Chapter 71 Her Weird Behavior

Chapter 71 Her Weird Behavior
Lucas's POV

I frowned the moment I heard what the guard said. I was already in a foul mood from everything that happened last night, and now the Mayor was sending people to my private villa early in the morning…It was deeply annoying.

I couldn't even figure out how they had even found this place, as this particular villa wasn't exactly a secret I shared with just anyone. I had spent years keeping this address off every official record and document that could possibly leak.

Only Sasha and I knew this location and there is no way that Sasha would tell them.

Which meant Benjamin Monroe either had far better resources than I gave him credit for, or someone close to me had been bought to betray me.

Neither option sat well with me, so I made a mental note to look into it later, once I had time to deal with more pressing matters first. Then whoever leaked this address would regret it eventually.

Haley must have noticed the tension on my face, because she quickly smiled and reached out to touch my arm.

"Don't worry," she said softly. "My father's probably just worried about me. He must have heard what happened at the party last night."

I doubted that very much, but I said nothing, letting her believe whatever comforted her.

She turned to the guard standing near the doorway.

"Go tell the people my father sent that I'll come home later," she said. "Tell them there's no need to wait around."

The guard nodded quickly and hurried off to deliver the message.

Haley turned back to me, her expression suddenly apologetic.

"I'm sorry if this is annoying you," she said. "My father just loves me too much, that's all…He worries more than he needs to."

I sneered inside, but on the outside, I kept smiling at her like I found her words endearing. She really was stupid and naive to the point of being almost unbearable.

Her father loved her?

After she nearly destroyed her family's reputation last night with her own reckless behavior? If anything, her father was probably furious, and she was too blind to see it. But then again, blind trust was exactly what made her so easy to manage.

It was almost impressive, how consistently she chose to see whatever she wanted to see instead of what was actually in front of her. And how completely she believed everyone around her had her best interests at heart.

I was still lost in that thought when the guard came rushing back in, his expression was more tense than the first time.

"What happened?" I asked, frowning, as my patience was already running thin.

"They said they won't leave without Miss Monroe," the guard said quickly.

Haley's face immediately hardened with irritation.

"Let them in," she said sharply. "I'll speak to them myself."

The guard nodded and left again.

I couldn't quite understand what was happening, but the whole situation was starting to grate on my nerves. My men didn't usually struggle to turn away unwanted visitors, and yet here we were, dealing with people who apparently refused to take no for an answer. I forced another smile onto my face and turned to Haley.

"Maybe it's best if you just go home with them," I said gently. "Save us both the headache."

"It's nothing serious," she said quickly while waving a hand. "I'll send them away in a few minutes, I promise."

"I don't want you disrespecting your father because of me," I said, keeping my voice soft and reasonable. "It will only make things harder for both of us…You know he already has a bad impression of me."

She hesitated, chewing on her lower lip out of habit.

"I want to stay with you," she said, her voice suddenly small. "I'm scared, Lucas. After everything that happened last night, I don't want to be alone…Please don't make me go."

I felt my patience thinning rapidly, though I kept my expression calm…I wanted her gone. My head was already pounding from everything I still needed to handle today, and having her cling to me like this was only making things worse.

But she was clinging to me now like a child afraid of the dark, and pushing too hard would only make her suspicious of something being wrong. I had learned a long time ago that the fastest way to lose control of a situation was to let someone sense my true emotions.

I softened my tone even further, forcing the last bit of patience I have left.

"Tell you what," I said. "At the end of the year, I'll take you anywhere you want. A trip to any country you've been dreaming about…Just the two of us."

Her whole face lit up instantly, the fear from a moment ago completely forgotten, replaced with pure excitement.

"Really?" she asked, practically glowing. "Anywhere I want?"

"Really," I said, forcing warmth into my voice. "Anywhere at all."

She nodded eagerly and finally stood up, adjusting the robe wrapped around her body and running her fingers through her messy hair, trying to make herself look presentable.

A moment later, the guard returned, three men following closely behind him.

The instant Haley saw them, something shifted in her expression. Her eyes widened slightly, and her whole posture stiffened like she had just seen something that unsettled her deeply.

I studied the three men carefully, trying to figure out what had caused such a reaction in her. They looked completely unremarkable to me. Plain suits, calm expressions, nothing that stood out as threatening or unusual in any way.

If anything, they looked more like ordinary drivers than anyone worth being afraid of. I couldn't place a single feature about them that would explain the sudden fear on her face.

"I'm ready," Haley said quickly, her voice slightly higher than usual, already moving toward the door before I could even ask her what was wrong.

She walked past me and out the door with the three men trailing behind her, moving faster than I had ever seen her move before…She didn't even glance back at me once.

I sat there, stunned into silence for a moment, completely unsure of what had just happened. One second she was clinging to me, terrified of being alone, and the next she was practically sprinting out the door without so much as a glance in my direction.

Usually, she never left without kissing me goodbye or making some clingy comment about missing me already. But this time, she practically fled the second those men walked in, like something about them terrified her more than she wanted to admit.

I sat back down slowly, while trying hard to figure out what could have spooked her so badly. Maybe she recognized one of them from somewhere or maybe it was something else entirely, something I hadn't picked up on. Either way, it wasn't like her to leave so abruptly without at least trying to argue her way out of going home.

I called the guard back in.

"Did you recognize any of those men?" I asked him, keeping my voice level despite the questions racing through my mind.

He shook his head. "No, Sir…They didn't introduce themselves, and I didn't think to ask, given how insistent they were about not waiting any longer."

"Find out who they were," I said. "I want names by tonight…. Every detail you can dig up, however small."

"Yes, Sir," he said, bowing quickly before heading out again, clearly eager to get away because of my mood.

I leaned back against the couch, rubbing my temples. Between the disaster at the party, the business partners I still needed to appease, and now this strange behavior from Haley, my morning had somehow managed to get worse with every passing hour. I hadn't even had coffee yet, and already it felt like the entire day was slipping out of my control.

Before I could think too much about it, my phone started ringing on the table beside me. I glanced down and saw Sasha's name flashing across the screen.

My chest tightened slightly as I thought of why she might be calling. Sasha rarely calls this early unless something serious has happened, and after everything else this morning, I wasn't sure I had the patience left for one more disaster.

I picked it up immediately.

"Sasha," I said. "What is it?"

Her voice came through fast and urgent and her breathing was uneven like she had been panicking. She finally breathed deeply and the words I heard were shocking.

"Lucas," she said, her voice shaking, barely able to get the words out steadily. "The Ricci family mansion caught fire last night. Nobody survived.”