Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 31: : The Wrong Expectations

Chapter 31: : The Wrong Expectations

Lucas tilted his head, watching her carefully.

"You saw a trader who didn’t recognize me." His smirk sharpened. "I saw a trader who was expecting someone else."

Ava’s stomach tightened. "Explain."

Lucas exhaled, twirling his fork between his fingers.

"He wasn’t just surprised to see me. He was surprised to see you with me."

Ava’s stomach tightened.

Lucas wasn’t wrong.

Liam hadn’t just seen her. He had reacted—not to Lucas, but to the fact that she was with Lucas.

That wasn’t normal.

Ava’s mind raced, piecing it together, but Lucas beat her to it.

"Let’s go over what happened, shall we?" His tone was smooth, too casual.

Ava narrowed her eyes."Go ahead, Bai. Enlighten me."

Lucas grinned, but there was no humor in it.

"I took you to the doc." His voice was measured, deliberate. "We made a scene. A body went in, but you were supposed to disappear."

Ava exhaled sharply. "And yet, somehow, someone managed to spot me alive."

Lucas nodded. "Exactly."

His golden eyes gleamed.

"Someone wasn’t just watching the streets." He tapped the side of his temple. "They’re watching from above."

Ava’s jaw tightened. "Surveillance."

Lucas hummed. "Not just any surveillance. This isn’t word-of-mouth or some rat running back with information. This is eyes-only."

Ava’s pulse kicked up.

It meant someone, somewhere, was tracking movements in real time.

Ava clenched her fists. "Military?"

Lucas smirked. "Who else has the tech?"

Ava cursed under her breath.

They had played this too clean.

A fake body, a seamless escape, a low-profile return—no one should have noticed.

And yet, someone had.

Ava inhaled sharply.

"So the question is—who’s watching?"

Lucas chuckled, lazy and mocking.

"And what exactly do they want?"

Lucas’s golden eyes gleamed.

Ava could see it now—the moment the pieces clicked together in his mind, the exact second he realized what game they’d just stepped into.

"It’s not about you, Beauty." His voice was smooth, certain."It’s about me."

Ava tilted her head. "Elaborate."

Lucas leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Someone expected me to show up at that clinic. Someone expected me to dump a real body." He smirked, sharp and knowing. "And then, surprise—said body walks out of Level Three, very much alive."

Ava’s stomach tightened.

"A setup?"

Lucas chuckled. "No. A test."

Ava stilled.

Lucas twirled a trade token between his fingers, flipping it over absently. "They weren’t looking for you, Beauty. They were waiting for me. Watching to see what I’d do. And instead of leaving behind a corpse, I walked out with you."

He met her gaze, voice soft, amused.

"That changes things."

Ava’s pulse kicked up. "So you think—"

"Someone wanted to see how I handle my loose ends." Lucas grinned, sharp as a knife."And I just gave them a very interesting answer."

Ava clenched her jaw. "So who’s playing?"

Lucas exhaled, stretching lazily, like he wasn’t discussing something that could get them both killed.

"The military? Maybe." He twirled the token again. "But if it was Zhao, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We’d be dead."

Ava didn’t argue.

Because that was true.

General Zhao didn’t do "tests." He eliminated threats.

Lucas’s golden gaze darkened slightly.

"No, Beauty. This is someone else. Someone careful. Someone patient."

He smirked. "Someone who’s been waiting."

Ava exhaled, rubbing a hand over her face. "And what exactly are they waiting for?"

Lucas leaned back, smirking.

"Me."

Lucas tilted his head, golden eyes gleaming with amusement.

"You wanted to be my partner, Beauty." He flicked a trade token between his fingers, his smirk slow and knowing. "So let’s talk about why I’m sitting in Level Two when I should be living in luxury on Level One."

Ava leaned back, arms crossed. "I figured you were just slumming it for fun."

Lucas laughed, low and sharp. "Oh, trust me, I don’t suffer for fun. I suffer because someone decided to triple-cross me."

Ava raised a brow. "Triple-cross?"

Lucas exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "My ex-fiancée."

Ava stilled. Didn’t expect that.

Lucas’s smirk didn’t fade, but there was something colder behind it now.

"She’s living in my spot. Using my resources." His voice was smooth, deliberate. "She was supposed to be my guaranteed tie to Level One, part of the old agreements before the world fell apart. But instead of securing our partnership, she had other plans."

Ava’s jaw tightened. "Let me guess. She ran to someone else?"

Lucas chuckled, low and bitter. "Not just someone else. A military boy. Trained, polished, and oh-so-loyal to the cause. She played both sides for months, pretending to back me while setting herself up with a nice little position under Zhao’s command."

Ava exhaled sharply. "So she didn’t just betray you. She set you up to fail."

Lucas nodded, amused but dangerous. "Oh, Beauty, she did more than that. She tried to erase me. But the problem is—"

He leaned forward.

"You can’t erase someone who already has their fingers in everything."

Ava narrowed her eyes. "And your father?"

Lucas sighed, flicking the token one last time before letting it drop onto the table.

"Sleeping in another bunker." His voice was almost mocking."One hundred kilometers from here, locked in some kind of hibernation state that no one can explain."

Ava blinked. "Hibernation? Like... a coma?"

Lucas smirked. "Sure, if comas involve zero deterioration, zero muscle loss, and the ability to wake up ’eventually’ under the right conditions."

Ava’s stomach twisted.Mutant effects.

"And no one’s tried waking him?"

Lucas’s gaze darkened. "Oh, they’ve tried. They just don’t want to wake him up until they’re sure he won’t take back everything they stole."

Ava’s grip tightened on the edge of the table. "So that’s why you were pushed out. Because with him gone—"

Lucas finished it for her. "I became disposable."

Silence settled between them.

Then—Lucas laughed.

Low. Sharp. Amused, but cold.

"They really thought they could get rid of me."

Ava watched him carefully.

Lucas leaned back, arms draping over the couch, golden eyes gleaming.

"They dragged me outside the bunker like trash. Left me to rot." He smirked. "Except I didn’t."

Ava’s fingers tightened around her fork. "How?"

Lucas tilted his head. "I healed."

Ava stilled.

Lucas chuckled. "Too many witnesses, too many people watching when I should’ve been dead." He gestured vaguely around them. "So, they had to let me stay. Had to give me this place in Level Two."

Ava exhaled sharply. "So you played along."

Lucas’s smirk widened. "For two months."

He picked up a trade token, spinning it between his fingers.