Chapter 1067: Do It Properly

Chapter 1067 – Do It Properly

Lux looked offended. Deeply. As if she had accused him of tax fraud without appreciating the artistry. "100%."

Naomi stared at him.

Adrian stared at him too.

Celeste slowly lowered her teacup.

Lux stroked the orange cat on his lap, completely shameless, his expression calm and handsome and too satisfied for a man who had just threatened to destroy an entire branch of Naomi’s family by breathing.

Naomi sighed. "You didn’t even try to deny it."

"I respect you too much to lie badly."

Adrian muttered, "You are an exhausting man."

Lux smiled faintly. "And yet your project is fixed."

Adrian’s mouth closed.

Celeste looked away, hiding the smallest curve of her lips.

Lux turned his gaze to Maribelle. "And I’m sure Maribelle already took notes about what to do."

Maribelle’s smile appeared. Terrifying in pencil skirt form. Her eyes glinted with infernal administrative joy. "I am, boss."

Lux nodded. "Excellent staff awareness."

Maribelle tapped her tablet once. Several dark-gold files opened, invisible to everyone except Lux, though the slight glow reflected across her gray eyes.

"I have all the information I need," she continued. "Victor Delacour exposed urgency. Elise Delacour revealed independent interest in direct access to you. Hugo Delacour revealed susceptibility to verbal dominance, executive efficiency, and women who reject him in complete sentences."

Naomi coughed into her hand.

Adrian looked tired in a wealthy way. "Must she say everything like that?"

Maribelle smiled. "Yes."

Lux leaned back. "She does. It’s one of her better qualities."

Maribelle bowed slightly. "Thank you, boss."

Lux’s eyes warmed with approval. "You’re the best for it."

"I am."

Naomi looked between them and whispered, "Why are all your people like this?"

Lux thought about Zehar, Corvus, Sira, Gula, Lullaby, and the entire beautifully deranged household waiting back at the mansion. Then he answered honestly. "Standards."

"That explains nothing."

"It explains too much."

Maribelle continued, "What I need to do now is make a good plan for revenge."

Celeste’s fingers tightened slightly on her cup.

A day ago, if someone said revenge inside this mansion, they would have softened it. Strategy. Countermeasure. Family defense. Reputation preservation. All those elegant words rich people used when they wanted someone ruined but preferred not to sound emotionally involved.

Maribelle called it revenge with clean pronunciation and no shame.

And somehow, after Victor’s little performance, Celeste did not dislike the word as much as she should.

Lux smiled. "Do it properly."

"Of course. I will prepare a layered response. Reputation pressure, document exposure, project-channel bait, controlled rumor reversal, and one elegant trap using Elise’s request as the opening."

Naomi’s gaze sharpened. "Elise’s request?"

Maribelle looked at her. "She wants personal access to boss. She will likely disguise it as a proposal. The proposal will likely be weak or partially fabricated." She tilted her head. "Should we accept their project, boss? Perhaps you want to see it? Business is business."

Lux’s expression flattened immediately. "No."

Maribelle waited.

"I know it was made up," Lux said. "And I’m not that bored to care about their project."

Naomi’s lips twitched.

Lux looked at Maribelle. "They are in your care."

Maribelle’s smile sharpened. "Yes, sir."

That was somehow more ominous than Lux threatening to destroy them by breathing.

Because Lux was a storm.

Maribelle was paperwork.

Storms passed.

Paperwork followed descendants.

Naomi looked at Lux with narrowed eyes. "You’re really letting her handle them?"

Lux looked innocent. "Do you want me to handle Elise personally?"

Naomi’s expression changed immediately. "No." The answer came too fast.

Lux’s smile spread slowly, dark and amused. "Oh?"

Naomi realized what she had done. Her cheeks warmed. "Don’t start."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You smiled."

"I have a face. Sometimes it moves. That smile specifically." Lux leaned closer, lowering his voice just enough to make the air between them warmer. "My girl is jealous."

Naomi looked away. "I’m protective. She was looking at you. I don’t like her."

"I know." Lux’s smile deepened, lazy and sinful at the edges. "I’m an incubus and Greed. I notice desire before people finish denying it."

Celeste’s cup paused halfway to her lips.

Adrian’s eye twitched.

Naomi pressed her fingers against her forehead. "I need to go home."

Lux’s expression softened immediately.

That subtle change caught Celeste again.

How quickly he turned.

How naturally.

One second he was teasing Naomi with a sensual smirk that could make candlelight feel underdressed. The next, his attention adjusted to her fatigue, her embarrassment, the tension held under her shoulders after too much family warfare in one afternoon.

He stood. With the other, he reached for Naomi. Not her hand. Her waist.

Naomi looked up just as his arm slid around her, firm but careful, pulling her close enough that her side met his. It was intimate. Possessive. Not obscene, not crude, but unmistakable.

A quiet claim in front of everyone.

Adrian’s jaw tightened because fatherhood had not resigned yet. But after everything today, he held his tongue.

Lux looked down at Naomi. "So..." His voice dipped lower. "Let’s go home."

Naomi’s face softened despite herself. Home. He said it like she belonged there.

And Naomi, traitorous heart and all, liked that too much.

She nodded. "Okay."

Lux started walking.

But not toward the hall leading to the exit.

Naomi blinked. "Where are we going?"

"Home."

"The exit is there."

Lux glanced at the exit, then back at her. "Yes. But I have a portal."

Adrian stood halfway. "A what?"

Lux lifted one hand casually.

Dark-gold light gathered beside the sitting room, forming a circle of rotating runes. The air split open with elegant violence. A portal bloomed, its edges shimmering with Greed authority and shadow. Through it, Naomi could see the familiar entrance hall of Lux’s mansion, warm lighting, polished floors, and what looked suspiciously like Gula in the distance carrying a plate.

Naomi gave Lux a look.

He shrugged. "Your dad and mom already know I’m a demon. So it’s not a big deal, right?"

Adrian looked like a man who had received another invoice from reality.

Celeste stared at the portal, then at Lux, then at Naomi.

Maribelle calmly stepped aside, as if portals in sitting rooms were covered under standard executive travel policy.