He Hates Me, He Loves Me Not

Adam looks over the document again.

It's the list of people on Damon's secretarial team—past and present. A total of ten people, eleven if you include him. Lucy's name is at the top, right underneath the words 'FORMER PERSONNEL,' along with her work history, yearly evaluation, and reason for leaving.

Adam is more than impressed by what he sees, but that isn't what catches his eye. Below Lucy's profile is a name he's unfamiliar with.

"Miss Trina," he calls out to one of the most senior employees on the team, "who's this Anna here?"

Trina doesn't stop typing, keeping her eyes trained on the word processor on her screen, when she says, "Oh! Her?"

"It states that she worked closely with Lucy when she was here." He reads over it again to make sure, and he's right. She was hired two months after Lucy became the Head Secretary, but quit more than a year ago.

"She used to be Lucy's second in command before you. Thank goodness you came because none of us wanted that post." She laughs, obviously amused, barely louder than the clacking sound of her fingers over the keys. "Now, look at you, Mr. Head Secretary."

There's a fondness in the way she addresses him, but with the pile of work he has yet to start on, the title is nothing but grating to Adam's ears. The version of him from a year ago should have been suspicious of why they're hiring from the outside when they could have just promoted someone internally. Now, he knows why, and he regrets applying for a position he feels underqualified for.

"What happened?" he asks because of course, he doesn't believe that anyone will state their real reason for leaving in their exit interview. Only those who don't want another job will nuke their relationship with their previous employer like that.

She presses the backspace thrice before saying, "Well… at first, she changed departments." She turns to the man next to her, a bespectacled Beta with a serious look, asking, "Did she go into accounting?"

"VP," the Beta, Wes, replies without looking up from his papers. Before, Adam would have thought that the man was rude, but after spending time with them, he knows that Wes is simply a man of few words.

"That's right!" Trina says with a snap of her fingers, swiveling her chair to look at Adam. "They moved her into the Vice President's team because she just started retching all of a sudden. Lucy was really worried since Anna was the only Omega on our team, you know."

Adam looks at the screen again, and she's right. Out of all the betas and alphas on the team, only Anna was an Omega. How did he miss that?

"It was really weird too," Trina continues saying now that she's done with whatever she was working on, "she would gag and heave like it's on her schedule." She looks over her shoulder to ask Wes, "Usually after lunchtime, right?"

Wes nods—not needing to spare a glance in her direction to know that Trina has pulled him into the conversation. A crease forms unknowingly on Adam's brows upon seeing the others, not only Wes, express their agreement.

Isn't that weird? How does someone feel nauseous on schedule? Is this something he needs to look further into?

"Guess what?" Trina leans closer to Adam, a playful smile on her face. Without waiting for Adam to respond, she says, "Two days after she transferred, she discovered that she was pregnant!" She squeals in her seat, the office chair slightly bouncing along with her. "She quit immediately after that."

One of the other betas on the team, Sandra, looks at Trina with wide eyes. "Oh! So that's why she was sick," she says while waving a pen in the air. "How did you know that?"

"You know I'm best friends with Lily. She told me," Trina explains, starting their usual round of office gossip.

Adam lets their conversation fade around him. His question was answered, the mystery resolved, yet his sixth sense is tingling. There's more to this than what he's told, he knows it somehow.

Should he set up a meeting with Anna?

--

Damon clenches the phone.

His headache grows worse the longer the conversation goes on, but he can't just end the call with Peter Valentino.

"A little loan won't hurt, right? After all, my boy is going to be a part of your family one day," the gruff voice on the other side says, cockiness unmistaken in his tone.

Damon clenches the phone tighter, his temper rearing its ugly head, yet he says, "I understand, sir."

He tries not to end the call too abruptly—to not show his impatience, but he does press the button a little too hard.

Damon's head continues to ache. The older Beta's buzzing is loud in his mind, the words ringing in his ear. He can't believe this is the same person who vehemently opposed his relationship with Heath when they were younger. Now, look at him, so unashamed when bothering other people.

If the man isn't Heath's father, Damon won't allow himself to be used and threatened like this. It's not the first time this is happening either. Every time he suffers from the consequences of his bad business decisions, Peter doesn't hesitate to ask Damon for help.

Well, 'ask' is a generous word. He more or less demands that Damon, the leader of Lin Finance Group, rescue them from the verge of bankruptcy like it's only natural. It has happened more times than he can count, and Damon knows it will continue to do so in the future.

This makes Damon wonder: does Heath not stop his father from starting another bogus project, or does he not care?

Instead of wasting his time thinking, he grabs his phone and makes a call to ask Heath himself.

"What?" The greeting is unwelcoming, reminding Damon how Heath left the last time they saw each other.

It seems that his headaches continue to stack on top of each other. Still, he already made the call, so he might as well say, "Your father called me today. Your family's company is in trouble again."

Heath clicks his tongue, the sound like thunder inside Damon's quiet office, but he doesn't say more.

Too many seconds pass in silence before Heath asks, "Are you going to help us again?"

"You don't know about it?" Damon asks back instead of answering, because truly, how can the only son of the Valentino family not be aware when they're about to lose their fortune?

"No," he says, voice less harsh, "you know I'm not good at business."

It's true that Heath went to a fine arts college, but isn't he the same person who made that report for Damon? The surprise was so well-written that Damon allowed Heath to do whatever he wanted that day, buying anything that catches his eye and driving him wherever he wanted to go. Heath obviously has untapped potential hidden somewhere.

However, Damon doesn't want to question it further. He's tired and he's about to make a loss. There's no need for him to open a can of worms when their relationship has been rocky as of late.

He ends the call with a promise to meet up later that night, hoping to make up, but it's too late. The seed of doubt has been planted in Damon's mind and it won't take long for it to sprout.