It was early in the afternoon. Rays of sunshine shone through the drawn shades, dimly lighting up the study room. The atmosphere at the Langstons was quite lively with the noises of children playing with each other in the lounge. While it was fortunate to be surrounded by so many younger generations, Robert somehow felt that something was amiss.
They entered the room and then silently shut the door behind them. Meanwhile, Matthias directed his gaze at Heather, and his eyes blurred together just then. After that, Robert switched on the light and the whole room immediately became illuminated, thereupon Heather’s face appeared clearly in front of Matthias.
“Take a seat.” Robert made himself comfortable on a chaise as he invited them to sit, his hands carrying the information provided by Matthias. The former put on his reading glasses because the words on the paper were just too tiny for him to decipher. As for Heather, she casually took a seat on a bronze-colored wooden chair, and to her annoyance, Matthias swiftly took the seat next to her. Seeing this, she furrowed her brows in response.
Matthias then directed a warm smile toward her, but she chose to ignore him; she had no intention of talking to him. Nevertheless, she was preoccupied with her thoughts regarding the Lockes’ relationship with the Moriartys. Matthias is the current leader of the family, so it’s not possible for him to be unaware of that matter.
She contemplated whether it was necessary to feel him out. I won’t be able to obtain the information I’m after if I keep ignoring him. Due to Robert’s presence in the study room, she couldn not get close to Matthias so they could only look at each other and communicate silently with the occasional eye contact.
Initially, she avoided his eyes and her expression clearly revealed her displeasure toward him. Nonetheless, slowly, she suppressed the disgust she felt and met his eyes a couple of times.
As for Matthias, he also tried hard to convey his feelings through his expression; he hoped that she could look at things from his point of view. Gradually, her expression softened. Clearly, both of them needed some private time to talk things through, face-to-face.
After a while, he took out his cell phone and tapped on his screen, and Heather heard the ‘ping’ sound indicating a notification on her messenger system shortly after. She tapped to open it and evidently, it was him who’d sent her the message.
‘Would you like to join me for dinner tonight?’ He extended an invitation to her. After she had seen the text, she switched off her phone without giving a reply.
Next to her, Matthias saw her series of actions and stared at her with a resigned look on his face. All of a sudden, he saw her give a subtle nod; it was merely an inconspicuous movement of her head.
Just like that, Matthias could not control his glee. He tried hard to suppress the happiness bubbling in him and revealed a slight smile. However, she did not even bother to cast her eyes on him thereafter. After that, he could not help wishing that time would pass by faster so that he could have some private time with her soon. Nonetheless, Robert had not made his decision yet, so there was nothing else Matthias could do but wait anxiously. Unbeknownst to him, Robert was quietly observing all of his and Heather’s subtle actions.
The time passed by quite slowly. Matthias had never felt time go by as slow. As for Heather, she maintained a cool composure by his side. Although she’d agreed to have dinner with him, she was still trying to figure out how to glean information from him later on.
Her motive was simple—to figure out the exact relationship between the Lockes and the Moriartys and to find out exactly how much information Matthias possessed. On one hand, she hoped that he would have some insider news so she would not have to get too close to the Lockes; on the other hand, she hoped that he had nothing to do with the Moriartys. After all, if he was in cahoots with them, then their collaboration would not be possible and the Langstons would have another enemy to watch out for.
Staring at his face intently, she wondered if this man could be trusted. As far as things went, for now, he had been quite open and frank in his behavior. Besides, he had also mentioned that he had provoked Hart Group solely because he wanted to replace Hart Group as Bradfort City’s top-performing corporation.
After all, it was inevitable to become rivals in the corporate world. Most of the time, it was quite hard to distinguish between friends and foes. Firstly, Hart Group was not part of Langton Group’s allies. Next, Heather was also clearly aware that she had no say in this matter. Furthermore, Langston Group had previously intended to wait and reap the benefits without putting in the effort.
If it wasn’t for the sudden appearance of the Moriartys, the situation in Bradfort City would not have become so complicated. As such, if the Lockes were secretly in cahoots with the Moriartys, then the whole situation would become unfavorable for the Langstons and the Harts.
Disregarding the fact that it was very rare for the Harts to cooperate with the Langstons, but even if they did, their collaboration might not be comparable to the joint efforts of the Lockes and Moriartys. Everyone was fully aware of what the Langstons and Harts owned because their business dealings were rather transparent. They were proper, reputable business enterprises after all.
Meanwhile, the Lockes and the Moriartys were different. The Moriartys were very mysterious and no one seemed to be able to identify their actual business dealings. As for the Lockes, they had a hidden side in their corporation that actually touched on the gray side of the law. If the Lockes made use of their hidden influence, then they could definitely plan a surprise attack behind their rivals’ backs.
Therefore, in order to get to know in detail the Locke family’s dealings, Heather had to maintain her position as Matthias’ girlfriend. Not only that, but Leon had also mentioned to her that Matthias’ family was pestering him to get into a relationship because their family had a golden rule specifying that each member had to marry by the age of thirty. Since Matthias was nearing his thirties soon, he would have to get married before that.
The elders of the family had introduced a few women to Matthias, but he’d rejected each of them. Now that Heather was officially in a relationship with him, she would obviously be invited over to the Locke Residence; this would be her chance to find out more information and get closer to the other members of the family. By then, it would be easier for her to identify the person who was working with the Moriartys.
After figuring out the whole process, the only thing left was to put this plan into action. The Moriartys were currently keeping a low profile and not making any moves; hence, the only method now was to tackle things from the Lockes’ side. Moreover, she reckoned that it was much more comfortable to be in a relationship with Matthias than with Caleb.
From all the years ever since entering the society, she’d never made such a huge sacrifice. Moreover, she had never wanted to sully a past relationship and was quite reluctant to be a despicable person who toyed with one’s feelings. However, the circumstances right now gave her no choice at all as she no longer had the time to consider things carefully. In fact, her grand-aunt, Claris, had lost her life back then because of a similar incident.
Despite knowing that times had changed and it was no longer possible to lose a life from something like this, the consequences of everything on Langston Group and the Langston family were serious and it was very likely that this could lead to the destruction of everything they owned. Although she did not like everyone in the family except for Robert, she also cared for the company that the latter had put so much effort into throughout the decades.
Just then, Heather had basically figured out all the insider news and everything that had happened in the past. Because of that, she could not help feeling worried. At the same time, she finally understood Robert’s anxiety.
However, she silently cheered for herself multiple times to boost her self-esteem, and Leon’s words appeared in her mind on and off. The current situation reminded her of her first interview ever—she seemed calm on the outside but on the inside, she was anxious beyond words—and her current feelings were just about the same.
At this moment, she recalled her younger, immature self but quickly recollected her senses and tried to overlook the messy situation. I need to figure out my own intentions. There’s really no point in being so indecisive because once I start to waver, things will surely turn out a mess too.
All of a sudden, Robert, who had been going through the documents for quite some time, finally said something. His aged voice sounded raspy as he spoke, “Matthias, your proposal is very sincere.” Although it was just a simple sentence, it was enough to calm Matthias’ nervousness.
After all, he had single-handedly compiled all the information provided to Robert, and it was prepared concisely. Being the one in charge of the Locke Group, he knew the whole corporation like the back of his hands.
“How do you plan to implement our collaboration?” Nonetheless, even though the information provided was concise, the details of the collaboration were not specified.
“I’ll bring the proposal over tomorrow.” In fact, Matthias had already prepared everything and only needed to make a few amendments once he got home. If he pulled an all-nighter later, then he definitely would be able to have it ready by the next day.
Robert smiled in response. Looks like he’s very keen on working together with us. He’s quite sincere about it. The proposal he mentioned would have taken some time to prepare; he must have prepared everything in advance to be able to produce it by tomorrow. Thinking of this, he was quite pleased with Matthias’ attitude.
Ultimately, he preferred Matthias as Heather’s other half, instead of Caleb. Between the two, the former was the best candidate out of all the people he had met so far.
There was also Lucas who’d visited them before, and Robert had obtained all of his background information from a private investigator. His family background was incomparable to the Moriartys. Furthermore, even the Harts had nothing against the Moriartys, so the Lockes were their only hope left. After all, the Lockes’ were quite powerful and should not be taken lightly.
In the interim, Heather and Matthias sat next to each other under the flickering light. As Robert looked across the room, he found that the two of them looked like a great match. Heather was his darling granddaughter after all, and no one else in this world knew her better than he did. Evidently, he could tell that she had feelings for Matthias, but there were just way too many factors that made things complicated between them. As such, it hindered their relationship progress.
Although he was merely aware of their most recent tiff, he would definitely understand her complicated feelings for Matthias if he were to learn about everything that had happened in the past.
Meanwhile, in the study room, Matthias was deeply engrossed in his conversation with Robert. As for Heather, she sat quietly without expressing her opinion, which was quite unlike her. Robert shot her multiple questioning looks, but she maintained her impassive expression without responding to him. Though he was tempted to chide her, he chose not to do so in front of Matthias.
Instead, he enjoyed himself talking to Matthias until a slight knock on the door from outside interrupted their conversation. “What’s the matter?” His voice turned shriller as he asked the person on the other side of the door.
The butler’s voice rang out inaudibly from behind the door due to the good soundproof system in the study room. Impatiently, Robert indicated for him to enter the room. As soon as the latter entered, the vibe in the whole room changed all at once.
He walked forward to stand in front of Robert before saying politely, “Master, I’m here to confirm tonight’s menu with you.” Earlier, Heather had instructed the kitchen staff to prepare some special dishes for their guest. Everyone knew that Robert paid particular attention to the said guest, so the kitchen had purposely brought in the menu for Robert’s perusal before they started preparing dinner.
Just then, Heather took advantage of Robert’s preoccupation with the menu to talk to Matthias. “It looks like Grandpa will keep you here for dinner.”
Recalling his invitation earlier, she could not help curling her lips into a smirk. I know Grandpa’s plan. He wants everyone in the family to realize Matthias’ importance.
From then on, this would further cement the fact that Matthias and Heather were in a relationship. As most of the Langston family members were not aware of the collaboration between the Langstons and the Lockes, Robert intended to make use of their mouths to spread the word out to the public.
Usually, she loathed being taken advantage of, but this time, it was done by her grandpa, who doted on her the most. Therefore, she accepted it willingly. Perhaps, it was also because she knew that there was no other way to handle this. Anyway, there was no harm in going along with Robert’s way either. After all, she was well aware that he merely wanted her to avoid the same tragedy that happened in the past.
Overall, this was all due to Robert’s wariness against the Moriartys. He had already planned in advance to seek protection for Heather and this could only be because he had no confidence in their family. If the same thing happened again, they would remain on the losing end; he had chosen to give in back then—in order to protect their family—but this time, he would no longer allow this to happen. He would do all he could to prevent the Moriartys from getting their way.
After Robert confirmed the menu, he pushed the bridge of his reading glasses and said to Matthias, “Stay for dinner tonight.”
