continued || @eloquent-nightmare
“One would be foolish to lie to you, Miss Lee,” he says smoothly. He’s working on reining both his emotions and powers. At least there’s no longer any hint of ice surrounding him when his emotions flare. “You are too intelligent and resourceful for me to even bother trying.” If there’s anything he will give to the older Lee sister, it would be her resourcefulness and her quick wit. He has suspicions, but he needs more proof before he makes any decisions. However, Lorraine is further off her rocker than Adrian thought. Family drama is the absolute worst. When other people are involved, it gets messy. He shakes his head. “Didn’t know your half-wit of a sister had such inferiority issues that anyone loyal to you was thrown out or forcibly shipped off to branches outside Seoul.” He rolls his eyes at the older woman. Had she been some other boss, he would have probably been slapped across the face for impudence. “In case you didn’t get the memo, there were some traitors in the board of directors who staged a nice little coup to throw me, and a bunch of others loyal to you, out of the company,” he says like he’s just discussing the weather. He sorts his papers just so he doesn’t have to look at what he thinks is a misdirected disappointment. “Apparently they don’t trust someone outside the family to run the show. Im Youngmin will probably know more, but last I saw him, we both had guns pointed at our heads in this office. Not going to lie, I only accepted the offer to come back here because they said you’re running the show again.”
[ ☥ ] And such a brave fool, you are!
She wouldn’t even dare hide the contempt in her face, evident in the way her brow raises upon such words that is a clear lie spit right on her face. The way he laces his words with compliments is very much like him. Or like her. Runs in the genes, yeah? Probably. “If you know me well, you wouldn’t even say that, Adrian Lee.” Lorraine reunites with the chair that was and supposed to be still her throne, her leather cushion replaced with softer ones. Samantha.
Goddamn. Replaced her chair when that incompetent woman doesn’t even use it. Great job, Samantha.
Stretched legs made its way across the desk, pointed heels used to tip over the marble plate engraved with her sister’s name before retracting it and easing onto her seat. “Stupid little girl made my office her own little play place.”
“They don’t trust someone outside, yet they trust someone who barely knows the business? What fuckery is that?” Yet in all honesty, she could not trust him either. Maybe she did, back when her doubts about this young man wasn’t supplemented yet with facts that may seem to be a little too coincidental. Like the way he bears the same surname. Or even his age. Or just as how he had winded up in this company, out of all companies out there.
No one is to be trusted now.
“One question first.” Her fingers play along the papers piled on the desk, all left to be signed by their current CEO, and she could almost laugh at how absurd Samantha’s name is printed over once was hers. She could laugh at it, but decided to crumple it on her palms instead before throwing it to the trash bin, just as how she will trash that sister out of her office. “Are you on my side, Adrian?”
And then she leans, arms on the desk, eyes straight on him.
“Are you really on my side?”
