Their Last Conversation :(

DAYS had passed and Lucian seemed to get worse. He became overbearing, he called every hour to check on her. It is as if someone is out to get them.

Latton couldn't take it anymore, but she knew too well that Lucian wouldn't tell her what it was.

She needed to investigate it without raising any suspicions. She made a surprise visit to Caldwell Incorporated as it might be work-related. It's not. Caldwell Inc. was flourishing, standing stronger than ever. She witnesses on her visit how he buries himself at work while constantly checking on her.

"If you continue doing that you are going to get sick." She mumbled as she patted his back in concern.

He smiles. "I'll be fine." He says as he kisses her hand. "Why don't you stay in the CEO's lounge? I'll finish this, and we'll have lunch together." He suggested.

She nods. She could see that the dark circle in his eyes worsened, and it seemed he had lost weight over the week.

She wanted to speak to him when, suddenly, someone knocked on the door. It was Alex. He was surprised to see Latton inside the room and gave Lucian an inviting look to speak to him in private, which Lucian understood instantly.

"I forgot we have a meeting in conference room 3," Lucian declared. His voice was loud as if telling everyone in the room that it was a normal meeting. Something that Latton easily notices.

"They are hiding something." She muttered as she smiled at them and pretended to yawn and walk to the CEO's lounge. "You finish your work, and I'll wait for you here. I'm a bit sleepy." She uttered softly.

INSIDE conference room 3.

"Did you find something?" Lucian asked in a frantic voice.

Alex nods, "Yes, but not useful. We found the black Yamaha YZF-R1 motorcycle and the car, but both were reported stolen a few weeks before your accident." He explains.

Lucian's face contorted in rage. "That means they are still out there. Probably scheming a new way to hurt me." He exclaimed.

Shortly, their conversation ended and they went on their separate ways.

Alex went to the parking lot while Lucian went to John's office. He doesn't want to show Latton the look of rage and paranoia on his face.

"You look like shit!" John remarked as he saw Lucian's face.

Lucian scoffed, "I know what I look like. That's why I'm here."

John's eyes narrowed.

"Latton's in my office in the CEO's lounge. I don't want her to worry, seeing me like this." He explains.

"You should tell her. She's strong. She could take any dilemma and solve it." John sighs. "I mean don't get me wrong, she stayed with you. As your friend, I've seen how stupid and mean you can be. If she can tame Lucian Caldwell she can take anything." He commented.

Lucian lay on the couch and stared blankly at the ceiling before closing his eyes, "You're right, but I'm not sure how. She's been through a lot, and she solves it on her own. I want to do the same. I don't want to be a hindrance to her." He explains every word conveys concern.

MEANWHILE, Alex walked to the parking lot in his car only to see someone standing there. Arms cross waiting for him.

"Shit!" He mumbles.

"Alex, we need to talk!" Latton exclaimed.

He swallowed slowly as if any subtle movement would cause his life.

"Why do I feel afraid of standing before her?" He asks himself. Preoccupied, he didn't notice her marching towards him and grabbing the keys in his hand.

She opened the back passenger door and then gestured for him to sit.

"Get in the damn car, Alex," she yelled authoritatively.

Frightened. "Yes, ma'am." He replied, obeying her easily.

"Spill it!" She demanded. "Tell me what's going on?" She screamed.

He remained silent. Suddenly, a man entered the driver's seat. A man with a malevolent aura.

"Are you going to tell me? Or do you want my driver to get the information out from you? He has ways far beyond your imagination." She whispered threateningly in Alex's ears.

Alex glanced at Igor sitting comfortably in the driver's seat. Their eyes met in the rearview mirror and Alex knew very well that the person he was looking at could and would kill him.

With the pressure put on him. Alex told Latton everything, and it gave her a pit in her stomach. Now that she is aware of what's bothering Lucian, she can't stop blaming herself.

"I should have told him that it was Henri..."

"I should have told him that it wouldn't happen again..."

"How should I break the news to him now?"

Latton yelled internally as she walked back to Lucian's office.

She was still in the corridor when she received Lucian's message to meet him in the parking lot for an early lunch in an Italian restaurant.

She hurriedly got back to the lift and met him there.

Inside the car, none spoke. Both of them are guilty but unsure how to open the topic.

The car was filled with silence 'till they reached the restaurant, but Latton couldn't take it anymore. It pains her to see Lucian being consumed by the mystery of his accident. After the car was parked she soon blurted out. "I spoke to Alex."

His eyes dilated instantly and his grip on the steering wheel tightened. He opens his mouth to deny Alex's words, but Latton doesn't give him the chance to lie.

"The person that paid those men is Henri," she declared.

Her words were like daggers to him.

"You knew and still help him return here?" Lucian mumbled in disappointment. "What the fuck? Do you even care about me?" He yelled in anger.

She nods in guilt. "I know it's fucked up. I was caught off guard. When I visited him in Mexico, I didn't know he did it. When he told me about it, I wanted to revoke my offer to him. You have no idea how much it pains me." She sighed, held his hands, and stared at him pleadingly, "I can assure you Henri is no longer a threat. I took all his money and donated it to various animal shelters. The men he hired were no longer a threat. They did what they are paid for and failed." She explains.

Exhausted. Paranoid. Enraged, Lucian blurted words he didn't mean, "Latton!..." He shouted. "I... We... We are a MISTAKE." He uttered through gritted teeth.

She held his wrist and slowly knelt, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to hide it from you. Please... Let me correct this and atone..." She pleaded. Her eyes welled up in sorrow.

"Let's call off our engagement." He screamed.

She gasped in despair, "Don't make decisions when you're angry. How about we go home and discuss it later?"

He shook his head. He stared at her. Her eyes filled with remorse, but his heart was filled with hatred.

He wants to stay and talk but his mind yells 'Walk Away' and that's what he did.

He marches away from her. Leaving her kneeling on the cold hard pavement of the parking lot.

Unknown to them, someone is watching from afar. Waiting for them to go on their separate ways.

He continues walking. He got out of the parking lot, hands clenched in fists. He breathed rapidly, then sat on one of the benches in the nearby park.

He covered his face with his palms. He was annoyed, "Shit!" He yelled internally. "What am I doing?" He laughed at himself.

He breathes in and out for the next seconds. Doing his best to calm himself.

Before he got up to walk, he heard a loud pop that jolted him back to his senses. He stared at the location of the sound, and soon he saw people running away from the parking lot.

He felt dreadful, as if something had happened.

He ran inside and there he saw several people in a panic yelling something, but he couldn't seem to understand them.

He walked closer and there he saw a woman trying to check the victim's pulse.

He was about to leave when he saw the ring on the victim's finger. It's her. Lying in a pool of her own blood. There was so much blood no one knew where she had been shot.

Still, the bystanders did not move her as it might complicate her injury. Someone called 911, and others checked for her pulse.

He felt his heart was torn to pieces.

His knees slowly lost their strength and the only thing he could do was blame himself.

"I should have driven home with her, but I left her here alone in this parking lot." He condemned himself and then remembered the words she told him when he left her on the roadside.

~That doesn't give you the right to leave me on the roadside.~

~ A lot of things could happen in seconds. Someone could have stabbed me or kidnapped me.~

~Tell that to my cold dead body.~

"She's still alive!" A female bystander yelled.

Her words jolted him back to his senses. He marched to Latton, held her hand, and then whispered to her, "Don't die on me. If you do, I'll marry someone else, they will have my babies, and then we'll go to your grave and defile it."

"I'll make sure Va-Yor-Ri won't flourish, I'll sabotage everything. So don't die, wake up and get mad at me because I'm being stupid again." He cried out while gently holding her hand as tears ran down his face.

Shortly after, an ambulance arrived and hurriedly took her to the nearest hospital.

From that day, Latton was in a coma.

Present day 2026.

48 hours since Latton woke up.

She smiles bitterly. "A mistake. We are a mistake," she mumbles weakly, repeating the last words Lucian said to her before she got shot.