Chapter 4

Lucas pulled himself out of the memory and looked coldly at Rachel standing across from him.

“I made myself very clear on the day of the wedding. From now on, Fiona Shaw and I have nothing to do with each other.

“So I suggest you leave right now, Ms. Tate. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude.”

Rachel laughed in anger, her voice dripping with contempt.

“Lucas York, stop pretending. A little hard-to-get act is fine, but do you really think you can fool Ms. Shaw?

“If Ms. Shaw truly cared about you, she wouldn’t have canceled the wedding. Come back with me now, and there’s still a chance to fix things.”

Lucas clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

Pain spread from his heart through his entire body.

For a moment, he felt as if he were back at the wedding, standing there in front of everyone as his dignity was crushed underfoot.

He closed his eyes.

Then he decided to let himself go.

If Fiona truly cared about him, she never would have let Rachel and Xena treat him that way.

Sometimes, love was obvious.

So was the lack of it.

He couldn’t lie to himself anymore.

“I said I’m not going back. Why are you being so shameless, Ms. Tate? At the end of the day, you’re just another dog Fiona keeps around. You have no right to bark at me.”

Rachel froze.

When she finally processed what he had said, rage burned through her.

Back at the company, when had Lucas ever been anything but polite to her?

And now he dared to insult her?

She was just about to snap back when Lucas forcefully pried her hand off the doorframe.

Then he shoved her.

Rachel staggered back several steps, nearly falling.

She looked up at Lucas in disbelief.

He had actually dared to put his hands on her?

“Lucas York, I’ve let you get away with too much.”

She stepped forward and raised her hand, aiming a slap at his face.

Today, she was going to teach him a lesson.

Lucas tilted his head and dodged her hand. In the next second, he grabbed her wrist with quick, precise force.

“Let go!”

Rachel struggled hard, but she couldn’t break free.

She stared at the ring of bruises already forming around her wrist, shocked and uncertain.

Since when was he this strong?

Everyone knew Lucas was weak.

Even though he spent years at the gym and looked stronger than most men, his actual strength had always been poor.

Once, she had knocked him flat on his face with nothing more than a simple kick.

Was it because anger gave people extra strength?

Rachel didn’t think too much about it. She quickly swung her other hand at Lucas.

Lucas raised his arm and blocked her, easily deflecting her attack.

Rachel pressed forward, her moves sharp and ruthless.

Lucas moved with surprising agility, dodging every strike.

The longer they fought, the more alarmed Rachel became.

But joy surged wildly through Lucas’s chest.

His strength had returned.

Lucas had been born with incredible strength.

Because of that, the other children at the orphanage had thought he was a monster and bullied him constantly.

After the Shaw family adopted him, Lucas had been deeply grateful.

But the Shaws had been afraid his strength would one day become a threat to Fiona, so they used a secret drug to suppress it.

The drug made his body weak. Sometimes, he was even weaker than an ordinary person.

Lucas had promised Fiona over and over again that he would never hurt her. He had told her his strength would only ever be used to protect her.

But Fiona had said she didn’t need a bodyguard.

She only needed a man who would quietly stay by her side.

A man who respected her and loved her. That was enough.

Back then, Lucas had thought Fiona was worried about him, so he accepted the Shaw family’s arrangement and took the drug every year without protest.

Thinking about it now, the effects of this year’s dose should have worn off by now.

No wonder he had been able to throw that gangster into the wall hard enough to leave a dent.

With a sharp crack, Lucas dislocated one of Rachel’s arms.

Rachel let out a scream.

Lucas showed her no mercy.

After everything Rachel had done to him, taking only one of her arms was already generous.

Rachel clutched her arm, her face pale from the pain.

She glared at Lucas with hatred.

“Then don’t ever come crawling back to the Shaw family! No wonder Ms. Shaw called off the wedding. You can’t even compare to Zac Carter.”

Lucas’s expression turned ice-cold.

“If you don’t leave right now, you’ll lose the other arm too.”

Even now, hearing Zac’s name still made anger burn in his chest.

Zac’s very existence was proof that Lucas had never mattered to Fiona.

If he had, why would she have abandoned him again and again?

Rachel stared at him coldly for a moment, then turned and walked away without looking back.

Fine. If he didn’t want to come back, that was his problem.

If Fiona hadn’t ordered her to come, Rachel wouldn’t have wasted a second on him.

*

Rachel had just gotten downstairs when Fiona called.

“Did you get him?”

Rachel’s eyes shifted.

In a wounded voice, she said, “Ms. Shaw, Mr. York said he’s already broken up with you. He refuses to come back.”

Silence fell on the other end of the line.

Rachel took the chance to twist the knife.

“Ms. Shaw, from what I saw, Mr. York seemed serious this time. Since he doesn’t want to come back, maybe we should just let him be…”

“Rachel Tate, don’t let me hear you say that again.”

Fiona’s voice was ice-cold.

Rachel’s heart lurched.

Then Fiona gave her final order.

“Find a way. I don’t care what you have to do. Even if you have to beg, bring him back.”

With that, she hung up.

Rachel’s face went pale. The arm Lucas had dislocated seemed to throb even harder.

Fiona meant it.

As Fiona’s subordinate, Rachel couldn’t disobey her order.

Fine. She would tell herself she was doing this for Zac.

Rachel bit down hard on her lip, hard enough to taste blood.

She reminded herself that she was only lowering her head to Lucas for now.

Once he returned to the Shaw family, she would have plenty of chances to get even.

Rachel’s interruption had completely ruined Lucas’s mood, so he no longer felt like going out.

Now that his strength had returned, a new idea came to him.

He opened a shopping app and ordered a few things.

Before long, the doorbell rang.

Lucas was surprised.

Was online shopping this fast now?

He opened the door. The moment he saw Rachel’s face, his sharp brows drew together in disgust.

“You still haven’t left?”

Rachel’s temper flared instantly.

But she couldn’t lose her temper.

She secretly pinched her thigh hard. The pain helped clear her head a little.

Her face was pale as she lowered the head she had always held so high in front of Lucas.

“Mr. York, my attitude earlier was wrong. I know I was out of line. Please forgive me.

“Ms. Shaw is very worried because you haven’t gone home. She even bought you a lot of gifts while she was overseas. Please come back with me.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow.

What had gotten into Rachel?

She was actually lowering her head to him?

And she said Fiona was worried about him.

What a joke.

For the past two weeks, he hadn’t received a single message from Fiona.

So that was what she called worry?

As for the gifts, they were too late.

He didn’t need them anymore.

In the past, whenever Fiona traveled overseas for project inspections, she always brought gifts back.

They were all luxury items.

But they were all for Zac.

Every time Lucas saw Zac post photos of those gifts online, he felt a stab of envy.

Once, he had jokingly asked Fiona if she could bring him a gift the next time she went abroad too.

Even now, he still clearly remembered the disgust in Fiona’s eyes.

“You’re a grown man. Do you really need to be that shallow?

“You work at Shaw Corporation. You don’t need designer things to look important. Zac is in the entertainment industry. His image is part of his career. Are you seriously going to fight him over this too?”