Lucas frowned when he heard my questions, and his hesitation fueled my curiosity even further. “Is it something you can’t tell me?”
Lucas shook his head after a brief pause. “Well, not exactly. Seeing that you two aren’t that close, I suppose I could tell you. Your family set its sight on a decent project that would resolve a company crisis back then, and I happened to be in charge of that project. When Nathan came to me, I told him a man like me who could die anytime wouldn’t have much use for money, and I offered to give him the project if he let me marry his daughter.”
“And my dad said yes?” I asked with a helpless chuckle.
“Yeah, he agreed to it right away and even advertised our engagement in the newspapers. After that… Well, you already know the rest of the story,” Lucas replied with a shrug.
Of course, I do. Nathan asked me to marry a playboy with a bad reputation when I was eighteen, and I ran away from home after refusing his request firmly. Even so, given how well things were for them then, I’m pretty sure they managed to get their hands on the project anyway.
“Seems to me you’ve lost both the bird in hand and the two in the bushes!” I said half-jokingly in an attempt to cheer myself up.
“Now that you mentioned it, that does seem to be the case… I don’t think your dad knows this, but I would’ve given him the project even if he didn’t come to me,” Lucas mumbled while stroking his chin.
“Why?” The Goldstein family is just as powerful as the Lane family! Sure, they may have been keeping a low profile and missed out on events throughout the past two years, but they are indeed one of the two most prominent families in Avenport! There are tons of others out there who would kill to have a partnership with them! The Tanner family is nothing compared to them!
Lucas simply stared at me without saying anything, and I looked down at myself to see if there was anything wrong with my outfit. “What? Is there something on my face or what?”
Lucas shook his head and leaned in closer as he said in a serious tone, “Believe it or not, you and I have actually met a long time ago.”
“Huh? You too?” I was a little confused. Christopher said he had met me before, and now Lucas told me the same thing! How come I don’t remember any of that? They’re both such outstanding men, so there’s no way I wouldn’t remember meeting them! This doesn’t make any sense!
“What do you mean ‘you too’?” Lucas asked.
“Ah, you see… C-Chris said he met me a long time ago, and that he had been paying close attention to me ever since…” I stammered nervously, wondering if they were both just lying to me about it.
As if he had thought of something, Lucas broke into a smile and said, “I suppose that could be the case. Who knows, we might’ve been the best of friends if I weren’t sick since I was a child.”
The music in the hall changed all of a sudden, and it seemed like the ceremony was about to start.
“Come on, let’s go watch the ceremony. Since you rarely attend such events, people are bound to be curious about you, so you could help divert some of their attention away from me!” I suggested while glancing at the hall outside. Christopher would surely come and look for me if I don’t head back now!
Seeing that Lucas was still standing there, I motioned at him to hurry up and get a move on. He then adjusted his necktie and jammed his hands into his pockets as he came out through the door with me. That was when I realized there were more eyes on me than when I went in earlier. With the amount of attention we were receiving, one could easily mistake us as the stars of the event.
“You silly girl! How am I going to divert their attention if we come out together? I suppose it is true that women become stupid when they fall in love!” Lucas teased me with a playful pat on the shoulder.
Lucas used to be a well-behaved gentleman, so why did he become so mischievous after befriending Christopher? I thought to myself as I shot him a fierce glare. Lucas then walked straight to our table and whispered into Mitchell’s ear, “Mr. Martin, could you get up, please?”
Unsure of what Lucas was playing at, Mitchell did as told and stood right up, only to have Lucas pull the chair out and motion for me to sit down.
I… Fine… Seeing as the seat is right next to Christopher’s, I’ll forgive him for behaving in such a high-profile manner…
