Page 26 of Forbidden Mistress

The woman is standing a few feet away, ready to escort me to his office. The space is gorgeous. All windows with a ton of natural light—even in the long, winding hallways. She leads me down the main hall, past a huge conference room, to a door at the very end. Knocking once, she waits for the brusque, “Come in,” and opens the door. She ushers me in, before backing out and closing the door behind her.

There’s a man at the far side of the room, behind a large desk. His office is the size of the entire bottom floor of our house, no joke. There’s a sitting area with black couches, a meeting area with a huge glass table and several chairs, and then there’s his massive desk. Several expensive-looking sculptures are scattered around the room and exquisite art decorates the walls, giving the space a sophisticated feel.

But it’s the man I’m entirely focused on. He’s writing something on a legal pad. When he’s done, he sets his pen aside and glances up. The moment his eyes meet mine, a sexy smile spreads across his face. Any fear I had of what Lucien may look like is quashed. He’s classically beautiful with dark hair, dark eyes, a strong jaw, and lips I could kiss for days.

“Hello again,” I say, stepping deeper into the room.

With that sexy smile plastered to his face, he stands and comes around the desk to greet me. Maybe it’s the massive space or maybe it’s just my faulty memory but he seems a bit shorter in this space than he does at Obscura. It’s probably the antlers on the stag mask that give him the illusion of being taller.

Lucien reaches out and takes me by the upper arms. “Even more beautiful without the mask,” he says.

I blush a little and look away, suddenly embarrassed by his attention. “Thanks. Not so bad yourself.”

“I’m glad you came. Have a seat.” He gestures to the empty armchair in front of his desk.

I sit down and fold my hands over my lap, and he takes his seat again. Leaning back, he steeples his hands, pressing the tips of his fingers against his lips. “So tell me more about this business your father owned.”

I explain every detail I can remember about my dad’s company, from its conception to what I know just before his death, while Lucien takes notes on a brand new legal pad. “My dad’s death was sudden.” I take a breath and swallow, even now feeling a slight stab of that same grief. “And he didn’t share much about the ins and outs of day-to-day tasks with me. But my stepbrother worked closely with him, so obviously, he knows more.”

Lucien nods completely focused on me. “This is the same stepbrother that took the company over when your dad died?”

“Yes. And I feel I’m owed at least a half share in his company. I got nothing at all.”

Lucien lays down his pen and places his forearms on his desk, lacing his fingers together in front of him. “Okay, I’m going to need to see any wills, codicils or trust documents, anything your father may have in writing with regards to the succession of the company.”

I bite my lip and stare back at him. “Uh, yeah, I don’t have any of that. My stepmom or my stepbrother would have all that.”

“Do you know who your father’s attorney was?” he asks.

I shake my head. “No.”

My glaring ignorance in the face of his questions is starting to embarrass me. Dad and Liam always took care of everything, and I just let it happen, as long as I had the money for school. I was in my own little world, wasn’t I? In my defense, Dad rarely talked about work. Not to me, anyway.

Lucien nods, considering. “Okay, get that information from your stepmom, and then we can go from there. We really can’t do anything until we see how everything was laid out. Once you retain me, I can put some investigation hours into it as well.”

I smile, nodding. “Right. Yes, of course. Thank you for your help with this.”

As he talks to me about legalities and what our possible plans of action might be, depending on various scenarios, I let my gaze wander over his clothed body. It’s so crazy how different someone can look with clothes on—but his build, and the suggestion of muscles beneath his tailored suit, is familiar. And that accent. It’s deeper when he’s in his Hart persona, it seems. Maybe it’s the lighting, the stuffy atmosphere? Anyone’s going to look and sound different from a legal office to a secret sex club.

I wonder how he manages to switch that Hart persona off and on. Does he ever slip up? Obscura is a fantasy world, and dragging that into one’s daily life could be dangerous, I’m guessing—especially since Obscura is supposed to be completely anonymous. So maybe that’s part of it too, protecting one’s anonymity by changing speech patterns and mannerisms.

Lucien smiles. “I’m glad you came to me about this. I’ll do everything within my power to get what’s owed to you, Ms. Fitzgerald.”

I straighten in my chair. “I can’t thank you enough for your help with everything. You’ve been incredibly generous. Maybe we could…go out sometime?”

Inside, I almost groan at myself. My God, I’m awful at this. It’s no wonder I can’t keep a boyfriend longer than a few weeks.

His brows twitch together briefly before he flashes me a wide smile. “My schedule is packed at the moment, but when it frees up a little, I can have Sara set something up.”

I blink. His assistant handles his personal dating life, too? Interesting.

“That sounds great.” I nod and smile politely. “I look forward to it.”

By five o’clock that afternoon, I’m back home at Hill House and in my sweatpants. I have three hours before Andrew comes to pick me up for work. I left a message for my stepmom as soon as I got home, but I haven’t even touched the pile of homework I need to have done by Friday. So I’m just chilling on my laptop, watching something when Avery walks into our bedroom.

“Hey, a couple of us are going to grab something to eat. You wanna come?”

I snap my laptop shut and sit up. “Nah, thanks. It’s been a day already, and I still have work in a couple of hours.”

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