Luke arrived at the police station in record time and was immediately escorted into the building by one of the officers on duty.“This way, sir. Detective McGregor is already awaiting your arrival at the interrogation room.”Luke followed silently behind him, his blood already thundering in anticipation. They walked through a hallway and maze of offices until they arrived at a steel doorway.“This way, sir.” The detective said over his shoulder as he pushed the steel door open and stood aside for Luke to walk in first.Luke obliged. Immediately he stepped into the small room, he looked at his surroundings, noting another steel door which no doubt led to another room beyond, as well as the floor-to-ceiling glass which separated both rooms.When he finally noticed Jimmy Petersen through the wall of glass, slumped against a chair in the next room, Luke’s fists curled involuntarily as anger shot through his veins.“Your lordship. Glad you could make it.”Luke turned at the sound of that vo
After another thirty minutes of trying to get Jimmy to speak without any trace of luck, Detective McGregor decided to take a break.Luke watched as the detective stepped out of the interrogation room, his lips and brows pinched tight to show his displeasure.Luke was not very pleased about the situation either. If anything, Jimmy Petersen’s meagre confession had only succeeded in rendering him even more confused.Now, he had no idea who to suspect. If Antoine was not responsible for the fire, then who the hell orchestrated it?This only meant that he had to ramp up his guard. Every single person was a suspect. His grandfather had already told him that in this world, the enemies he did not know were even more dangerous than the ones who choose to show their hatred against him in public.“Detective,” Luke called. “Do you think he’s lying about the whole Antoine situation?”The detective was silent for a moment, then he said;“No. Sadly, I do not believe Jimmy is lying. I’ve put him un
Luke’s spine stiffened in shock at Jimmy’s statement as he watched the detective help him up and make sure he was properly settled in his chair.His brother? Really? What sort of twisted maze was really going on here?His pulse thundered wildly against his throat as McGregor sat back in his seat and resumed his interrogation.“Tell me everything you know about this man, Jimmy.”Jimmy’s lips twisted in a sneer.“Father always loved him more than he loved my sister and I.”Okay. Now Luke was floored. Jimmy Petersen had a sister?“Father used to hit our mother, you know. He would hit her with his fists, an iron rod, the soup ladle, his belt…basically anything he could get his hands on. When he hit her to the point that she couldn’t take it anymore, he’ll turn his anger on my sister and I.I was just ten at the time and Isabella was five. I tried as much as possible to shield her from his madness but I couldn’t do much. I was just a child.”Jimmy’s eyes brightened suspiciously and second
Luke leaned back in his seat, his gaze frozen on Jimmy as his mind whirled in a billion different directions. Minutes later, detective McGregor walked out of the interrogation room. Seeing Luke’s horrified expression, the older man shook his head and went to him.“Your lordship. I’m sure you must’ve already heard what Jimmy had to say.”Luke blinked rapidly, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that someone who he’d genuinely thought was in support of him and had his back was rooting for his downfall.Andrei Konstantin. The one human being in the business world whom he felt he could trust. He lowered his throbbing head into his palm as anger, hot and venomous, shot through his bloodstream.He was angry at Andrei for not being the friend he thought he was. He was angry at himself for trusting the sneaky bastard in the first place.“I can’t believe this.” Luke growled, getting to his feet. “I cannot fucking believe this.”“I’m sorry, your lordship, but that is what it is. Jimmy ha
Luke’s mind buzzed with curiosity as he followed Antoine into one of the numerous personalised sitting areas. He took his seat without being asked and watched silently as the Frenchman ordered two glasses of red wine with lots of ice.Finally unable to bear the silent scrutiny, Antoine shot him a hard look.“I’m sure you now realize that I’m not responsible for the destruction of your event centre. Can you stop staring at me like I’m some kind of criminal now?”Luke narrowed his eyes.“The fact that you didn’t do this…which I do not completely believe yet, doesn’t dismiss the fact that you are indeed a criminal.”Antoine opened his mouth to argue but Luke leaned forward, bracing both forearms on the table.“Don’t think I do not know about the sudden dismissal of those cases. Don’t even for once believe I am not aware of the havoc you wrecked on your competition in France. I know about the company you burnt down. You disgust me, Antoine.”To Luke’s surprise, instead of arguing or get
Luke was on the very verge of experiencing a full blown melt down but he held himself together with much difficulty until he arrived at the office.His heart was probably pounding at the speed of a million miles per second as he sped down the freeway. Once at the office, he called an urgent meeting with his executives.“Luke, is everything okay? You sounded worried over the phone.” Nina asked as she walked in.“The ruling council are asking to see the event centre. I’ve already sent them the address but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re one day early. The centre isn’t ready yet.”“Shit.” Nina cursed under her breath. “This is bad.”“Exactly.” Luke concurred as other members of the executive committee walked in.“Sir. Is everything okay?”“No, Jerry. Absolutely not.” Luke replied to his head of Public Relations. “The ruling council are on their way to the event centre right now. What’s the status of development since this morning?”Mrs Lee, a petite Chinese lady who was the hea
Nina watched, feeling downcast and useless as Fiona sashayed to the door to welcome the ruling council with a big smile. Both men took one look at her gorgeous face and their stiff expressions morphed into huge smiles. The woman, however, did not smile even one bit.“Luke.” Yvette, the leader of the council called, “We’re ready for the tour and we do not have a lot of time.”Luke snapped out of his daze and hurried over to lead Yvette and her entourage into the room. “Welcome. This is where the business conference will be hosted.”The men who flanked Yvette looked about the impressive hall, their eyes widening in pleasant surprise. Yvette, her face still as hard as stone, scribbled something on her notepad once in a while as she walked deeper into the big space, inspecting the chairs, tables and the technological equipment on stage.Luke gave the men a tour of the hall as Yvette wandered off to check out the place on her own.“The tables are made of quality German oak. The padding o
Luke was sure he’d never driven so fast in his entire life. After the former event centre had been burnt down and he probably owed Fiona God-knows-what for setting up this new one, he couldn’t afford for anything else to go wrong.The conference was in three days. If anything else went south, it might not hold at all.Rage shot through his bloodstream as he drove into the underground garage of Antoine’s hotel for the second time that day. Luke switched off the engine and just sat there for a few seconds, his gut simmering in anger at the reminder that someone he’d thought was a close, dear friend was actually his worst enemy.“I will destroy you, Andrei Konstantin.” He said to the silent car. “I will burn you to the fucking ground.”Three minutes later, Luke was walking into the gleaming restaurant of the five-star hotel where Antoine currently lodged, a million thoughts swirling in his mind, when someone fully dressed in black bumped into him.A soft curse slipped past his lips and