NIRELLE - Chapter 14: Chapter 14

LUCIEN
I stand on the other side of the door with it already shut in my face. "You have to come down for breakfast," I call into the huge wooden door.
"I don't want breakfast," she calls back to me.
"Are you sure? You did not have anything to eat last night, and this morning as well."
"I can't sit at the same table with you right now."
"Are you saying if I am not sitting at the table with you, then you'll come down to eat breakfast?"
"I am not saying it, but I can appreciate it." I don't know why she is angry, but I can tell that she would not want to sit at the same table with me now.
"Okay, then, come down in a few minutes. I will have my breakfast upstairs, and you can take your breakfast at the table," I say. I wait for her to appreciate my effort or say anything else, but all I am met with is silence. The cricket kind. I walk away at once.
"I will have my breakfast in the study," I announce. The older woman who is in charge of all the staff looked at me like I had declared war on a poor city.
"But Mr. Vexley..." I know that my request is weird to them; I had always had my breakfast at the table—it was like a staple rule. "I am sorry for questioning your order," she says, and I nod.
"Am I supposed to prepare for Mrs. Vexley, too?"
"She will have her breakfast at the table, but we will have our lunch together," I say and turn to leave at once. I get to my room and wash off the sweat before I go to the study.
Theo had brought a lot of documents I needed to go over, and there were a lot of business plans as well.
"How did it go with the Mrs.?" Theo asked as he entered the room.
"A personal question?" I ask, not lifting my eyes from trailing the inked paper in front of me. "The employees have gotten so bold with stealing; maybe they think I won't notice it," I say, changing the subject. I feel his gaze on me as he walks over to stand behind me so he can read what I'm going on about.
"What is this about?" he asked, leaning into the chair.
"It's about the accountant trying to take off with twenty million," I say, pushing him back with my chair and standing up. He takes up the file from the desk and reads through it.
"You are a genius because he hid this so well, and if you had not pointed it out, I would have never realised."
"Fire him," I command at once, and he nods because he knows it is useless to try and convince me otherwise.
"So how was it with the Mrs.? And don't you dare say it's a personal matter because I have done far more personal things for you than I'd like, so I should be able to know at least this one thing."
I sigh because he was right; he was the only one I could trust, and he had been the one to bring to the house.
"What do you want to know?" I ask, and he smiles, throwing the file in his hand to the table with a loud thud.
"Why was she staring in the morning?"
"Apparently, there were birds," I say, and he shakes his head gently.
"And you went up to her room. What did you discuss?"
"Just matters here and there, nothing serious."
"Lucien?"
"If I thought it was serious, you'd be the first person I'd tell."
"And you don't like her?" His question threw me off balance for a moment. Theo was well aware of the history between us, so why would he even dare to ask me something like that? There was a pause. Too long a pause. I hated that. I hated that her face, bruised and still trying to prop a smile, showed up in my thoughts more than my next merger.
"Why would you ask me that?"
"Well, do you?"
"I mean, she is a decent human..."
"Not what I asked," he cuts me off before I can ramble, and to be honest, I'm grateful for it. I know how decent she is, and to be honest, her parents and entire family do not deserve her at all. What I asked is if you like her."
I try to sort out my feelings in such a short time, but none of them stand out to me. I feel pity for her, but of all the emotions running through my mind at this time, I can't pinpoint any of them as affection.
"I do not," I respond because I want that to be how I feel, even though I am not sure of it yet.
"I know you have a grand plan in motion, and you plan on using her, but I want you to remember that this girl has been through a whole lot."
"What are you trying to say?"
"No matter what you do, do not hurt her."
"Of course I won't," I say with a nod. "I will never hurt her," I add, not because I would try to protect her with my entire might but because something was going to break in me if I dared to hurt her.
"Where are you off to?" I call to Theo as he walks out of the room.
"Well, some of us have to get to work," he says in a teasing tone. I wonder what my life would have been if Theo had not been there to help me out. How would I have been able to hide and plot? I almost murmured thank you, but I was not going to give him the pleasure of happiness this morning. "Well, have a nice day," he calls and shuts the door before I can respond.
I take my position and begin to flip through another file, and as the pages flip, I can't help but hear 's voice echo in my subconsciousness. ‘What should I do?’ I close the file harder than I intend to. “Damn it.”