Billionaire Lawyer's Secretary - Chapter 131: Chapter 131

[Yes, mature women are sexy,] Elara thought to herself. She read the message but didn't want to reply, tossing her phone aside. Feeling strangely restless, she grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. Ironically, the guy on TV was drinking too.
A woman with long hair raised her glass. "Thank you so much for your help today. I'd like to propose a toast to you."
"You are welcome," the man replied, taking a sip from his glass. Then, he started to sway, clutching his forehead as he slumped into a chair. It was obvious his drink had been drugged.
The woman in a low-cut top bent over so he had a clear view. "Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?"
The man looked up, his eyes landing on her cleavage. He froze for a few seconds, and then struggled to push her away, his tone harsh and accusing. "What did you put in my drink?"
"You've had too much to drink. Let me help you upstairs to rest."
The more Elara watched, the more off she felt. She picked up her phone again and sent Justin a message. [Who is that woman?]
Justin didn't reply right away. She waited for what felt like forever, even though it was only about ten minutes. Elara sent him another message: [Hey? You there?]
Justin: [Oh, she's Adrian's classmate.]
[Classmate. Again. Seriously?] Elara grumbled inwardly. [Another female classmate. Did Adrian go to school in every city or what? Why does he have female classmates everywhere he goes?]
Ruby noticed Elara sulking because Elara grabbed her remote and started mashing buttons, flipping through channels nonstop. "What are you doing? Did my TV do something to offend you?"
Hearing that, Elara realized she was totally losing her cool. She was jealous, but she just didn't want to admit it.
She stopped flipping through the channels, and the TV landed on a new movie. "Let's just watch this one," Ruby said.
"Okay," Elara replied, setting the remote down and staring blankly at the screen.
Elara had come over tonight to comfort Ruby, but now her mind was a total mess.
She glanced at her phone to check the time—it was already 11 PM, and the last thing Adrian had sent was that one-word reply, [Oh], from a little after 7 PM.
By the time the movie was over and they'd both washed up and crawled into bed, there was still no message from Adrian. Elara sent Justin another message: [Are you guys done for the night?]
Justin: [Yeah, we finished hours ago. I'm out at a bar now. Why?]
Elara: [Nothing.]
Justin: [You want to know what Adrian is doing? He went back to the hotel with that female classmate.]
Justin: [By the way, they just booked the same hotel, not the same room or anything.]
Justin: [Like, she lives next to his room.]
Justin: [No idea if they're just catching up or whatever, since they haven't seen each other in forever.]
Justin: [Adrian's always so popular wherever he goes.]
Justin: [But don't worry, Elara. He knows what he's doing.]
Justin: [At most, they're just reconnecting. Nothing more.]
Elara hadn't thought much of it at first, but the more Justin went on, the less sure she felt about any of it. 'Reconnecting, huh?' Elara practically ground her teeth as she stared at those words on the screen.
"Elara, why don't we take a trip soon? Let's go to Kardic. You've always wanted to visit," Ruby suggested.
Elara shoved her phone under her pillow. "No way. Yvette's about to start promoting the coffee shop, and the place is going to be a madhouse. There's no way we could get away."
"Yeah, true. Do you think it'll go viral?"
"Of course. My post on Twitter already made it onto the trending list today, and tons of followers are asking where the shop is. We need to hire more staff and get everyone trained. It's going to be super busy."
"Well, maybe that's for the best. Staying busy is good," Ruby said, her voice tinged with sadness.
Even though Elara was distracted, she couldn't help but notice the sadness in Ruby's voice.
"Ruby, just give it some time. If Victor loves you, he'll give you the closure you deserve," Elara comforted her.
The next morning, Elara and Ruby got up bright and early. Yvette's tweet was scheduled for October 6th, which happened to be Adrian's birthday.
'Of all days, why does it have to be the same as his birthday?' Elara grumbled to herself. She asked if they could move it to an earlier date, but the assistant told her it was already set in stone.
With just a week left, the two of them threw themselves into work. Ruby oversaw hiring and training new staff, while Elara handled the coffee bean inventory, figured out the membership card deals, and started hyping things up on her Twitter ahead of time.
Elara wasn't looking for a quick win—she only put a thousand units of coffee beans up for sale, with 80% allocated to online sales. Once those sold out, she'd switch to pre-orders.
The membership cards came with bonus credit when you topped up: top up $1000, get $100 free; top up $500, get $30 free.
Before finalizing everything, she decided to send the plan to Julian and have him take a look. After all, he was a pro at this kind of thing.
In Insight Investment Bank, Julian was in his office with Noah, discussing the next steps for the club's restructuring.
Noah was determined to keep the name "FIGHT," but Julian insisted it had to be changed to "Insight." The conversation didn't go well, and the office fell into an awkward silence.
Just then, Julian's phone buzzed. When he saw it was a message from Elara, he called her right away. It gave him a chance to break the awkward silence in the room.
On the call, Elara walked Julian through her ideas and plans. He patiently weighed the pros and cons, offered a few suggestions, and together they tweaked the plan quite a bit before settling on the final version.
After Julian hung up, his tone grew even more uncompromising. "The name stays as I say. End of story."
Noah grinned. "Last time I heard from Elara. She said you two were friends. Looks like she was telling the truth."
Julian had sounded so patient and gentle on the phone, but when it came to him, he was like a totally different person—cold and distant. 'It looks like they are more than just friends,' Noah thought.
Julian hadn't expected Noah and Elara to have already met, and his expression turned frosty.
"You like her," Noah said, looking Julian straight in the eye.
Julian didn't even bother to look up. That cocky, roguish vibe of his reminded Noah of himself back in the day. "Now I see why you're so dead set on calling it 'Insight Club.' Same with your company—'Insight Investment Bank.'
"You want her to have the insight to realize how you feel for her. Makes sense now," Noah said.
Even with his feelings laid bare, Julian didn't even flinch—there wasn't a hint of embarrassment on his face. He just lounged lazily on the couch, spinning his phone between his long fingers.
"Thinking of chasing after her?" Noah asked.
Julian let out a low chuckle. "What's that got to do with you, Racing God?"
Noah gave him a knowing smile. "Adrian likes her, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know."
"So, you..."
"What do you want me to say? The Quinn family is in a deep abyss. I'm trapped in it. That's enough for me."
Noah's lashes trembled as he gave a wry, self-mocking smile. "Yeah, a girl like her—so clean—shouldn't get dragged into this world." With that, he picked up the pen on the desk and signed the contract.
Julian lifted his eyelids. "So, do you agree?"
"Yeah. Now that 'Insight' means even more, maybe it's time for FIGHT to be left in the past."
Julian glanced at Noah. "Does FIGHT have any special meaning?"
Noah lowered his eyes. "Adrian and I came up with the name together back then. FIGHT—Fight for dreams."
"So, you two started the club together?"
"Yeah. He was in charge of getting sponsors and handling everything behind the scenes, while I raced and was the face of the club.
"But after his accident, Joseph cracked down on all the racing clubs in Veritasiton, so we had no choice but to move to Marisiton. It was only after Adrian was gone that FIGHT ended up like this."
Julian said coolly, "I thought FIGHT started by you and Josie."
"Josie only became a partner after FIGHT moved to Marisiton."
"You said Adrian had an accident. What exactly happened?"
"At that time, Adrian was so into racing. Because of his family background, he usually stayed behind the scenes, but sometimes he'd compete using an alias.
"In one race, he took part, but right before the finish line, he had an accident—his car went off a cliff, and he nearly lost his life."
Julian suddenly remembered something, and his fingers stilled on his phone for a few seconds.
"Elara told me you used to come watch my races back in the day. You must love racing. I believe you'll be the one to bring the sport back to its peak," Noah continued.
That had once been Adrian and Noah's dream, but he thought now it was time for the younger generation to carry it forward. As for himself, he felt like he was getting further and further away from that world.
"If you don't mind, you can stay," Julian said. "Other than the name, I'll keep the club as close to your vision as possible."
Noah shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, Mr. Quinn, but I'm getting old. It's better to let the younger generation have this opportunity."
After Noah left, Julian picked up his phone, planning to tell Elara that the racer from back then had been Adrian.
"Mr. Quinn, something happened with the drone project," someone called out. Julian quickly put his phone away and followed the project manager out of the room.
Meanwhile, at the coffee shop, Elara finalized the marketing plan and sent it to Yvette's assistant. After finishing up, she checked the time—it was already noon. Adrian's chat was still stuck on that one-word reply from yesterday: [Oh.]
Elara muttered to herself, "What is he so busy with? Seriously." 'Or maybe he's just too dazzled by that female classmate to even look at his phone,' she thought sourly.
She was still muttering complaints under her breath when her phone suddenly started ringing, the urgent tone cutting through her thoughts. Adrian's name was flashing on her screen, lighting up again and again. Elara's heart thudded in her chest, beating in time with the ringtone.
She grabbed her phone and tapped to answer. "Hello?"
"Elara, were you complaining about me?" Adrian's voice came through, teasing.