Chapter 350: Player
"Hahaha!"
Raka laughed from his seat, his confidence fully restored now that he had remembered one important fact:
Lucian and Ashley owed him big time.
As Raka gradually returned to his usual self, Lucian turned to Ashley.
"Are you alright?" he asked quietly. "Do you need help?"
Ashley opened her mouth, but suddenly thought better of it.
Instead, she smiled and lightly bumped her shoulder against his.
"What do you take me for?" she quipped with a wink. "I’ve got this."
Lucian studied her proud smirk before nodding in understanding.
Ashley might complain here and there, but that was simply how she functioned. It was also why she got along so well with Red and the others.
"Anyway, Gustav, have someone drive Mr. Jean to his next destination," Lucian said as he rose from his seat. "And send a mechanic to repair his car. Until then, let him use one of the company’s vehicles."
Raka sprang to his feet at the same time. However, after hearing Lucian’s orders, his brows shot up.
His eyes widened. He blinked twice before clasping his hands together, his eyes sparkling.
"Boss...?" he whispered.
Ashley and Lucian turned to him.
For a moment, they were nearly blinded by the stars shining around him.
A second later, Ashley shook her head.
"Money really does change people," she mumbled, clicking her tongue. "And he’s not even trying to hide it."
With that, Gustav made the necessary arrangements.
A designated driver was assigned to Raka until his car was repaired.
As for Lucian, he had to leave.
Visiting Ashley in the middle of the workday hadn’t been part of his plans. So, with a reluctant heart, he said goodbye to his wife and headed out.
Ashley remained behind.
"Hah..." She plopped back into her chair.
The workload had grown slightly during her absence, though thankfully not into the monstrous mountain she’d expected.
Lucian had already explained why he came with Raka, allowing her to piece together the entire situation.
"Does Lucian like Raka?" she wondered aloud, staring at the ceiling. "Does he? Or does he not?"
Knowing Lucian and the people around him, either possibility was believable.
People who knew Lucian usually fell into one of two categories.
They either wanted to kill him.
Or they wanted to suck up to him.
Raka belonged to the latter category.
Still, their relationship with him had always been... strange.
The man was rude, blunt, and sometimes downright offensive. Yet he had also gone out of his way to save Lucian’s life.
"He really is a complicated character," she whispered with a chuckle. "Lucian definitely doesn’t like or dislike him."
If anything, Ashley had figured out what Raka represented to Lucian.
Amusement.
Raka amused Lucian in a way nobody else could.
Shaking her head, Ashley returned to work. She still had plenty to finish before the day ended.
Not long after, a knock sounded at the door.
This time, she didn’t bother looking up.
Assuming it was Gustav, she continued reading.
The visitor entered without a word. He approached the desk and quietly placed a thin folder on top of her current file. Without saying anything, he turned to leave.
At the doorway, however, he paused.
His brows furrowed slightly as he glanced back at Ashley. Then he stepped out.
Once the door clicked shut, Ashley blinked and finally looked up.
She had assumed it was Gustav.
But the moment the door had opened, and his scent reached her, she had already known who it was.
Lukas.
"What’s wrong with him?" she wondered, tilting her head. "He’s not acting like the Lukas I know."
The Lukas she knew would find fault with her no matter what.
Even if she dragged him out of a crocodile’s mouth, he would probably complain about the way she did it.
That was simply Lukas.
As long as his loyalty remained with Lucian, Ashley didn’t particularly care how he behaved.
"He’s just... quiet." Leaning back, she tapped her pen against the desk. "I wonder if being saved by me is really that hard for him to accept."
Her gaze drifted to the folder he had left behind.
By now, she had learned something.
The thinner the folder, the more important the contents.
If not that, then it was usually something related to Dominion rather than the company.
Ashley opened it and skimmed through the report.
Slowly, she nodded.
"I see." Her eyes shifted toward the door. "I think I completely missed Nikki jumping ship."
Ashley had seen Nikki at the High Chamber. At the time, she assumed the woman had merely been trying to salvage the situation.
Everyone knew she wouldn’t succeed. Yet Nikki always had a habit of acting like Dominion’s Madam.
"I thought Nikki liked Lucian, though." Ashley frowned. "She certainly gave that impression."
"Besides, Nikki and Lucian in my previous life..." Ashley trailed off.
Her eyes shut tightly. She tried—and failed—to suppress a particular memory.
A memory involving Nikki and Lucian.
Specifically, Ashley walking in on them in a position she desperately wished she could erase from existence.
"No," she shook her head. "No, no."
Even if Lucian and Nikki had that kind of relationship in her previous life, it shouldn’t matter.
Their marriage back then had never had a foundation.
It had been forced from the very beginning.
A marriage she had been coerced into.
So even if Lucian had slept with a hundred women in her previous life, Ashley shouldn’t care.
Besides... that was the past.
SLAM!
Her palm suddenly struck the desk. The papers beneath her hand crumpled instantly.
Her face twitched, her teeth ground together, and the veins along her jaw stood out sharply.
"That player..."
A dangerous scoff escaped her lips.
At the same time, an angel on her shoulder desperately whispered reason into her ear. The problem was that the devil on the other shoulder was also Ashley.
And that Ashley was much louder.
"Didn’t he tell me he was already in love with me before our marriage?" she seethed. "If he was already in love with me, then how dare he sleep around?"
Her eyes blazed. The temperature around her seemed to rise.
"I’m going to kill him."
A moment later, the office door opened. Gustav stepped inside.
"Mad—" His words died in his throat.
One foot remained frozen inside the room. His brows furrowed as he stared at the terrifying figure behind the desk.
The air around Ashley practically rippled with murderous intent.
Gustav swallowed hard.
When Ashley had rescued him, she had kept her anger under control. This, however, was completely different.
This was raw, unfiltered. Dangerously close to setting the entire office on fire.
"Mad..." he whispered.
His face paled. "She’s gone mad."
