Chapter 23:"If you have nothing reasonable to say I would take my leave now" Tess enjoyed a warm cup of ginger tea and confirmed Luke was sleeping well before she headed for bed. She recalled Lucas asked her to text him when she arrived at her place but she didn't feel the need to. She felt tired both emotionally and physically and soon fell asleep. The next few days went by blurry for Tess, very depressing and everyday felt tortuous. Her healing wounds were once again torn open. The immense pain tore her soul apart and shattered her will to live. Although heartbroken, Luke had been very understanding, he gave Tess space and frequently changed her cup of tea, water, fruit juice and the meals she didn't even take a glance at. He and Luuk had been communicating via phone calls."How is mother?" Luuk asked calmly. "Still the same as yesterday, huddled up on her bed. I'm worried because she didn't eat yesterday, only half a glass of orange juice and water… her pillow was soaked this
Chapter 24: "As the oldest cousin, aren't you embarrassed.""Young Master, it's time to go." Luuk's bodyguard Johan reported.Luuk shifted his gaze from the file in his hands. "Okay, let's go." He closed the file, grabbed his phone and strolled to the door leisurely. They arrived at the car parked in front of the company, Luuk got in and Ruben was already seated in the car. "Old madam and old master have missed you very much, you haven't asked to see them since we go home, that's unusual." Ruben spoke, clearing the awkward air. A glint flashed past Luuk's eyes. Luke!!! " Work… I've been busy." "Oh right." Ruben spoke, rubbing his nose with his fingers in embarrassment. His attempt to initiate a conversation went down the drain. The car was dead silent until they arrived at Ruben’s grandparents mansion. The De Vries family had a tradition of organizing a family event once in two months, sometimes impromptu meeting, just to ensure everyone in the family is doing well. Being the we
Chapter 25: "It's fine, since cousin wants a competition, I'll give him a competition.""Luke is the director of Software engineering and that's final." The Old master spoke in fury. "But-" Liam protested but hesitated from a glance by the old master. His whole body shivered from the overbearing aura the old master emitted. "Great grandfather." Luuk spoke, walking to the center of the room. "It's fine, since cousin wants a competition, I'll give him a competition." A ray of hope shone in Liam's eyes and was instantly concealed with malice at the thought of Luuk looking down on him. "Our initial agreement was to develop a prototype of the virtual shopping assistant father mentioned in a recent interview. Is that a good subject for a competition cousin?" Luuk turned to Liam. "Y-yes…yes." Liam replied, shaking his head like a lizard. Blood dripped down from his forehead, staining the white tile red. "It's settled then, in a month another competition will be held but until then, I, L
Chapter 26: "Like a date?" "Can I come in now?" Lucas teased, raising an eyebrow."Ah of course, of course." Tess's cheek tinted red in embarrassment. She hadn't expected Lucas to know her address talkless visit to her. The three of them entered the living room and took a seat on the comfortable couch. Tess and Lucas talked about their old days in law school and Lucas changing his degree abruptly. Luke felt so awkward and a little afraid he would botch things up if Lucas said anything about the things he had done with Luuk so he escaped to the kitchen in pretense to serve Lucas a fruit juice."How did you get my address though?" Tess had a smile on her face but her eyes were deep with wariness. Even though she was tipsy that night, she knew she never gave her address out. "I saw it on your car's map, have you forgotten I got you a designated driver? Your address was on the car's map." Lucas smiled. Tess still had her suspicion, she probed into Lucas's dark eyes but when she could
Chapter 27: " Yes, a sting operation. "Tess and Lucas had a great time together, Lucas planned the entire date so they had the entire day to themselves. They first had a light lunch at a nearby snack shop, a rom-com movie date at the cinema, two rollercoaster trips and finally a walk round the cherry blossom path in the park then a drive back home. Luke came to open the door gloomily and sent Lucas back with an unfriendly gaze. He had been so bored all day watching Korean dramas himself. Tess pacified him with kisses all over his face and a bag of snacks she bought along with. Tess finally resumed work the next day, she blamed her absence on a sudden illness and her superiors and team members ate it up. She resumed working on Jamie's case with Luuk. Luuk, being skilled with acquiring information and hacking surveillance cameras, provided Tess with video clips of all the cameras within thirty radius to Mr Williams, the commissioner of police's home. Tess's current dilemma was la
Chapter 27: "Thank you director Luke." Luuk assembled all the employees in the department of software engineering and the ground breaking news was announced to them. They all had different reactions to the news depending on their category. The people that were promoted obviously had a positive reaction to the news likewise the people that go to keep their jobs. But the people that were demoted but got to retain their positions had a lot to say but not as much as those that were laid off. "Good day everyone." Luuk greeted the room filled with the employees audibly. As if oblivious to his presence, they continued with their affairs, talking amongst each other. Luuk was calm in the midst of the storm. His personal assistant panicked and tried to calm the crowd but they refused to listen and flared up even more. Luuk raised the microphone to his lips level slowly, his eyes scanned through the rowdy room and he spoke slowly. " You can all leave now.""What?" One of the men that were be
Chapter 29: "HI Mr Williams."Tess stepped into "Club Highland " with two bodyguards clad in black walking on her both sides. She garnered attention as soon as she stepped in donning transparent stiletto heels complementing her shimmering red sequin, tight-fitting, mini dress with a face full of makeup. A refined beauty. Her bright red lipstick and smokey dark eye makeup made her appear seductive and wild, just like Mr Williams liked it according to the Intel provided by Luke. A charming smirk lingered on her face as she strode in confidently. Her eyes travelled to a specific corner of the room and she smiled inwardly as she sighted her prey. She calculated her steps and angle at which she would drop her bracelet in front of the old man to create a reason for conversation and turned to her bodyguards and initiated a farce conversation to appear busy and avoid eye contact with Mr Williams. As she walked past, she dropped the loose bracelets dangling on her wrist and between her finge
Chapter 30:"I will pour you a drink dear Williams." Ruben’s eyes deepened, his gaze pierced Tess's skin as if looking to see her intention for coming. Tess noticed his gaze but brushed it off, facing Mr Williams. Mr Williams eyes glimmered at the sight of the beauty showing obvious interest in him, the joy in his heart spilled beyond control when he noticed Tess ignored Ruben just to talk to him, Ruben the hottest, most successful and most talked about young man in the city of Amsterdam and the whole nation. "HI Miss… Jannsen I presume?" "Yes, Miss Janssen" Tess flashed a seductive smile and winked, deliberately highlighting the "Miss". She stretched her out to shake Mr Williams, her eyes never left his face. Mr Williamś fat red cheeks widened, as he flashed Tess a polite smile, reaching forward to shake her hands. "That concludes this meeting." Ruben suddenly stood up. He grabbed Tess's stretched out hand and pulled her up towards the exit. "Let go of me Mr Ruben, I am serious