Chapter 2

Lucas's Pov 

“Your father is waiting for you.” 

I didn't bother to look from the contracts spread across my desk. 

“Tell him to wait. I will see him in a few minutes.”

My secretary shifted uncomfortably. “I already did, and he said he wasn't asking.” 

A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. 

That's the problem with my father. He never listens to anybody but wants to do as he likes. He keeps forgetting I am not twelve anymore. 

I signed the last page of the contract and tossed the pen aside. 

“He also said if you don't go to his office in the next five minutes, he will come here himself.”

Now that sounds like my Dad. 

I sigh and stand up, walking to the floor-to-ceiling window of my Manhattan office. 

Camera flashes exploded below as reporters crowded the entrance, microphones raised toward anyone who walked through the revolving doors

All because of one stupid scandal that has been dominating the headlines for two weeks, but now with the merger days away, it has become a disaster.

And I need it to go away as soon as possible.

I buttoned my suit jacket and straightened my cufflinks before walking out of my office. 

****

Dad didn't look up when I entered his office. His eyes were glued to the financial report on his desk. 

“I called you five minutes ago.” He said without lifting his eyes. 

“I am here now.” 

“Sit,” he instructed. 

“I would rather stand.” 

He finally looked up at me with his grey, calculating eyes. 

The same eyes I inherited from him.

“If this is another lecture,” I said, slipping a hand into my pocket, “save it for later. I am busy at the moment.”

He slid a newspaper across the desk. My face stared back at me with the bold headline.:

BILLIONAIRE HEIR'S HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH THE MARRIED WOMAN. DOES NYC HEARTBREAKER GO AFTER MARRIED WOMEN TOO?

I scoffed. 

What a joke. 

It was one meeting in a hotel lounge. As we walked out, she grabbed my arm for support. A photographer, conveniently positioned outside, captured the exact moment. One photograph was all it took to convince the whole city I had slept with the wife of our biggest business partner

People believed whatever the news said after all. 

I pushed it back. 

“I already saw it.” 

“This is today's paper and the board, and shareholders have all been seeing this for the past few weeks. What do you have to say?” 

“I will take care of it,” I said, and his jaw tightened at my response. 

“The company's stock has dropped another four percent this morning, and by the end of the week, it will have dropped drastically.” 

I looked at him blankly, waiting for him to drive to the point. 

“The merger is hanging by a thread. Three investors have already frozen negotiations, and Caldwell's board is questioning whether the merger should move forward. We might lose more investors before the merger is even announced.” 

I shrugged my shoulders. “It won't come to that.”

Years of hard work. Hundreds of workers. Deals I had spent months negotiating. All of it was hanging on a single photograph. I can't let that happen. 

My dad leaned forward. “You are remarkably calm for someone casting this company millions.” 

“The company isn't losing money because of me. It is losing money because people are believing the shitty news.” 

“And what exactly is the truth?” He asked, “When the whole city knows your reputation.”

“I didn't have an affair with Victoria Caldwell.” I met his eyes. 

“I believe you,” he said, his expression not giving anything away. “I know you well enough to know you wouldn't be stupid enough to sleep with the wife of the man you are negotiating a merger with.” 

“Thank God, you do.” 

“Whether I believe you is irrelevant,” he said, and I frowned. 

“The board doesn't,” he tapped the newspaper. 

“The investors don't,” another tap. 

“The media certainly doesn't,” 

He leaned back in his seat. 

“Perception is reality, son.” 

I hated that phrase. I have heard it all my life. It was Dad's usual business lesson. 

“I will schedule a conference to debunk the news. In the meantime, I will get hold of the hotel security footage,” I said. 

“I have tried that. The hotel refused to release the footage, and a conference won't help the situation.” He said, and silence settled between us. 

I clenched my jaw.

The more I thought about that night, the less it made sense to me. 

Victoria had insisted the meeting couldn't happen in her office. She claimed she had confidential information about the merge. 

“This was planned,” I said as it dawned on me. “Someone set me up.”

Dad didn't reply immediately. Instead, he folded his hands on the desk and watched me.

“I came to the same conclusion,” he said at last. “I think someone has too much to gain from that photograph. 

“The merger,” I said, and he gave a single nod.

“The Hayes group and Caldwell corporation merging would reshape the market. Not everyone wants that to happen.”

“And I have found a solution to it,” he said and dropped a folder on the desk. 

I frowned.

“What is that?” I asked

“A marriage contract.”

I let out a short laugh. “You are joking, right?”

“I have never joked about business.”

My smile slowly disappeared from my face.

“So who is the unlucky woman?” I asked, and Dad turned the folder toward me, and two names stared back at me. 

Elizabeth Lancaster was beside my name. 

“Out of every woman in New York, you picked Elizabeth Lancaster?”

“Why? Is there something wrong with her?” he asked, and I shook my head. 

There was this one time, she had threatened to shove my birthday cake down my throat after I called her ‘Cupcake’ in front of half the school.

Elizabeth Lancaster was the only person who treated me like I wasn't the golden boy everyone else saw.

Because unlike every other girl around me, she never tried to impress me.

She talked back to me. She rolled her eyes at me. She insulted me back.

Even after every stupid nickname I had thrown at her: Fatty. Marshmallow. Cupcake.

I was an idiot, and she made sure everyone knew it.

Looking back, maybe that's why I kept picking on her. She was the only person I couldn't get a reaction from.

“She hates me,” I said, and Dad raised an eyebrow.

“Can you blame her?” The question hit harder than I expected, and I looked away.

“Wait…” I said, remembering something. Elizabeth would never agree to this, I am sure. 

“Does she even know about this?”

“She does, and she would rather spend a lifetime with the devil,” Dad lips curved up slightly. 

“See? The feeling is mutual,”

“She still agreed.” He said, and my amusement faded. 

“What?” I asked, surprised. The Elizabeth I knew would never want to be in the same space as me. What changed. 

“Now it is your turn to do so too.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Lucas-” I didn't let him finish. 

“I’m not marrying a woman who can't stand the sight of me. I said I was going to fix it, and I will, but not by getting married to a woman I don't want.”

“You should have thought of that before being involved in a scandal.” 

“I didn't do it, and you know it,” I said, and Dad stood up from his seat. 

For the first time since I'd entered, his voice carried the weight that had built the Hayes empire.

“If you refuse…” he started, his voice carrying weight for the first time since I entered his office, “... resign and walk away from Hayes Group. Everything you've built here no longer belongs to you.”

The room became quiet immediately.

My fingers tightened at my sides. He knew exactly where to strike. He knew how much I had worked for the company. 

The company wasn't just my inheritance. I had spent years, time, blood, and sweat expanding it, closing deals, building divisions, and turning it into more than just my father's legacy.

Even the merger was hard work. Walking away from everything now is something I can never do. 

I looked down at the file again. “...Fine,” I said, but he didn't react.

“I will marry Elizabeth Lancaster.” I said, walking to the door, “But don't expect us to live happily ever after.”

He picked up the folder on his desk. 

“I wasn't counting on it.”

As I walked out of his office, one thought lingered in my mind. 

How the hell had Elizabeth agreed to marry me?