Chapter 347: Welcome to Black Dragon Corporation
Ashley’s lips curved downward as she stared at the mountain of paperwork piled across the desk.
"What the hell?" she muttered, sinking back into her chair. "Did they deliver these to the wrong office?"
There was no way Lucian’s workload could have grown into a mountain this massive in just a few days of absence. What the hell were Gustav and Lukas doing? Better yet, what in the world were the employees of this company doing?
Just then, a knock sounded at the door.
Ashley looked up, but the towering stack of papers blocked her view. A moment later, Gustav stepped into sight beside the desk, a handful of documents tucked under his arm.
"Here’s the report for—"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ashley threw up a hand to stop him.
Gustav raised a brow. "What is it?"
"Gustav, are you blind?" She pointed at the piles on her desk. "I think there’s been a mix-up. Can’t you see all these papers? Did someone deliver them to the wrong room?"
As far as she remembered, the stack hadn’t been nearly this tall when she arrived. She had only stepped out to use the restroom and check on a few departments. By the time she returned, her workload had practically doubled.
"Not at all." Gustav shook his head. "These are documents the master needs to review and approve."
SLAM!
"Nonsense!"
Ashley smacked her palm onto the pile.
"I specifically instructed everyone to deliver them in batches so you wouldn’t be overwhelmed," Gustav explained calmly. "If you’d been working continuously, it wouldn’t have piled up like this."
But Ashley had only been gone for twenty minutes.
Even if she was terrible at math, none of this was adding up.
Her face twitched.
"Does Lucian deal with this every day?"
"No," Gustav shook his head.
Relief washed over her, only for him to add, "He handles more."
Ashley’s expression froze.
"Since the master wasn’t well, Lukas and I handled most matters during his absence," Gustav continued. "These are primarily priority documents that only he can decide on."
Ashley opened and closed her mouth.
Slowly, she turned toward the mountain of paperwork.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Gustav discreetly placing the new documents on top.
"He’s insane," she blurted out before narrowing her eyes at Gustav. "And what about you? Do you even work?"
Gustav blinked. "Yes."
"Then why does my husband have to work like a dog when he has a right hand and a left hand? His feet, his legs, his fingers—basically an entire army of body parts working for him!"
For a moment, Gustav simply studied Ashley, who looked one step away from marching to HR and filing complaints against everyone in the building.
A subtle smile tugged at his lips.
"Welcome to Black Dragon Corporation."
With that, he dipped his head and walked away.
"Hey!" Ashley called after him.
Gustav didn’t even slow down.
Ashley shot to her feet with a harrumph.
"Didn’t you hear me? You’re fired!"
Unfortunately, Gustav had already stepped out and closed the door.
Ashley huffed and glared at the paperwork.
"Lucian’s workload is double this?" she muttered.
She couldn’t help thinking about the same man she occasionally ordered to wash dishes and blow-dry her hair. Somehow, he always came home looking fresh and impossibly handsome.
"The love of my life," she whispered, covering her mouth as guilt squeezed her chest. "I’m never making him lift a finger at home again."
A saying suddenly crossed her mind.
Just because someone makes it look easy doesn’t mean it is.
"Damn it."
With renewed determination, she grabbed the next document.
The longer she sat there, reading report after report and signing approval after approval, the more she realized two things.
First, it was a good thing Lucian had practically tortured her into studying in her previous life. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made it through half of this.
Second... Lock this damn door.
"Fuck," she muttered after turning the lock, having just survived yet another delivery from Gustav. "He’s going to be the death of me. That ungrateful jerk."
Within the first three hours alone, Gustav had shown up countless times.
Ashley had managed to cut the pile in half despite the constant reinforcements, but she wasn’t going to make real progress unless she cut off the source.
"Hey!" she shouted at the door. "Let me finish these before bringing me anything new!"
Clicking her tongue, she slumped back into her chair.
"Do they think I’m a slave?"
She hadn’t even worked this hard in her own company, and that was thanks to Betty.
Then again, Ashley’s business was still relatively small despite the money flowing through it. Black Dragon Corporation, on the other hand, was a massive international enterprise.
"Lucian is amazing," she muttered, dropping into her seat. Taking a few slow breaths, she reached for the next file. "I feel like my brain is going to fry. How does someone read this much in a day?"
Shaking her head, she forced herself to focus.
Her goal was simple: survive the pile in front of her.
She had already forgotten that there were other things she needed to do.
Ashley became so immersed in her work that when a voice suddenly echoed through the room, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Ah!"
Her eyes darted around wildly as she clutched the armrest.
"Am I hallucinating now? Is this what happens when you work like a dog?"
"Madam, your meeting with Mr. Raka Jean is in ten minutes."
Ashley blinked and turned toward the communication device. Then she let out a long breath and melted back into her seat.
"What the hell?" she muttered. "I shouldn’t have scheduled a meeting with Raka today. My patience is already gone, and so is my sanity."
She lightly slapped her cheeks.
"No, no. Raka is Lucian’s savior. He’s the savior of our entire family. Be nice to him." She paused. "Even when he makes that incredibly difficult."
*****
Meanwhile, Gustav stood beside the reception desk on their floor. Pulling his finger away from the intercom button, he shook his head with a quiet chuckle.
"What are you chuckling about?"
Lukas’s voice came from behind him.
Before Gustav could turn around, Lukas dropped a handful of documents onto the desk.
"For her," he said flatly, dark circles hanging beneath his eyes. "She needs to read and sign these."
"Have you reviewed them?" Gustav asked.
Lukas rolled his eyes as he turned away. "I already left notes on each one so she only has to skim."
Gustav watched him leave before picking up the top folder.
Opening it, he found a handwritten summary on the first page. There were notes explaining the contents, markers showing exactly where Ashley needed to sign, and even a brief breakdown of the pros and cons of approving or rejecting the proposal.
"And yet..." Gustav murmured with a faint chuckle. "He said he’d never spoon-feed her."
But look at Lukas, doing the opposite.
Gathering the documents, he headed toward his office to give them one final review before sending them to Ashley.
