Billionaire Lawyer's Secretary - Chapter 154: Chapter 154

Justin froze. He thought, 'Damn. I just managed to save my skin, and now my life is hanging by a thread again. I've only scraped by for a single day.'
Adrian walked to Justin and Elara. His gaze was fixed on Justin, who was still holding Elara's wrist. Adrian gave a chilling smile and said, "Justin, does my woman's hand feel good to you?"
Justin tensed up and immediately let go of her hand. He said awkwardly, "No, not at all."
Adrian asked, "Oh? So, you felt the touch of her hand?"
Justin replied immediately, "No, no. I just squeezed it a little."
"You gave it a squeeze, huh?" said Adrian.
Justin worried about himself and wasted no time slipping away. He said, "Adrian, I can't find Mr. Thorne's file. You'll have to look for them yourself. I-I think I have a stomachache. I need to use the restroom."
The door slammed shut, and inside the office, Elara's clear laughter rang out.
Adrian, dressed in a sleek black suit with subtle patterns and a crisp tie, said in a hard tone, "Do you find this funny, Elara?"
Elara was laughing so hard that her whole body trembled, nearly spilling her coffee on her white shirt. She quickly set the cup down and tried to hold back her laughter. "Yes, it is funny."
Adrian pulled her right into his broad chest. Elara could smell the faint woody scent of his cologne, which was her favorite.
"Elara, you were already spoken for. Don't let other guys hold your hand," Adrian said.
Elara teased Adrian, who had been frowning since early morning, and said, "Really? I wonder who will be the lucky one to be my boyfriend."
Instead of being amused, Adrian just got more annoyed. "Elara, don't dare cheat on me."
Adrian totally got the wrong idea, but this only made Elara laugh even harder.
Adrian was at his wits' end with her. He gave her waist a punishing squeeze. "Elara?"
"Mr. Hartley, why are you taking a joke so seriously now?" Elara teased. She felt Adrian was adorable when he couldn't even take a joke.
"Do you think that's a joke?" Adrian asked.
"Yeah. Justin is your cousin, and he is always nice to you. Why do you have to be so harsh on him, like he's your sworn enemy or something? What a poor guy," Elara said.
Adrian was fuming. He couldn't believe Elara would take Justin's side right now. He asked, "I'm harsh on him?"
"Yeah. You were like this even back in Namukitts," Elara said.
"What? Are you feeling sorry for him?" Adrian asked.
Elara was speechless. She thought, 'Why should I feel sorry for him?'
All of a sudden, Elara felt herself go light as Adrian let her go. She watched as he quietly walked over and sat down in his office chair.
Elara felt helpless. She called, "Adrian?"
Adrian ignored her. He quietly put on his blue-light-blocking glasses and immersed himself in a case file.
Elara wondered, 'Is he mad?' She turned back to the coffee machine and made him his favorite Mandheling coffee. She then placed it on his left side.
However, Adrian didn't even look up. He was completely focused on the file in his hands.
Seeing Adrian absorbed in work, Elara didn't want to disturb him, so she used his own words to comfort him. "Adrian, I won't disturb you. I'll please you when we get home tonight, okay?"
At her words, Adrian looked up, only to see that Elara had left the office.
As the door closed softly, Adrian chuckled and took a sip of the Mandheling coffee. He was so easy to please.
In the small office, Elara sent Justin a message on WhatsApp: [This is all on you. Mr. Hartley is upset with me now.]
Justin: [What?]
Elara: [Seriously, use your brain next time.]
Justin: [Why are you two always picking on me?]
Elara: [It serves you right. Tell me, why did you avoid me yesterday?]
Justin paused for a moment before replying: [You really want to know?]
Elara: [If we are besties, don't keep me guessing.]
Justin: [Who wants to be your bestie?]
Elara: [Just get to the point.]
Justin finally sent over a video after hesitating for a long time.
Elara clicked it open instantly. She even forgot to turn down the volume on her phone.
Elara's voice came from the video. "Adrian, you're flying."
In a panic, Elara turned the volume down and quickly put on her bluetooth headset.
As the video played, Adrian said in it, "Baby Elara, why are you dancing?"
Elara said, "Puppy Adrian, I got you."
Adrian said, "Baby Elara, give me a cuddle."
Elara said, "Puppy Adrian, you're so handsome."
Adrian said, "Baby Elara, give me a kiss."
Elara said, "Puppy Adrian, I want my Puppy Adrian."
At the end of the video, Elara dashed into Adrian's arms and blurted out an over-the-top "Daddy", leaving herself petrified when she watched it.
Elara rubbed her forehead. Her hands trembled as she messaged Justin: [Adrian hasn't watched this video, right?]
Justin sent a smiling emoji and replied: [Guess if it was Adrian himself who sent me this video?]
Elara was stunned. She replied: [Why didn't you send this to me earlier? I was totally embarrassed in front of him all day yesterday without even knowing it.]
Justin: [Do you think I wasn't embarrassed running into you like this?]
Justin thought, 'Adrian called her "Baby Elara", kept asking for kisses and cuddles, and he still had the guts to tell her about it?'
Elara: [So sending it to me today means you're not embarrassed anymore?]
Elara frowned and questioned him: [Justin, do you secretly have a thing for me or what?]
Justin: [What?]
Elara: [Have you been secretly crushing on my looks?]
Justin: [Huh?]
Elara: [Don't even think about it. I'm already spoken for.]
Justin: [You think I like you?]
Elara: [Don't you?]
Justin: [In your dreams, Elara.]
Elara: [Alright.]
Justin: [Alright? What's that supposed to mean?]
Elara left him on read. She seriously couldn't bring herself to face Adrian now.
Justin's messages kept popping up one after another.
Justin: [Huh?]
Justin: [What's that supposed to mean?]
Justin: [Elara, you seem to look down on me that much.]
Justin: [Is it that embarrassing to be liked by me?]
Justin: [Say something.]
Justin: [Huh?]
Justin: [Damn it!]
Elara muted Justin's messages and started figuring out how to avoid Adrian today.
She wondered, 'Should I ask for a leave? But there will be several important international video conferences this afternoon where I have to take minutes. Forget it. No use dwelling on it. I'll just lose myself at work and forget about everything for a while.'
She steadied herself and logged into Adrian's cloud account and started sorting through his files.
Adrian usually dealt with a ton of important files, so everything from his computer and phone was automatically synced to the cloud for backup. As his secretary, Elara should regularly go through and organize all those files.
Some of the files were recordings of international conference calls, some were case-related video recordings, and others were chat logs with business partners.
Elara had just logged into the account when a newly uploaded file popped up. Its file name was "Rolls-Royce Dashcam at 8:29 PM on October 1st". It had been uploaded just eight seconds ago.
Elara frowned. She wondered why Adrian uploaded a dashcam file at this hour. She felt like something was compelling her to click on it.
As his secretary, it was totally normal for her to check out any files in there, so as to keep everything sorted out.
The desktop didn't have any speakers hooked up, so there was no way for her to hear any audio. All Elara could see was the car cruising along as usual. Nothing seemed off at all.
Just as she was about to close the video, a notification icon started blinking in the bottom right corner of her screen. Elara opened WhatsApp and saw Adrian's message.
Adrian: [Elara, why don't you try listening with headphones?]
Elara wondered, 'Does Adrian know I'm reading this file right now?' Still a bit suspicious, she plugged in her headphones and listened to what was playing.
Elara clicked the video and heard herself say, "Daddy." She was completely speechless.