Chapter 198: Elias....
NO ONE’S POV
The next morning, the soft sunlight filtered through the long glass windows of the grand dining hall. Viella sat at the head of the breakfast table, casually sipping her warm tea, while Lily stood quietly right beside her, her hands resting behind her back in her usual perfect posture.
Soon after, dragging footsteps echoed across the marble floor. Lucian walked into the room, looking completely drained. Dark circles sat beneath his eyes, ruining his usually pristine appearance. He pulled out his chair and sat down with a exhausted groan.
Ahem. Viella let out a fake cough, setting her teacup down with a light clink. She leaned forward, looking at him with a mischievous tilt of her head. "Were you out hunting ghosts last night, big brother? You look like you got dragged through the underworld and back."
Lucian slowly raised his head, his tired gaze cutting across the table to glare directly at Lily. He couldn’t help but notice that she looked completely fine- no dark circles, no trace of fatigue, and her face as calm and fresh as ever, despite sneaking around his study at three in the morning.
"More like chasing a very annoying little mouse," he muttered under his breath, taking a slow sip of his black coffee.
Before Viella could ask what he meant, the grand double doors of the dining hall burst open. One of Lucian’s head security guards ran up to the side of the table, looking extremely tense and alert.
"Boss!" the guard reported quickly, bowing his head. "Our morning perimeter sweep found something suspicious. The garden bushes right beneath your private study window seem completely trampled and off. Someone was definitely creeping around there last night! We are already recovering the full CCTV footage to track the intruder."
At the mention of the garden bushes, Lucian’s hand froze mid-air. He remembered throwing the old jersey out of his study window in a sudden burst of embarrassment, which meant he must have knocked through the hedge when he went out in the dark to retrieve or hide it later.
He shot a glance at Lily, who remained entirely motionless, her face an unreadable mask.
"There is no need for that," Lucian said, his voice dropping into a flat, dismissive tone. "It was just a stray cat making noise in the bushes."
"But, Boss-" the security guard tried to insist, his eyebrows furrowing in worry. "The security protocols state-"
"I said, there is no need," Lucian repeated, cutting him off firmly, his sharp gaze locking onto the guard. "Drop the matter and go back to your posts."
Recognizing the dangerous edge in his leader’s voice, the guard quickly bowed his head. "Understood, Boss." He turned and promptly left the room.
Once the guard vanished, both Viella and Lily turned their heads to stare directly at Lucian. Sitting right near the crown of his dark hair was a small, dry green leaf, tangled neatly in his styled locks- a clear proof that he had indeed been crawling around in the garden bushes late last night.
Neither of them said a word about it. They both silently decided it was much safer, and far more entertaining, to leave it right where it was.
"It seems like the stray cat was actually you, Young Master," Lily said in a soft, barely audible whisper.
Viella instantly covered her mouth with her napkin, letting out a muffled snicker.
Lucian’s head whipped around, his eyes snapping to the two of them. "What did you just say?" he glared, his tone laced with immediate suspicion.
Both Lily and Viella shook their heads at the exact same moment, their faces morphing into complete, innocent blankness. "Nothing at all, Brother," Viella sang out innocently.
As the breakfast finally came to a finish, Lucian set his napkin down on the table and suddenly spoke up, his voice turning serious. "Viella... did you happen to lose one of your diamond earrings in my estate last night and ask your maid to go search for it?"
Lily stared silently at the far wall, her posture unchanged.
Viella paused, her mind blanking out for a second. Truthfully, she didn’t remember losing any jewelry or sending Lily anywhere because she had been far too exhausted and fell asleep on the couch. But then, a sudden realization hit her- Lily had handed her a missing earring first thing this morning when waking her up! So, Lily must have actually gone out to look for it while she was sleeping.
"Uh... yeah! Yes, I did," Viella replied quickly, nodding her head with confidence. "I told her to find it for me."
Lily slid a tiny glance toward Lucian, her dark eyes flashing with a faint victory.
Lucian clicked his tongue in deep irritation, leaning back into his chair. Tsk. He knew deep down that something was still off about the whole situation, but with his sister confirming the story, he had no official ground to question the maid any further.
"Why are you making that face?" Viella asked, raising an eyebrow at his annoyed reaction.
"No reason," Lucian muttered, standing up from the table and smoothing out his dark suit. He adjusted his cuffs, his eyes lingering on his sister. "Anyways... wrap it up and follow me."
"Huh? Why in the world should I follow you?" Viella asked, crossing her arms defensively.
Lucian looked down at her with a smug smirk. "Because starting today, we are going directly to my corporate head office. You will be stepping into the company as my new personal assistant until you learn how to handle family affairs properly."
Viella’s jaw dropped in total horror, her cozy morning ruined in a split second. "Ughhh, fineee!" she groaned loudly, slumping back into her chair while Lily silently prepared herself for another long, chaotic day by her lady’s side.
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"Why in the world is she sitting with us?" Lucian asked, leaning back against his seat and staring through the rearview mirror at Lily, who was sitting perfectly straight in the back seat right beside Viella.
"I will be everywhere my lady is going to be," Lily replied in her usual flat tone, not even glancing up at him.
Lucian rolled his eyes in deep irritation, scoffing under his breath as he turned back to focus on the road ahead.
Before long, the sleek car pulled up to the front entrance of the grand corporate skyscraper.
Everyone stepped out into the bustling morning air. But instead of following her lady directly inside the lobby, Lily paused, turning to Viella. She excused herself for a brief moment, taking a short leave to handle a private matter. Lucian didn’t pay much attention to her absence, assuming she was just running a basic errand, and led Viella inside toward the executive elevators.
Once they vanished into the building, Lily stepped into a quie alleyway just around the corner. She reached into her dark jacket and pulled out a small, encrypted burner phone. A fresh notification was blinking on the dark screen.
Unknown: I want a high-profile hit. I will pay 1 million dollars upon completion.
Lily stared down at the glowing text with indifferent eyes. Beneath her quiet role as a loyal maid to the Viella family, she maintained an entirely different life in the dark corners of the city. She worked in the dangerous underworld as a top-tier assassin, and her reputation at the very peak of the underground list was completely untouched.
Without a single second of hesitation, her fingers moved smoothly across the keys.
Lily: Deal. Send the target’s address and picture.
After closing the app and putting her phone away, Lily turned back toward the glass skyscraper to locate her lady. She navigated through the clean corridors of the corporate building, heading straight toward the high-level executive floor.
As she stood just outside the grand double doors of the main meeting room, the handles turned, and the doors swung wide open. A tall man stepped out into the hallway.
The moment he brushed right past her in the narrow corridor, a strange, sudden chill washed over Lily’s body. Her instincts flared on high alert. She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her head to look back at the retreating figure. She couldn’t see his full face from behind, catching only a glimpse of his distinct blonde hair against his dark designer coat.
"Elias..." Lily muttered softly under her breath.
A sharp headache pulsed behind her eyes. She had no clear memory of who this "Elias" was, nor why that specific name had jumped so naturally to her tongue the moment she saw him. Yet, deep down in her gut, a dangerous warning rang out- whoever that man was, he was not a good person, and his sudden presence in Lucian’s office meant absolute trouble.
Meanwhile, as the man walked toward the private elevators, a dark smirk spread across his face. He didn’t turn around, but his light eyes flickered with a cruel glint.
"We will meet again... pretty soon" Elias muttered to himself under his breath as he stepped into the elevator and vanished into the city.
The scene shifted later that afternoon.
Lily was casually standing on the quiet second-floor balcony of the corporate building, her dark eyes scanning the bustling lobby below. Suddenly, her gaze locked onto two people walking through the glass entrance doors. It was Dante Moretti, and walking closely beside him was a young woman.
Lily recognized her instantly. It was the exact same girl from the security footage- the one who had dared to spill wine on her lady and frame Viella at the party.
Lily kept a close eye on them as they walked toward the private lounge. Why was Dante bringing that girl directly into Lucian’s office building?
Ding.
The small encrypted phone in her pocket vibrated softly with a fresh notification. Lily took out the burner phone and opened the secret message. The anonymous client had finally sent the target’s information. The digital picture file took a few brief seconds to load on the screen.
Finally, the full image became clearly visible. Lily’s brows furrowed in immediate surprise.
The person in the target photo was no one else but the exact same girl walking with Dante downstairs. A small profile line appeared beneath the image with her details: Alina Grace.
Lily usually followed a strict rule in her line of work- she never looked into her clients’ identities or asked questions about their motives. But whoever had placed this heavy one-million-dollar hit on Alina shared the exact same goal as her: getting rid of this troublesome girl. Lily knew she had to look into this specific client later tonight. After all, who else in this city wanted Alina dead so badly?
Suddenly, a loud commercial noise and a dramatic gasp echoed from the open lounge area downstairs. Lily poked her head slightly over the balcony railing to see what was happening.
Down in the lobby lounge, Viella had somehow managed to stumble forward, spilling an entire cup of hot coffee directly across the front of Dante’s pristine white dress shirt.
Lily observed Dante’s reaction very carefully from above. He did not yell, flare up in anger, or look surprised at all. His dark expression remained unnaturally calm, almost as if he had deliberately allowed the collision to happen.
"Like I knew... something was suspicious from the very beginning," Lily muttered under her breath, her eyes narrowing at Dante’s composure.
A few chaotic minutes passed downstairs. After a brief argument between the families, Viella was quickly sent off to the executive dressing room to help Dante clean up the coffee stain and fetch a replacement suit.
With Viella gone, the rest of the group moved upstairs.
Now, Lily stood perfectly still in front of Lucian’s desk, her hands folded neatly behind her back, while Alina Grace sat comfortably on the couch across the room, acting completely innocent.
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TO BE CONTINUED