39.

                                    

                                          
After that picnic day, I haven't seen Lucas again, at least not yet, and hopefully, I will never see him again. I made a beautiful life for myself here and I don't want him to mess it up. Not again.
I know it's cruel for me to keep a girl away from her father, but my Alice does have a father and he chose to leave his daughter the day he chose Josefine.
I swore that I won't be saying her name ever again.
It was already lunchtime and I still didn't do anything, I couldn't focus on any work because my mind was filled with so many thoughts, worries, and memories.
I decided to take a break to get myself ready for a meeting we have this afternoon. we are going to meet a potential client and apparently a very important one and I need to be on top, we need this kind of opportunity and I'm not going to mess it up just because some dumbass decided to show up in my life again and screw it up. I won't let him.
I debated with myself for a while, whether to go to the company restaurant or go somewhere else. I decided to try the new restaurant that opened up on the corner of the street right across the building.
I stayed for over half an hour, but the food was good, but for a price like that one it better be good. I was having some coffee when Noah called.
"Hey, what is it?"
"I was informed that the person we are having a meeting with had entered the building, you better come here"
"Alright I'll just pay the bell and I'll be there" 
I left the rest of the coffee, paid for my food, and left. On the way I called Patrick, he was the one who got us this big client.
"Hey Patrick, is he there yet?"
"he's almost here, he called to let us know he's coming, he hates when people are late or they make him wait. you need to hurry"
"I'm running Patrick, " I hung up and continued running, this new client is reminding me of someone I definitely don't want to remember.
I finally got to the building and Luckily I didn't have to wait for the elevator that much.
After I got inside I tried to at least make myself look decent, since I'd been running in the streets like a madwoman.
After a long-dreaded time, I finally got to the office.
I walked inside and when I was about to enter the meeting room, someone grabbed my hand. I looked up to see Noah, his face was unreadable.
"Noah, what is it? Is everything okay? Don't tell me we lost the client."
"We didn't but-
"No buts come on let's go inside they are waiting." I pushed the door slightly only to be held back by Noah again.
"There's something you won't like," he told me, but I didn't understand what he was trying to say.
"What do you mean Noah? I don't understand, can't we just talk about this later they are waiting"
"The client, we are waiting for is not what we expected" Noah was talking in puzzles and I didn't have the patience, not the time to be listening right now so I pushed open the door and entered the meeting room.
I had wished for one calm normal day yet the one thing I've been escaping from is now sitting in my meeting room looking right back at me.
"What is he doing here?" I turned to ask Noah
"I'm your new client" instead of Noah, Lucas answered me back
"no you're not, we're not signing any contract with you" The nerves this guy has.
Noah held my arm and pushed me to the side to talk without being heard.
"Emily, I know you hate the guy but we have to be professional here, you know what a big opportunity we will have if we sign with him, all the big doors will open to us"
"I don't want any open doors if he's the one holding the knob"
"Emily just... just think this through okay, think about Alice, you're doing this for her aren't you?" Noah knew my weakness, he knew that for my daughter I can do anything.
"But it's precisely for Alice that I don't want him here" I whispered to Noah, fearing that the predator's ear can hear what we were saying.
"we will just sign with him and you don't have to see his face ever again, I'll handle it and if anything happened you will only speak to me alright, and plus he will most likely just sign and leave the rest of the work to his lawyers and employee"
I thought about it both ways, on one hand, this contract will open big doors for us and we'll be able to make the business bigger like I always wanted, and I can secure Alice's future, but on the other hand, I get afraid every time I think about him being close to us, that only meant he will be close to Alice.
"Alright, but let's hear what they have to say first"
"Alright thank you" Noah gave me a little peek on the forehead before he sat down and I followed.
"So since you're here I take you saw all our conditions and terms and you have agreed" I let Noah do the speaking.
"Yes we did, and everything looks good" Lucas answered Noah but his eyes were on me, the whole time. 
"So are we ready to sign?" they all agreed.
"Oh, I have one little request, I would like to have a room here with you, I would like to keep a close eye on the project and since I'll be staying here I will need a place to work at," Lucas said still keeping his eyes on me, looking with a defying, commanding look.
He was playing some new game again I knew him all too well, but this time I won't let him win.
"Request accepted" I answered.




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