CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT – LUCIAN
Morning sunlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, catching on the polished steel of the skyscrapers around us. Arden City pulsed below, busy, alive.
"Quarterly reports," Silas said, dropping the neatly organized file on my desk. "Also, congratulations for the third year in a row, Lysander Enterprises just broke its own record. The board is practically worshipping you."
I glanced at the numbers. Profits were up. Partnerships secured. We had expanded into three new regions, diversified investments, doubled our stake in renewable tech.
By every measurable standard, I was thriving.
And yet, the office still felt too quiet.
"Your father called this morning," Silas added. "Said to remind you about the shareholders' dinner this weekend. He also said and I quote 'bring your human side with you this time.'"
I snorted. "What does that even mean?"
Silas shrugged, grinning. "I think it means stop glaring at people like you're deciding which one to fire."
"Maybe I am deciding that," I muttered, though a faint smirk pulled at my mouth.
The elevator chimed, and a group of junior executives passed by my glass walls.
I caught fragments of their whispers.
"Is he always that tall in person?"
"Pictures don't do him justice he's ridiculously good-looking."
"Yeah, and terrifying. Did you hear what happened to the last guy who missed a deadline?"
Their voices faded as they hurried away.
Silas raised a brow. "You know you've got half the city scared and the other half secretly in love with you, right?"
"Not interested," I said simply, returning to the report.
"Still brooding," Silas muttered under his breath, not quite softly enough.
I shot him a warning look. "Careful."
But he only folded his arms, perfectly calm. "I'm just saying, boss you've built an empire in five years, but you still walk around like something's missing. Your parents think it's because of the ex-fiancée. You and I both know it's not."
I didn't answer.
The memory of my engagement flashed briefly another life, another version of me. She had left quietly, kindly. It hadn't even hurt that much.
What hurt was something else entirely.
Something I still didn't have a name for.
That night, I went to the Lysander estate for dinner. My father was already in the study, reading the financial news, while my mother fussed over Aurora, who was complaining about being too busy with university work.
"Lucian," my father said with a nod. "Good quarter."
"Excellent quarter," my mother corrected, her smile proud. "Your father might be too stubborn to say it, but we're proud of you."
I gave a curt nod. "Thank you."
Aurora leaned against the doorframe, grinning. "Proud of him? Everyone in Arden City is obsessed with him. He's basically a legend now rich, powerful, scarily good-looking. You know the tabloids call you 'the city's coldest bachelor,' right?"
I rolled my eyes. "I don't read tabloids."
"You should. They make you sound way more dramatic than you are."
Silas, standing discreetly in the corner, smirked. "I don't know. They might be onto something."
Dinner was warm and noisy, my mother fussing, my father discussing market trends, Aurora teasing me about my lack of social life.
But even surrounded by family, there was a hollow space inside me.
The part of me that still remembered that night.
The part that still wondered if I had failed someone when they needed me most.
Later, when I was alone again in my car, I stared out at the city lights.
I had everything.
Power. Wealth. Influence.
But none of it filled the ache I carried.
And I had no idea if it ever would.