She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 388

Loyce tilted her head. "What else would I ask? Your physical condition doesn't allow for heavy smoking, but your jacket is practically soaked in the smell of tobacco. You've clearly been smoking a lot lately. Are you trying to kill yourself with nicotine?"

Lucian was rendered entirely speechless. After a long pause, he muttered, "I've been under a lot of pressure lately."

"Because of the mastermind who unleashed the bear?" she asked.

Lucian gave a noncommittal hum, but the bear was the last thing on his mind. His mind was entirely occupied by her.

The fact that he had to stay away from her because he couldn't guarantee her safety was tearing him apart. The suffocating frustration could only be numbed with alcohol and cigarettes.

"Did you find anything?" she pressed.

"No. It's complicated," Lucian said, his lips pressing into a thin line. "Stop interrogating me. What about you?"

Loyce neatly folded his jacket and set it aside. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Fine?" Lucian pulled the car over to the side of the road, shifted in his seat, and looked at her ruined, stained clothes. "I leave you alone for a second, and you manage to attract an insane amount of hostility out of nowhere."

Loyce blinked. "Huh?"

She had no idea about the private conversation Gordon had had with him. Lucian sighed inwardly. "I looked into the smear campaign against you online. Several of the key IP addresses have recent transactions tied to the exact same bank account."

Loyce looked out the window. She already had a prime suspect. "Holt's manager. Bianca, the Art Director at Jasyn Media."

Lucian gave her an approving look. "Smart."

"But how did you pull her bank records?" Loyce looked back at him. "Did you abuse your military clearance?"

Lucian paused, the corner of his mouth turning up slightly. "I guess you could say I broke protocol just for you. How are you going to thank me?"

In reality, he had simply leveraged another one of his hidden, underground networks.

Loyce thought about it. "What do you want?"

"I want you," Lucian started, his voice dropping. Then, softly, he added, "To stay away from me."

Loyce went quiet.

After a while, she simply said, "You're the one who approached me."

"I couldn't control myself." Lucian pulled the car up to the Lonsdale estate. He got out and opened her door. His eyes inevitably landed on her wrist, where a brutal, jagged scab marred her skin. The sight stung his eyes.

"Loyce, stay away from me. It'd be best if you actually started hating me."

He leaned in, his hand reaching out as if to graze the terrible wound on her wrist, but his fingertips stopped a fraction of an inch from her skin. Ultimately, he just pulled his folded jacket from the seat next to her.

Gordon replied, "Oh, he came over to ask your brother for a few commercial leases in Futura-Silicon. But that boy has been swamped the last couple of days, and I haven't been able to reach him."

Loyce raised an eyebrow. "For Cyrilla? Mr. Shapiro, you really do hold that life debt higher than the heavens, don't you?"

Catching the heavy sarcasm in her tone, Zeke said, "I know you're upset, and I know there's a misunderstanding between you and Cyrilla. But, as a favor to me..."

"Absolutely not," Loyce cut him off cleanly. "If you refuse to discipline your people, I'll do it for you."

"When someone does something wrong, they have to pay the price." Loyce smiled faintly. "You're free to keep cleaning up her messes, though."

Zeke had anticipated she wouldn't agree easily. From his briefcase, he pulled out a slim folder marked with a highly classified seal.

"Your brother has been struggling to secure the rare metal mining rights in Ironridge City. I happen to have connections there. I can pull some strings and get it done."

Loyce's eyes narrowed as she looked at the mining contract.

The value of a rare metal mine vastly outweighed the handful of commercial storefronts Cyrilla was asking for. They weren't even in the same stratosphere.

A sudden wave of suspicion hit her.

"Why are you going to such incredible lengths to protect a girl with such a rotten core?" Loyce asked bluntly, putting her cards on the table.