Chapter 324: Lucas…?

Durnik paced the side of the hall like a man who had run out of useful places to put his anger.

Up. Down. Past tables. Past guests who smiled at him and got almost nothing back. His head was still full of Lucas, investors, and the way the night had slipped in public. He needed something to grab. Someone to control. Anything that could put the feeling of power back under his feet.

Then he saw her.

Richelle Ryan was just about to enter the main hall. Clean presence. Strong features. A body that filled her dress in a way that immediately dragged his attention downward and refused to let go. The anger in him did not disappear. It only changed targets.

He went after her at once.

"Hey. Hey~"

Richelle stopped, already regretting the decision.

Durnik closed the distance fast, slightly out of breath, smile already arranged into something he clearly believed was charming.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, then answered himself before she could speak. "Ah, don't worry. I've watched your stream a lot. I love how creative you are."

Richelle stared at him.

Streamer?

She had never streamed a day in her life. She was the vice president of Biogen Pharmaceuticals. She had come to clear her head, not collect career advice from a man who had looked at her face, looked at her body, and decided she made content for a living.

Durnik missed the silence completely.

"There's a lot happening in the streaming industry right now," he continued, lowering his voice like he was sharing confidential gold. "I can push traffic to your stream. Real numbers. The kind that changes things overnight."

He brought out his phone and held it toward her with full confidence.

"Put your number in. We'll meet. I'll handle the rest."

If she had been a desperate upcoming creator, the line might have sounded like a door opening.

To Richelle, it sounded like a man digging a hole, climbing into it, and asking her to rate the view.

She looked at the phone.

Then at him.

Then at the phone again, as if checking whether the offer would become less ridiculous if she gave it a second chance.

It did not.

"You're serious," she said flatly.

Durnik's smile widened. "Of course."

Richelle let out a short hiss through her teeth. No soft rejection. No polite excuse about being busy. She simply turned and walked away, leaving him standing there with his arm still out and the screen still glowing in his hand like a rejected proposal that did not understand it had already died.

Durnik stayed frozen.

The smile drained off his face in stages. First confusion. Then disbelief. Then the delayed realization that the beautiful woman he had chased down with traffic promises and industry generosity had just treated him like a malfunctioning vending machine.

That was when a camera flash went off.

The light caught him perfectly ~ phone out, offer hanging, disappointment settling across his face while the woman disappeared into the hall without looking back.

---

Inside, Lucas had already finished with Matthew.

The older investor closed the conversation himself, clearly satisfied, and took Lucas's details before the group fully broke apart. He made no attempt to hide his interest. Switch had his attention, and he said so plainly enough for the men around him to hear it.

"I'd like you to eat with us," Matthew added.

Lucas declined with an easy smile.

"I'm still busy right now. We can have dinner another time."

No overexplaining. No hunger for the invitation. He left the circle the same way he had entered it ~ calm, controlled, already moving on.

He had barely put a few steps between himself and the investors when the system chimed.

[Ding!]

Rebecca Favorability +10.

Rebecca Favorability +10.

Rebecca Favorability +10.

Rebecca Favorability +10.

Current Favorability: 40

Lucas's mouth curved slightly.

So the evening was working.

He turned back toward the table where Rebecca still sat, wine glass near her hand, eyes following him with far more interest than she had shown at the start of the night.

"Seems you know a lot about me," he said as he stopped beside her again, "and I don't know much about you. That feels a little unfair."

He reached into his jacket, brought out his phone, and held it toward her.

"Can I have your details? I need to know more about you."

The line should have sounded ordinary. In his mouth, it did not. Clean. Confident. Just playful enough.

Rebecca noticed.

She had heard every kind of approach over the years ~ clumsy, aggressive, desperate, overly polished. This one sat differently. She took the phone without a long pause, entered what he asked for, and handed it back.

Lucas checked it once, smiled, and rose with his wine still in hand.

"I still have unfinished business," he said. "We'll see each other later."

He winked, turned, and walked off before the moment could stretch into anything heavier.

Rebecca watched him go, smiling in spite of herself.

For a few seconds she forgot the empty chair. Forgot the husband somewhere in the building burning through the night in pieces. The conversation had left her warmer than it found her.

Then the thought arrived late.

What if he gets caught?

By then Lucas was already moving toward the exit line of the hall.

---

Near the entrance, Richelle had just stepped farther inside ~ and stopped dead.

Her eyes locked on him at once.

Shock hit her face so fast it stripped the composure right off it. Surprise first. Then recognition. Then the sharp, disbelieving stillness of someone who had not expected to see that particular man walking through this particular event as if he belonged there.

"Lucas…?"

Her voice carried farther than she meant it to.

Richelle started walking after him at once, the shock still clear on her face, but a small smile already breaking through it. She said his name again, softer this time, like she needed to confirm he was real and not some mistake the night had thrown at her.

"Lucas."

He slowed, half-turning as she closed the gap.

A few steps away, Durnik was still standing where Richelle had left him, phone in hand, mind not fully recovered from the rejection. Then he saw it. The same woman who had hissed and walked away from him was now moving toward Lucas with recognition and something close to relief on her face.

Durnik's expression went blank.

He did not move. He only stared, lost between anger, confusion, and the ugly feeling of watching another moment in the evening slip toward the wrong man.

Whatever was about to happen, he stayed put and let it unfold.