In an instant, the atmosphere changed and Paige’s face flushed pink. When she thought about it carefully, she realized that she had been influenced by Leon and provided an irrelevant answer. In fact, she had actually made a presentation deck about the proposal for their business start-up, but she had forgotten to bring it along when she came in a hurry.
Besides, Paige was not used to discussing serious matters in such a carefree environment. Just as she was about to respond to Heather after recalling the content in her presentation deck, the latter dropped the topic and glanced at her watch before saying to the former, “ It’s almost time. I will send you back to your office.” This time, they had set their meeting during Paige’s lunch break, so they did not have much time left.
When Paige was about to present her points, Heather’s sudden reminder caused all that she was about to say to get stuck in her throat. Although she did not like disappointing her boss, she did not even have the chance to remedy the situation, and this was all Leon’s fault.
“Take me along,” Leon chimed in shamelessly.
A cryptic smile appeared on Heather’s face when she looked at him. She was clear of his intention, but she only smiled and said nothing, which was her way of giving her consent. Upon seeing that Heather did not refuse his request, Paige kept quiet as well.
When they were getting in the car, Paige took the passenger seat, so Leon had no choice but to sit alone in the backseat. Seeing this, Heather chuckled inwardly. It seems like Paige is avoiding Leon as if he has some sort of disease. I bet that he will have a tough time pursuing her.
Along the way, Leon was oddly quiet, while Heather and Paige chatted casually. There were times when Paige tried to tell Heather that she had prepared a proposal and that she had made a mistake earlier, so she hoped that they could find time again to discuss it in detail.
However, when she remembered that Leon was in the backseat, she could not bring herself to say it. In addition, Heather seemed to have no intention to talk about work, so she could not find the chance to bring it up.
Soon, they arrived at Paige’s workplace. Heather parked the car, then Paige opened the car door and got down. After that, she thanked Heather politely, and the latter waved at her and asked her to quickly leave so that her work would not be affected.
After Paige had left, Leon returned to his active self and kept asking Heather various questions.
“Heather, is Paige really the same age as you?” He thought that the way Paige carried herself made her appear more mature than Heather.
“She’s one year older than me.” Paige was older than her if she was not mistaken.
“Then, what do you think her personality is like in private?” Leon went straight to the point. He was certain that Heather had noticed his intention to go out with Paige, so he need not hide it from her.
“How am I supposed to answer your question?” Heather was baffled as the concept of ‘in private’ was too general. She could not be giving him a detailed biodata of Paige.
“I’m asking about her personality,” he replied seriously.
Heather stopped the vehicle at a cross junction that required them to wait for a long time before it was their turn to cross. Then, she turned around and stared at Leon, making him feel uneasy.
“You should be aware that Paige will be your future colleague, as well as your close work partner. It is better to maintain your relationship with her as friends.” She had to make things clear and she hoped that Leon could set a clear boundary between public and private matters. This was to make sure that his work would not be affected by relationship issues.
“It’s good to become lovers too,” Leon spoke his mind as he didn’t want to beat around the bush. He intended to pursue Paige, so he refused to suppress himself.
“It’s going to take a while for our new company to get on track. I don’t wish to see my two most important assistants unable to do their jobs properly because of relationship issues.” The way Heather explained was subtle, yet it was enough to highlight the possible consequences to him.
“Heather, I understand your concerns. I know you want me to be serious with her.” It would be impossible for Leon to not understand what she implied.
It was soon their turn to cross the junction, so Heather immediately turned around to face the front and maneuver the car to move forward. A sly expression flashed across her face as she thought, With his charm, not anyone he targeted can escape.
“You have to be serious with her, and also with the condition that it won’t affect your work. Of course, I don’t wish to see you playing with her feelings.” She was harsh with her words and even stressed them by using a stern tone, which, in fact, made him feel quite uncomfortable. Moreover, she also used the words ‘playing with her feelings’. In his dictionary, relationships were consensual and should be formed or broken without any hard feelings.
“Don’t you think it’s inappropriate to think of me so lightly like that?” Leon felt aggrieved. I’m not a jerk who takes relationships lightly.
“You know how you felt about those ex-girlfriends of yours. You insisted on dating them the moment you took a liking to them even though deep down, you knew that they weren’t exactly suitable for you. Therefore, you didn’t commit yourself in those relationships and ended up hurting not only yourself but the girls as well.” Heather had long been wanting to tell him off for his ways in dealing with relationships, so she took the opportunity to reprimand him.
Leon was a little ashamed when she mentioned this, but he was never a person who would learn from his mistakes. To him, the shame was merely temporary, and he would soon forget about this and continue to do what he had been doing—indulging himself in women.
“We can be in a relationship when we start to take a liking to someone. There isn’t anything wrong about it.” The bullheaded Leon refused to face his problem despite knowing that his actions were wrong.
“You have to be serious when you like someone. You have to devote 100 percent of yourself to the relationship and not exhausting all your effort but only manage to give 60 percent in the relationship. Love is not an examination with 60 marks as a passing score. Without giving 100 percent of sincerity and affection toward your partner, you won’t be able to continue to walk the path of life together with her.” Deep down, Heather still believed in true love, but she did not believe in the existence of a person who would commit 100 percent in the relationship.
While she was afraid that she could not meet someone who she would love wholeheartedly, she was also afraid that the person she fell in love with would not love her back the same way she did—this was the reason she dared not be in a relationship with anyone.
“You say that I have to be 100-percent committed, but that doesn’t mean that I have to reach 100 percent from the very beginning. We can take our time, and during the process, it’s natural for couples to split or separate.” Leon disagreed with her obsession to commit 100 percent in love. If relationships could be so perfect, there would not have been so many break-ups in the world.
“Therefore, you chose to settle for infatuations. Although I disagree with it, I won’t interfere in your affairs. However, it’s different this time. Paige is my old friend and my future right-hand man. I have to remind you and hope that you can think before you act,” Heather replied sternly as she had to make sure he understood that if she were to choose a side, she would definitely side with Paige without any hesitation.
As Leon twiddled with his finger, a frivolous smile played by his lips. This was the first time he received a warning before he even started pursuing a woman.
“Heather, I know my limits.” Of course, it would be impossible for him to back away unharmed when it came to relationship matters—just like how hard he had tried to win Heather over but to no avail.
Love was something that nobody could ever fully comprehend. She had unhesitatingly sided with Paige, which indicated that she probably had not thought that he could get hurt as well.
In the last few years, Leon had been deeply wounded by Heather. He had taken things very seriously with her and threaded carefully in giving his all in order to pursue her. In the end, all he received in return was a reply that they should remain as friends. Sincerity never promised one a lover. There were even times when he thought that she felt something for him, but she had resisted her feelings without letting him know about it.
Not only that, but she had never even given him the chance to start a relationship with her, which was more devastating and disheartening to him than knowing that she did not have any feelings for him. If only she had gathered her courage, even if it was just a little, and was willing to take one step toward him, they probably would have been able to reach the 100-percent love that she had been fantasizing about.
“We’re here.” After a while, Heather parked the car in front of a housing area. It seemed like she had no plans in going in together with him.
Leon hesitated for a while, and when Heather looked behind, she noticed the complicated expression on his face. Perhaps I managed to get my words through to him and he is giving it some thoughts now. Unfortunately, she was probably wrong—Leon was merely regretting the fact that he never had the chance to start a romantic relationship with her.
“Heather, accompany me in. I have something to show you.” In the past few days, he had managed to discover some information, and he thought that those documents would definitely be of use to her. Frankly, he had put in a lot of effort in helping her.
“Is it about the Moriarty Family?” Hearing this, she immediately thought of the Moriartys.
“No. It’s the Lincoln Family.”
Puzzlement flashed across Heather’s face. She had always thought that it was the Moriarty Family, but he mentioned the Lincoln Family instead. Even though she certainly would not want to have anything to do with the latter, she was interested to take a look at Leon’s discovery as she was curious about the Lincoln Family’s hidden abilities.
The door was pushed open and they entered the apartment. It was clean inside, a stark contrast with how it had been before. Heather cast a glance at Leon beside her, wondering when he had started to care about his living environment.
“Let me get you the documents about the Lincolns.” After saying this, he entered his bedroom. Heather was more concerned about the Moriarty’s, but conversely, he paid more attention to the Lincolns—he did not wish to see her spending her life with the wrong man.
While waiting for him, she took a seat on the couch and surveyed the surroundings. For some reason, she felt that something was off and could not help but frown deeply. As a sharp and sensitive person, she was exceptionally perceptive.
It was only when Leon exited his bedroom that she snapped out of her thoughts. Upon seeing her expression, he wore a knowing expression.
“Heather, stop playing detective. I’m not hiding any women in my house,” he said resignedly. It was obvious from her expression that she suspected him of that.
“Your house can’t possibly be immaculate if it was cleaned by a part-time cleaner. It seemed as if it was cleaned by a girl who fancies you. You should just admit it.” She reckoned that Leon had probably hooked up with a young lady and brought her home. He’s seeing a woman, yet he is going to chase Paige. He’s pissing me off!
“To be frank, I cleaned the house on my own.” Leon pouted. In fact, he wasn’t that incapable of managing his daily life; in the past, he had tried to use that to attract Heather’s attention.
A look of disbelief spread across her face at once, but Leon simply handed her the documents in his hands. “Here you go. Read it carefully.” He had no intention to explain to her about the things that he had done in the past which caused her to have such thoughts now.
Casting a glance at him, she lowered her head to read the documents after taking them over. At first, she casually read it to fulfill her curiosity, but the more she read, the tighter her brows were knitted. It turned out that the Lincoln Family was involved in illegal activities, which was not something that one could overlook. They did everything that could bring them profit; they were not businessmen who kept their hands clean.
“Wow, the Lincoln Family is surprisingly amazing.” Her knitted brows smoothened but her expression was a little stiff.
“A family like them will sooner or later fall apart. This is probably the reason why Matthias came to Bradfort City.” Leon made a guess. In fact, his family was no different either. He had been waiting for his corrupted family to completely collapse.
While he did not know whether Matthias shared his thoughts, his impression of the latter was quite pleasant as he could even see himself in him.
“All this has nothing to do with me.” Heather was not concerned about the Lincoln Family nor Matthias’ purpose.
Leon smirked like a cunning businessman as he replied, “The Lincoln Family is extremely wealthy. Don’t you wish to get something out of them? Do you remember my previous suggestion? You can get in touch with the Lincoln Family through Matthias. It won’t do you any harm.”
It was obvious that he exceeded her in terms of using unscrupulous methods—perhaps due to the fact that men were usually more thick-skinned. In contrast, she would usually dismiss actions like gaining advantages through other people’s family.
Upon seeing her being unfazed by his suggestion, he revealed another important news. “Someone from the Lincoln Family is colluding with the Moriarty Family. Atrigall City was not only the Moriartys’ territory as it housed the Lincoln Family’s hidden forces as well.”
