LOGINShare
CHAPTER TWELVE: SHADOWS AT LUCIEN
publish date:
2026-10-16 14:36:16
Latest chapter
The Man My Bestfriend Call Dad CHAPTER TWELVE: SHADOWS AT LUCIEN
Victor Vance departed shortly after ten, leaving behind a polite, practiced smile and an uneasy silence at our table.Every time he had raised his wine glass during dinner, my eyes had drawn back to the antique gold chain hanging from his vest buttonhole. One newly polished jump ring had joined the fob to the links—a subtle repair on a piece of jewelry that had otherwise aged for decades. It wasn't conclusive proof, but when combined with his sudden interest in the sub-vault's municipal permits, it gave my suspicions a troubling shape.Beside him, Alessandro had remained impeccably composed. He played the distinguished foundation executive and protective father to perfection, but I saw the imperceptible tightening of his jaw whenever Victor spoke, and the quiet vigilance in his eyes as he tracked every movement in the room."We should get a nightcap at that speakeasy on Avenue A!" Sofia declared as the waiter presented the bill."I'm going to have to pass, Sof," Chloe said, checking h
The Man My Bestfriend Call Dad CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE DINNER PARTY
"You're not leaving me out of your sight, and you're not locking me out of my own project office," I said, backing away from the false partition and picking up my tablet from the drafting table. "If someone was down here before seven-thirty, it means your secure Wall Street entrance isn't as secure as you think it is."Alessandro stood near the brick wall, his hand still closed around the crushed brass link. The ambient warmth that had briefly flickered between us seconds earlier was entirely gone, replaced by a calculated, impenetrable focus."The Wall Street entrance hasn't been compromised," he said flatly, stepping toward the center of the room. "The hatch requires an encrypted rolling code that resets every twenty-four hours. Whoever was in this room didn't come through the street."I stopped, looking from him to the heavy iron door leading up to the trading floor. "The spiral staircase?""The internal access corridors connect to the lower boiler vaults," Alessandro replied, his
The Man My Bestfriend Call Dad CHAPTER TEN: THE VAULT
Alessandro had told me to be there at eight. I arrived thirty minutes early, partly because I wanted to inspect the building before Marco arrived and partly because I hadn't slept well enough to justify another minute in bed.The Financial District was shrouded in a dense, river-born fog that muffled the sound of early commuter traffic. Wall Street looked ghostlike, the soaring granite facades of old banking houses rising into the gray mist.I stood at the narrow iron gate tucked between two stone pillars on Wall Street, half a block from the main entrance of the Old Exchange Building. I pulled the heavy brass key from my coat pocket, the dark leather fob cool against my palm, and fitted it into the antique lock. A heavy mechanical click echoed in the alleyway, and the gate swung open.A flight of steep stone steps wound down into a narrow brick corridor beneath street level, smelling of damp granite, old iron, and ozone. At the bottom sat a reinforced steel security hatch painted mat
The Man My Bestfriend Call Dad CHAPTER NINE: GLASS HOUSES
For three agonizing seconds, no one in the executive conference room moved.Sofia stood in the open doorway, her yellow trench coat a bright splash of color against the dark walnut walls and muted granite decor. Her hands tightened around the paper coffee cups in her grip, her blue eyes darting from Arthur Vance's beaming face to Marcus's thunderous scowl, finally locking onto me.My throat went bone dry. The silence felt heavy enough to shatter glass."Sofia," Alessandro broke the stillness first. His voice was smooth, cool, and entirely unhurried as he leaned back in his leather chair, unbuttoning his suit jacket. "We are just wrapping up an executive briefing.""I... I see that," Sofia said slowly, taking two hesitant steps into the room. The initial shock on her face melted into confusion, mixed with a sudden, rising curiosity. She set the iced coffees onto the credenza by the door and walked toward the end of the long conference table. "Bel, what's going on? You told me on Friday
The Man My Bestfriend Call Dad CHAPTER EIGHT: THE SHORTLIST
By Wednesday afternoon, my living room looked like a battlefield of blueprints, material boards, and empty espresso cups.I hadn't withdrawn my name. Instead, I had spent forty-eight hours straight refining my proposal for the Old Exchange Building until it was bulletproof. I overhauled the structural load calculations, added a detailed historical preservation compliance matrix, and created a 3D rendering of the main trading floor that brought the original 1890s ceiling back to life.If Alessandro was going to use his foundation veto to kill my application, he wasn't going to be able to hide behind a generic excuse about my qualifications. He was going to have to look Arthur Vance and the rest of the board in the eye and reject the best proposal in the stack.My phone rang at four o'clock."Bella?" Arthur Vance’s voice came through the speaker, booming and cheerful. "I just finished reviewing your revised site assessment and structural rendering. My dear, it’s magnificent. The histori
The Man My Bestfriend Call Dad CHAPTER SEVEN: STAY AWAY
I barely slept after the gala.By three in the morning, I was sitting on my living room rug with my laptop open, staring at the municipal registry filings for the Old Exchange Building on Broad Street. There it was, buried in the fine print of the preservation covenant: The De Luca Endowment & Preservation Fund — 20% Equity & Sole Approval Authority for Lead Architectural Consultant.He hadn't lied. The preservation covenant gave the De Luca Foundation's designated representative final approval over the appointment of the lead architectural consultant. His approval could determine who led the restoration, and that alone was enough to put my future in his hands.I closed the laptop with a heavy snap and rested my forehead against the cool plastic lid.I’d tried to prove I didn't need his permission to navigate his world, and in doing so, I’d walked straight into an arrangement that guaranteed he held the final say over my career's biggest opportunity.By Friday afternoon, my phone rang
You May Also Like
Intoxicated Vengeance
TrashInLove146.8K viewsHalf a Lifetime Later—My Mafia Princess is Finally Mine
Janedoewritings182.7K viewsAlone
Sunshine423.0K viewsYes Daddy
Red Inkling 1.1M viewsPlaying With The Devil
E.O Verse218 viewsThe Mafia Boss’s Silent Bride
Ranya Vale337 viewsHis Exception
Exceluthor282 viewsGODFATHER'S ANTIDOTE
JAYPEN231 views
