Chapter 176: Security

Chapter 176: Security

If Lena hadn't heard the people around her talking about it, she would have thought it was a joke.

She was already overwhelmed with work—how could she possibly be pregnant? Besides, she and Killian already had four children together. She had long felt content with that.

Killian seemed pretty calm about it, though, smiling at Lena. "If you really are pregnant, then we'll keep the baby."

Lena couldn't help but glare at him, saying irritably, "The rumors are spreading like wildfire at the company, and you're not doing anything about it. Do you really want me to become everyone's gossip topic?"

Seeing that she looked unhappy, Killian immediately pulled her into his arms to comfort her. "Alright, alright, I'll handle it. I won't let something this small ruin your mood."

Everything was about how Lena felt—he hoped she could live a happier life.

So as long as it was something he could do, he would do it without holding back.

Hearing Killian say this, Lena felt somewhat relieved and stopped arguing with him.

That afternoon, she had business to attend to outside the office. After requesting field work approval, she left the company.

Lena hailed a taxi and got in, but for some reason, she kept feeling like someone was following her.

Lena didn't dwell on it, focusing entirely on getting her work done first.

It wasn't until she finished discussing the project at the client's company and took the elevator downstairs that she suddenly stopped and whipped her head around.

The man not far behind her immediately stopped, showing a strange expression.

Lena immediately turned around and walked straight up to him, demanding sternly, "I've been noticing you for a while now. Why are you following me?"

This wasn't the first time she'd noticed. For the past couple of days, going to and from work, she'd felt someone sneaking around behind her.

Always keeping some distance, up to who knows what.

Lena had sharp instincts, so she'd kept it in mind, wanting to see what he was up to. But the man never made a move, just kept following her, which confused her—she didn't understand what he wanted.

Realizing he'd been caught, the man looked somewhat embarrassed. He pressed his lips together and said, "Miss Voss, you don't need to worry about me. Just pretend I don't exist."

Miss Voss?

Hearing that form of address made Lena even more certain.

Not only did he know who she was, but he was following her for a specific purpose.

But what exactly was it?

Lena frowned and let out a cold laugh. "Who sent you to follow me? What exactly do you want?"

As she spoke, she pulled out her phone. "If you won't tell me, then you can go talk to the police instead."

Seeing that Lena was about to call the police, the man panicked and stopped her. "Miss Voss, this is all Mr. Thorne's doing!"

Mr. Thorne?

This unexpected answer made Lena freeze, and her hand stopped dialing.

"Killian? Why would he have you follow me?"

She continued pressing him, clearly determined to get to the bottom of this.

"Ever since Mr. Alfonso Thorne left the company, Mr. Killian Thorne has been worried about your safety, so he upgraded the security measures for you."

The man answered awkwardly, watching Lena's expression. "He wanted to keep this from you, so..."

How could this be? So Killian had been secretly assigning people to protect her.

Lena never imagined she'd been kept in the dark this whole time.

"Miss Voss..."

The man wanted to say more, but Lena couldn't hear another word. She turned and left the office building.

She hailed a taxi and headed straight back to the Thorne Group, bursting into Killian's office.

"Lena?"

Seeing Lena looking flushed and out of breath, Killian looked up in surprise, standing up to reach for her hand.

But Lena decisively shook off his hand, her face clearly showing anger.

"What's wrong, Lena? What happened?"

Killian softened his voice, trying to find out what was going on, when his phone received a message.

He quickly scanned the message and understood what had happened, slowly letting out a breath.

"How could you secretly send someone to follow me?"

Lena demanded furiously, biting her lip hard, her fingers clenched tight.

"Not following—protecting."

Killian corrected her seriously. "You've seen what's been happening lately. Alfonso is just one example. He'll stop at nothing to achieve his goals, even staging car accidents. If he can do it, others can too. My life means nothing to them."

"Lena, I don't want you to go through what I went through. I want to keep you as safe as possible."

If anything happened to Lena, Killian couldn't even imagine it. He wouldn't even know how to face it, because she was the most important thing in his life.

But Lena couldn't agree with his approach, because this kind of excessive protection would turn her into a watched symbol of power, and they would lose their normal life because of it.

"I can't live in fear of unknown threats and hide away for the rest of my life. That's not the life I want."

Lena argued seriously. "Even if you're doing it for my own good, I can't accept it. Killian, we've worked so hard to get to this point. Do you really want the children to grow up constantly looking over their shoulders like we do?"

"Lena, I just want to make sure you're all safe enough," Killian said with a sigh. "I can't gamble with your safety."

The two of them had reached an impasse on this issue, and neither could convince the other for the moment.

Lena sat down helplessly, her right hand on her forehead. "I understand what you're thinking, but what I want is an ordinary life with an ordinary family. As long as I have you and the kids, I don't mind if life is a bit harder."

"But having someone constantly following me—I really can't accept that."

Seeing how resistant she was, Killian fell silent for a while before finally compromising.

He walked over to Lena, knelt down, and took her hand. "Okay, I won't have anyone follow you anymore. But you have to promise me that from now on, you'll tell me about all your plans. Otherwise, I won't be able to rest easy."

Looking at Killian's serious eyes, Lena finally nodded and agreed.

The two embraced again, opening up to each other.

But this tug-of-war between control and protection also made them realize that the deeper the feelings, the harder it was to define boundaries.

How to find the right balance was a question they needed to explore together.