The Good Boy's Facade

17

"Tea."

"Coffee."

Connor and Claire shared looks in annoyance, and rolled their eyes together, huffing out fire through their nostrils.

They were at Hailey's house.

"Why are you here?" Connor asked them, more like asked Adam only

Adam was about to answer, when Claire beat him to it by saying, "None of your business??"

"Claire, please." Adam laughed, swinging his hand around her shoulders and rather harshly pulling her back from leaning forward. She looked intimidating. "We all are together in this, aren't we?"

"Absolutely." Hailey nodded. "We're all here to discuss and take the matters into out own hands."

"Well, where do we start from?" Adam asked, slightly worried that if they'd let the other two talk, it would turn into a quarrel and they wouldn't ever get the work done, what's supposed to be done.

"Start from how are we going to implement our plans?" Hailey suggested, leaning back against the couch they were sitting on opposite to each other.

Connor and Hailey on one side, and Adam and Claire of the other.

The maid brought in two trays and set it on the table in between the couches. She poured tea for Connor and coffee for Claire and Adam just went with whatever Claire was having.

Claire didn't look like she would throw punches, but she would throw punches.

No wait scratch that. Actually she looked like she definitely would throw you under a bus after punching you.

Claire sipped her coffee while carefully glaring at Connor, the lad doing the same.

"Yesterday, Claire suggested we convince Lucas to back off the wedding plans by threatening him with his company." Adam replied on behalf of Claire, with his hands motioning towards her and eyes trained on Hailey.

"Is that so?" Hailey asked, a little confused. "That really doesn't look like a great idea. Since Lucas has taken over, there have rarely been accidents."

Of course Lucas would do that. I mean, it's Lucas they were talking about.

"What do you mean?" Adam asked.

"You know Lucas." Connor scoffed. "When he took over, he cleared all of the black debts and illegal works going on. His dad was extremely pissed, but couldn't go against his only heir."

"There's absolutely nothing suspicious about them now." Hailey finished for Connor as he sipped his tea.

"And that's why we found nothing yesterday." Adam pursed his lips and looked at Claire. "Right?"

But Claire, she was looking at Connor, eyelids narrowing a little. Claire was caught off guard by what he had said.

"Only heir? I thought he had a brother." She asked, head tilting.

"His brother." Connor smirked. "He's dead, mate."

"His brother is dead?" Adam's lips parted in a silent gasp.

"It's said so. He was never found after he graduated from college." Hailey informed, head lowering in sorrow.

"What about his body?" Adam asked. "If he was dead-"

"It's said so." Hailey cut him off. "Wesley might also be alive. Because his body was never found."

Claire's hands balled into fists. She had seen the papers. She even clicked a picture, didn't she? Should she disclose it?

Fuck, she has no idea.

But she's sure, Wesley is alive. He definitely is, and that's why Lucas was searching for him.

And Lucas had also found him. New Zealand.

Should Claire say it?

"Uhm-" Claire gulped, breathing in deeply. Should she? "Is- is that why Lucas was chosen?"

Hailey nods reluctantly. "It is. And he hates it."

Claire doesn't really say anything, but she does not back off either.

She should find out more about this matter before acting on it. Maybe it can cause Lucas to give up, it can stop him. But she needs to know more to conclude anything at all.

"Why wasn't it in the media?" Adam questioned, looking straight at Hailey. "Did Brad do something about it?"

"You know, this matter had all kinds of gossips going on in the media industry. But since Wesley was pronounced dead, and to respect Clark family's decisions, the media stayed quiet." Connor chuckles. "It's almost like Brad had them all wrapped around his fingers."

"Brad is creepy." Adam closes his eyes and cringes. "He's everything but a human."

"Don't hate him." Hailey waves her hand in front of her face. "He was ill for months after the incident with Wesley involved. Only reason why Lucas had to step up. The shares were crashing and he couldn't sit and watch."

Claire felt suffocated in this room now. She couldn't sit and listen to this talk anymore. She wanted to get out.

She knew Wesley is alive somewhere.

And it was slowly getting the best of her and she couldn't deal with it.

Claire wanted Lucas to tell her everything. She didn't want to hear it from someone else.

She wanted him to come up to her like everytime and talk about his day animatedly. She wanted him to tell her what paintings he did and what music he listened to. Or what book he read and what he learnt about.

She could listen to him for days together.

But listening about him from someone else? Not even for a few minutes.

"Okay." She breathed. "I.. I want a smoke."

And she sprang up from the couch, placing the cup on the table in front of her. Adam watched with big eyes as Claire took huge steps to hurry outside.

Lucas never wanted to work for his dad. And she knew that. So well, that it hurt her to think that he had no other choice.

He was compelled to do it.

And probably no one asked him if he ever wanted to do it.

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Love how this story suddenly gets sad.

There's more Lucas content from next chapterrrr