Chapter 408: Get Your Ass Away From This Table

The assistant did not wait for permission.

The table had four chairs. She pulled one out and sat down like it already belonged to her. The bodyguard stayed on his feet at her shoulder, thick in the black suit, close enough to crowd the space on purpose.

Lucas looked at her once.

So that was the move. Sit without asking. Bring the muscle. Push until he gave them what they wanted.

Bennett went stiff across from him. A short distance away, the hotel manager stopped near the service path and stayed there. He had already guessed Chiara would not let the entrance clip die quietly. He had wanted Lucas out of sight until Chiara left the hotel. Too late now. This was no longer something he could manage from the side.

The assistant put her phone on the table and turned the screen toward Lucas.

"I’m Chiara’s assistant," she said. "We can take this to court for assault. We have the video. But that isn’t what she wants."

On the screen the entrance clip was already playing. The grab. The hard pull. The bodyguard leaving the ground and hitting the pavement. Short. Clear. Already everywhere.

Bennett leaned in, confused, eyes moving from the phone to Lucas.

The assistant kept her voice controlled.

"She doesn’t want a case. She wants this finished clean. You record a public apology. You say what you did was wrong. You apologize to Chiara directly. We end it here."

Lucas stared at her for a second.

Then he laughed.

Not loud at first. Just a short breath of pure disbelief.

"So if I understand you," he said, "you want me on camera apologizing because I yanked your boss’s bodyguard?"

"Yes."

Lucas laughed again, louder. Nearby tables heard it. More heads turned. Chiara’s assistant was known enough in rooms like this that people already understood who had walked over and sat down uninvited.

"You’re telling me to apologize to your boss," Lucas said, mockery plain in his voice. "Because your idiot security put hands on the wrong person?"

The assistant’s jaw tightened. The bodyguard shifted his weight beside her, trying to look harder than he felt under the sudden attention.

Lucas leaned forward a little and spoke slower, each word clear enough for the nearest tables to catch.

"Next time I see your boss and she blocks my way, or her man puts hands on my friend, I’ll teach you people the same lesson."

He did not raise his voice. He did not need to. The quiet around their table did the work for him.

He let the line sit in the air until the weight of it settled.

Then he looked from the assistant to the bodyguard, slow and direct, like he was already done with both of them.

"Now get your ass away from this table."

The assistant froze.

For a second she only stared at him, caught between anger and real confusion. He was a tourist. He did not belong here. He was supposed to fold the moment Chiara’s side showed up with video, a threat, and a man in a black suit. That was how these things usually went. People with no local name apologized. People with no power recorded whatever message they were told to record.

Lucas did not fold.

He did not even look impressed.

"I said get your ass away," he repeated, still calm, eyes on the bodyguard as well. "Right now. Both of you. Take this bastard standing beside you and leave."

The bodyguard’s jaw flexed. The assistant’s face tightened so hard the polish almost cracked. Around them, the restaurant had gone too quiet for comfort. Phones were already angled their way. Nobody at the nearby tables pretended not to listen anymore.

The assistant finally noticed the cameras.

Color rose in her face. She tapped the bodyguard’s arm once, sharp, and stood. Her expression had gone stiff with public embarrassment. The bodyguard hesitated half a second, then followed when she turned.

They left the table the same way they came, cutting back through the aisle under every watching eye. No final line. No recovery. Just the walk out, stiff and fast, like they could still pretend the room had not seen everything.

Only after they were gone did the noise in the room slowly return.

Bennett let out a quiet breath.

"You didn’t have to say it like that."

Lucas picked up his fork.

"They sat down like they owned the place. They can leave the same way."

He finally took the first bite of his carbonara.

It was still warm.

He did not look toward the entrance again. He did not check if the assistant was still somewhere in the building. The threat sat on the table like something already finished. As far as he was concerned, the whole thing had been a waste of time from a pair of idiots who thought a famous name was enough to make him bow.

Bennett watched him for a moment, then started eating too.

For some reason she felt steady. Safer than she expected after a scene like that. Nothing about Lucas looked shaken. He ate like the whole exchange had been a minor interruption, nothing more. After a while she found herself talking again, low and normal, about the food, about the trip, about nothing important. Lucas answered when he felt like it. The tension at their table drained even while other guests kept glancing over.

People around them were still staring. Some tried to hide it. Some did not bother. A few were still on their phones, almost certainly checking the same clip that had brought Chiara’s assistant to the table in the first place. One man near the window even shook his head like he could not believe what he had just watched live.

Lucas did not give any of them a second look.

They finished the meal at their own pace. When the plates were cleared, Lucas paid the bill without comment. Bennett stood with him, still calm, and together they left the restaurant floor and headed back toward the suite.