tobias stepped up to the girl and gripped her chin, movi

Monday and Tuesday blurred together in a haze of routine for Lucas. He went to work with Tobias, standing guard as his bodyguard. The days were uneventful as he had left all he had in Axel’s capable hands, but his mind simmered with anticipation.Axel's deadline loomed, and Lucas wondered if he still stood by his word. Would he follow through on his promise, or had he switched sides? Lucas thought. What the hell was taking so long?Wednesday, the final day, arrived. As Lucas prepared for work, his thoughts swirled with possibilities. The air felt electric, heavy with the promise of Axel's confrontation and Graham's arrest. Whatever happened that morning, Lucas expected Tobias and Emilia to be arrested by the end of the day. He reached for his tie, but his hand hesitated. Guilt stabbed at him like a sharp knife. Due to his preoccupied mind, Lucas had forgotten a crucial promise.Amy.He had vowed to visit her in the basement, but the days had slipped away. Shame washed over him. How co

Lucas continued to stare at the grand mansion and while he did, a long-suppressed thought resurfaced, one he had long struggled to keep hidden: his deep-seated hatred for his father. The man who had destroyed his childhood, ridiculed him and his mother and shattered their sense of home. Lucas wondered where that man was now and why, in the course of his undercover investigation, he’d found nothing about his father. He hadn’t even had the opportunity to see the man.But Lucas knew that there was no way Tobias and Emilia would have done all that on their own, and an evil mastermind such as his father had to be behind it or, at the very least, a part of it, and although he wanted to snoop around and find out about him while he worked for Tobias, Lucas was too busy carrying out the major task of ruining them to do it. Plus, he had thought that Mark Graham was a lesser threat to the monsters he was facing at the time, but now that they were being taken care of, he could focus on finding th