The Sins of Duke Evander (BOOK III)

Chapter 23- Things Best Kept Hidden

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"I just got back from work, and you want me to do more work as soon as I get home?" I asked my secretary, baffled.

The man didn't even fake a look of remorse anymore, he simply nodded his head, and my fingers twitched, almost punching him.

"With the opening of the gallery, it is important that you make sure it starts off well, or business isn't going to go well, and all the investments could lead to you losing money instead of gaining," Rolling my eyes, I went to go sit at my desk.

"I can't believe this... We should have put off the opening by a few weeks, maybe then I could have spent some more time with my heavily pregnant wife,"

"Please do not be childish and make this harder for m, your grace,"

"I can do whatever I please. You are getting paid far more than the average secretary, so instead of complaining to me, maybe you should endure it a bit," I replied, taking the lid of the fountain pen off before going to read through the investment sheets.

I returned from my business trip to France yesterday afternoon and spent the rest of the day with my wife, and I was planning on doing the same today, but then Dante made an appearance, telling me that there were a few important calls I needed to make with some of my business associates, along with even more paperwork.

Pulling the paper towards me, I put the pen against the paper, scribbling my signature on, or at least trying to, groaning in annoyance when I realised the ink wasn't coming out.

"It's dry," I threw the pen into the nearby bin, pulling open my top drawer to get one of the spare pens out, digging around for a bit until I finally got one, but as I moved to pull it out, I paused, realising that the secret compartment at the bottom of the desk looked odd.

It wasn't placed like it normally would be, there was a gap.

And I wasn't one to make such a careless mistake.

Especially when the contents hidden in the compartment is something that I didn't want anyone to find out about.

Just in case, I quickly dug my hand in, pulling out my leather diary, and breathing out a relieved sigh when I found that it was still here. But, just in case, I opened the pages, skimming through it as if expecting to see the appearance of some new words on its pages.

One thing was evidently clear though.

Someone other than me was here, digging around my desk, and looking through this diary.

"...Was it you?" Head unmoving from the closed diary in my hands, my eyes trailed up to look at the secretary that stood on the opposite side of my desk.

"Pardon?" He blinked.

"Don't act dumb. I asked you a question," My eyes narrowed into a daring glare.

"I-I'm afraid that I do not understand the question, your grace. What do you-"

"Did you dig around my stuff? You know that I don't like people touching things they aren't supposed to touch... Tell me, was it you?"

"No, I would never dare to even dream of going through your stuff," He quickly answered without wasting a second, a look of shock on his face as if surprised that I would accuse him.

"Then who the hell was it!?" I lost my patience in the end.

Standing up, I slammed the book onto the desk, walking around it to go and stand in front of the secretary, looking down at the quivering man, and daring him to lie to me.