Chapter 63 Chapter 65. Discovery.
Chapter 63 Chapter 65. Discovery.
Chapter 65.
Discovery
The sunlight filters through Alicia's room curtains, flooding the space with a golden glow. Alicia slowly opens her eyes and reality hits her. She is naked, lying on her side, her leg tangled over Lucas’s torso, who is also naked, fast asleep, his arm holding her protectively. The tension of last night, the challenge and the rage, have been incinerated in their habitual passion.
She tries to get up with the utmost caution, aware of the risk. It is mid-morning.
Suddenly, the door opens without a knock.
“Alicia, my child. I’ve brought you coffee,” says a loving, elderly voice. It is Nana.
The woman stops dead in her tracks. Her gaze moves from the breakfast cart to the bed and settles on the intertwined bodies. The coffee cup trembles in her hand.
“Nana, no…!” Alicia springs up, grabbing the sheet to cover herself.
The elderly woman covers her mouth with her hand, her eyes dilated with surprise. “Oh, my God, Alicia…! Young Lucas!”
Alicia feels the world burning under the sheets. The secret they have jealously guarded for months has been discovered by the person closest to her.
“Nana, I… He and I… Please, I love him, Nana, I… Don’t say anything, Nana, please,” Alicia pleads in a low voice, the words tumbling out.
Nana, the initial shock overcome by a maternal loyalty, nods frantically. “Alicia, my child, I… I’ll leave, I haven’t seen anything. Wake him up. I’m going to distract Carolina, she’s impatient. I… Oh, God, this is madness, I knew it, I knew it!”
The woman rushes out of the room, leaving the coffee tray intact and the door ajar.
The Vow
Alicia turns restlessly, shaking Lucas with urgency.
“My love, wake up! Please, wake up!”
Lucas groans, raising a hand to his head. “Damn, my head hurts. What’s going on?”
“Nana saw us, Lucas. Nana saw us!”
Lucas’s eyes snap open, the hangover and sleep instantly vanishing. He understands the gravity of the situation: the only person in the house who has total access and the trust of everyone.
“Where is she?” Lucas asks, his voice low and tense.
“Downstairs, distracting Carolina. You have to leave. Get out now!”
Lucas gets up with surprising speed, gathering his clothes scattered on the floor. He dresses with the speed of panic, but his brain is already planning.
“Easy,” Lucas says, his voice now firm and comforting. “I’ll handle it. Don’t worry. Get ready. I’ll handle Nana.”
He heads for the door. Alicia stops him, her urgency deeper than panic.
“Lucas, I love you,” she tells him, staring into his eyes, a vow in the light of day and danger.
Lucas stops, leans in, and gives her a chaste yet deep kiss on the lips. “I love you too, beautiful.”
And he leaves.
The Reinforced Facade
Lucas goes to the dining room. Already showered and dressed, Alicia joins them shortly after, with perfect composure. Nana is serving coffee, noticeably paler and more nervous, but maintaining the facade with extreme diligence.
Lucas, already seated, speaks to Carolina with renewed authority.
“Carolina, I need you to take care of an urgent matter. I want Alicia’s office ready today. Have her immediately resume her executive position in the company.”
Carolina, who is so busy with the event logistics, accepts without hesitation, seeing this as a delegation of power. “I will, darling, as you order. I’ll make sure she has the best desk.”
Alicia returns to the company with great fanfare, her return is a message to the press that “the vulnerable niece” is now an important executive. Lucas’s decision, made under the stress of their secret, gives Alicia more autonomy.
The Growth of Adrenaline
What Lucas does not reveal to Alicia is the success of his maneuver with Nana. The elderly woman, after a sincere encounter with Lucas in the kitchen where he confesses his love for Alicia and his impossibility of leaving Carolina for fear of Arthur's retaliation, is on their side. Nana, who has always seen her child’s unhappiness with the family farce, now has the excuse of loyalty.
It turns out Nana was aware of Alicia’s feelings for Lucas and vice versa. Her surprise was not one of moral horror, but of confrontation with reality. She does not interfere; on the contrary, her position makes her an invaluable accomplice.
Days pass, more than a month goes by, and the adrenaline between the two lovers grows exponentially. The danger of being discovered by Nana, by Carolina, by the employees, only intensifies their bond.
They make love in every corner of the house and apartment where Nana is not present, blissful, anxious. The prohibition and the danger of being discovered give way to an insatiable passion. The study, the balcony, Lucas's office late at night… Sex is a language of defiance and possession.
Passion reigns above all else. Nana, unknowingly, has injected a new level of risk into their game, turning the mansion into an erotic minefield.
One night, in the service elevator of the apartment, amidst the darkness and the rush, Alicia’s moan resonates, adrenaline dominating her voice.
“Oh, God, Lucas!”
The day of the project presentation has arrived. The atmosphere in the Executive Lounge on the penthouse floor of the Jank Corporation is electric, clad in polished marble and dark mahogany. An elliptical table of black granite occupies the center, surrounded by high-engineering leather chairs. The panoramic windows offer a dizzying view of the city, a constant reminder of the height of power exerted in this room.
All the directors are present, a cast of figures in thousand-dollar suits and cautious expressions. Arthur Jank, the patriarch, presides over the table, his stony face the barometer of tension. To his right, Lucas takes his place, unusually tense, his mind oscillating between pride for Alicia. Next to him, Carolina, impeccably dressed in navy blue, radiates confidence. She has been more active than ever, overseeing every detail of the event logistics and feeling victorious after Alicia's public humiliation the previous night.
Alicia enters, dressed in an ivory white pantsuit, an image of professionalism and serenity, in sharp contrast to the emotional chaos she carries within. Her formal return to the company is not as an intern, but as the mastermind of a project that could redefine the corporation's future. She knows that, in this room, the only real protection is brilliance.
Alicia stands before a glass podium. The presentation begins. Lucas looks at her with a mix of adoration and terror; he knows this talent is both their anchor and their downfall. Carolina smiles, but her eyes are cold, waiting for the young woman to make the slightest mistake to capitalize on it. Arthur, for his part, observes with professional skepticism.
Alicia does not mince words. She names her proposal: “The Lazarus Project: Sustainable Synergies and Legacy Reinvention.”
Her voice is clear, resonant, and full of authority. She neither apologizes nor hesitates; she speaks as an equal.