Yours, Until Needed
Chapter 111: Priorities

Chapter 111: Priorities

LUCIAN

It was close to the meeting’s end when he received a prompt about Eliana’s whereabouts.

With his peripheral vision, he saw the prompt about her rushing to the office convenience store. For the most part, Lucian listened absentmindedly as the presenter drawled on about the same reports he had seen last night.

So, his mind drifted off to thinking about preparing a snack pantry so that the glutton would stop running around to scavenge for food when he wasn’t around.

Then he saw his phone flash, and his eyebrow raised as he questioned the successive notifications.

The prompts weren’t unusual. He’s long requested consent to obtain reports whenever she moved locations, so he receives several of these every day.

But the singular prompt turned into two and then into three, and Lucian didn’t have a good feeling about it.

Sure enough.

His gut feeling was correct.

Because the rest weren’t prompts for changing locations, they were prompts for confrontation alerts.

Nicholas also went to the same convenience store.

Lucian’s demeanor suddenly changed, and the onlookers couldn’t do much but cower in fear as his aura changed into something rather menacing.

The meeting room was already cold, but the people next to him probably had it far worse as Lucian started grappling with his anger.

Thankfully, the presenter noticed everyone’s gazes, signaling the start of his impromptu rapping.

Because Lucian couldn’t wait to get out of this place, he would’ve burst out the door if not for his responsibilities. And doing just that might add to the fire that this bastard Nicholas seemed to be brewing right under his nose.

Lucian detested this situation.

At one point, he wanted to just throw the whole thing under the bus and squash that pretentious bastard’s face.

Because he was capable of doing just that and was willing to do exactly that.

It was just one company. Their family could survive the toppling of SCC if need be.

But Eliana kept on yapping about taking the project seriously because of the lives of so many people.

Then, just open a charity.

It wasn’t that Lucian couldn’t understand Eliana’s line of thought. He just didn’t see why that was his problem.

And in all of this, Lucian failed to realize how out of character he was being.

Not that he had much character to begin with, but because his mind was muddled with thoughts that Lucian would have never entertained.

He practiced good governance because doing that reported a much higher productivity and return rate.

It was a numbers game for him, and definitely not out of the goodness of his heart.

But Lucian was unaware of his thoughts straying dangerously as he gripped his phone tighter than necessary, his knuckles turning white in stress.

So when the presenter managed to breathe out the last word, Lucian flew off his handle and toward the convenience store.

And the people sensed his urgency, parting a way for him who would’ve done it himself had they not been observant enough.

Lucian didn’t even see Oliver flinching every time his foot tapped at the elevator floor.

All Lucian was focused on was getting there and pulling off that leech from this place.

But he didn’t get to do that because Nicholas saw him from behind the glass walls of the convenience store.

He managed to escape before Lucian could finish scanning his ID to exit the lobby.

He fumed internally about the size of their lobby, wanting to either create a direct entrance to the store or remodel it altogether.

Eli’s dumbfounded look further exacerbated Lucian’s unease. If Nicolas could see him, then Lucian could also see them.

While Nicholas left shortly before he reached the store, Eliana remained glued to where she stood, her face looking all confused as she maintained her iron grip on the cup noodles.

The chime jingled as Lucian passed through the automatic glass doors. The joyous sounds of the chime starkly contrasted with Lucian’s mood as he approached Eli.

"Eli, what happened? How did you end up meeting him here?"

Lucian asked, not bothering to wait for her to answer his questions individually. But that seemed to be too much for the still-dazed Eliana.

So, Lucian decided to sweep her into the car after paying for whatever she was gripping.

And it was only by the time they were entering the car that Eliana recovered from her stupor.

"Sorry. My brain wasn’t functioning properly earlier. What were you saying?" Eliana said slowly, now looking calmer than earlier.

"What happened back there?"

More like what happened that got you stopping like that for him. But Lucian curtailed his thoughts, focusing on what Eli had to say about earlier.

"Here." She handed over the cam she wore daily. It had been a practice since the day they heard the Bernards were lurking around.

"I’m not sure I’m properly equipped to relay what happened. It would be best for you to see for yourself."

Lucian did not like the sound of that, but he tried to relax his grip on the minicam. He needed to see what was on it before destroying it.

He didn’t even bother having Oliver run it for him.

Lucian decided to fiddle with it by himself.

It didn’t take him too long to understand what Eli meant. It would be difficult for anyone to retell the events, especially when they were like this.

The fucker just confessed to Eliana.

To his wife.

Inside the premises of his company.

To say that Lucian was livid was probably one thing, but more than anything, he felt bubbling rage over his reasoning.

And Eliana didn’t even bother countering them. But was that her fault?

What could she have said that would make him feel better?

Would he feel better if she insisted on the strength of their relationship?

Lucian watched as Nicholas grinned at Eliana when he said, "And mind you, I loved you before he did. That is if he ever would. I don’t think we’re competing in the same league."

He wouldn’t be able to see his wife’s face from the mini cam she carried, but Lucian felt compelled to check the store’s surveillance camera.

He felt like he was going to have a heart attack from this, that if he didn’t get to see her expression, he’d want to go to his house for a fight.

But what was he planning on doing after seeing her expression?

His thoughts were interrupted when Eliana reminded him to back up the files.

"What, so you could keep a copy of his confession?" Lucian couldn’t help it. He just had to say that.

"Not really, but that file was for the whole day. And with how you’re gripping it, the connector might just break."

She didn’t add fire to his goading, just choosing to be logical.

Lucian hated it.

He wasn’t sure if he hated how she didn’t look that rattled, as if his brain just took out Eliana’s earlier state.

Or if he hated how all he was doing was fuming internally.

Even Lucian had no idea what to say or do after this. What was it that got him feeling this way, to begin with?