The thought ran through Zaria's mind wildly, but when she registered it, a frown settled on her face. "You tried to trick me. I did not get to see you and know who you are so it doesn't count as having met up."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Zeus laughed, as though stating that there was nothing she could do about it.

She slapped her forehead when he hung up. What did he mean, 'whatever helped her sleep at night?' She was having sleepless nights because of him when he was not even her family or boyfriend.

"Is she gone?" Desmond asked when he ran into Zaria who was returning to the building. She looked at him suspiciously and tilted her head to the side. "What's going on?" He questioned.

Her response was to hold out her palm. "May I have your phone for a moment?" She asked politely, but from the look in her eyes, it wasn't that he had much choice or any choice to begin with. He did not understand what was happening but he gave his phone to her.

She didn't look through it and instead, made a call on her own phone. She then shook her head and returned his phone, relieved yet disturbed.

"Babe, is something wrong?" He asked and followed her down the corridor.

"Where is Mr. Preston?" She asked about the last person she had met before Desmond.

"In his office, why?" He was starting to understand what she was up to, but he didn't know where her suspicion had suddenly emanated from.

"I'll explain later." She continued into the elevator with quick steps and would have left him behind if he didn't catch up. He didn't ask any more questions and she was glad that he didn't; all she wanted was to get to Liam's office.

She didn't need to, because the man was on his way out when the elevator arrived and she stood in his way.

"This surely doesn't happen every day." He grinned and would have teased her if Desmond wasn't in the vicinity. For a while, he wondered what Desmond had to do with anything. Why had everything changed so much? He wasn't sure what the woman before him was doing but she tapped her phone for a while before asking for his. Was she taking his contact number?

He gave it to her, but she did nothing and returned it, and he was disappointed to find that she had not done anything. On the bright side, he already had her contact number. The only bummer was that he had long been blocked by her.

…

"Are you finally ready to tell me what's going on?" Desmond asked when they were on their own.

"Zeus claimed that I had met him. The only men I met in the past few minutes are you, Liam and Ms. Roatta's bodyguard. I'm trying not to believe that the bodyguard is Zeus before checking around me." She paced the room and stopped in front of me. "I had to confirm. I hope you didn't find it offensive."

"No, I didn't." He smiled. "On the contrary, I discovered something interesting thanks to what you did."

Her eyes darted before her eyebrow raised. What had he found out? He didn't seem to have any intention to tell her about it so she didn't ask.

"Why are you certain that Zeus is a man?" He asked out of the blue.

"I'm not." She shook her head. "I used to think that he could be a woman in disguise—a close friend or something. In my wildest imagination, I thought he was Ms. Roatta in disguise." She laughed at her own wild imagination. "But then, time has proven that he is indeed a man."

He nodded. For a while, he had also started having thoughts that could be considered crazy.

She sat behind her desk. "I'm yet to start scolding Liam for selling his shares. How dare he betray the company?" Recalling Lucy's words, there was only one way through which she could qualify to be the new COO—kicking out the current one and employing a ton of other underhanded means.

When she checked through the updated list of current shareholders, she found that Liam's shares had dropped by ten percent, while Lucy now had a terrifying 24% which made her the second largest shareholder. The most baffling fact was that Ximena's parents as well as two others had disappeared from the list of shareholders, which meant that they had sold all their shares to Lucy. She wanted to beat them all up so badly.

Desmond closed in to massage her shoulders. "No one betrayed the company. It was their choice to do what they wanted."

"Do you want me to try and stop her?" She offered.

He shook his head. "She is difficult to understand let alone deal with, you will merely tire yourself out."

She sighed. She hated that she couldn't be useful, and she wanted to try her best even though he had stated that she shouldn't bother to do anything.

"I asked you to write a proposal, is it done?" He switched back to boss mode.

"A few minutes ago." She swiftly opened a document and printed it, then checked through it and arranged it in a leather folder to give to him. Everything was done in less than two minutes and he was amazed.

Was she a superhuman? Everything was ready when it was needed, and it didn't matter what she had to deal with. Such a capable assistant, no wonder Lucy wanted to steal her.

"Wait. Lucy…" He started and stopped.

"What about her?" The telephone rang before she could get an answer.

He signalled that he had to leave and she nodded as she answered the call.

"Don't start with the formalities. It's me." Zeus spoke before she could introduce herself as she always had in every official call.

"What do you want?" Hadn't they talked just a few minutes ago?

"I don't work for Preston and Fort Group, nor do I work for Lucy. Before you ask, I'm not a stalker either." He reported. "Something more important than my identity happened." His voice sounded shaky. "You may want to be more careful around the company."

A chill ran down her spine as soon as she heard his words, but he did not explain and let her figure it out on her own. Her stomach knotted and she sat on needles for the rest of the afternoon, but nothing happened. She cursed Zeus on her mind. Did he warn her to distract her from his trick?

At the same time, she couldn't assume that she was completely safe. As soon as she arrived home, she sent a text message to Theodore so he would be careful too, knowing that danger often sought them at the same time. He was busy, so he sent a quick reply, that he received her message and had more work than usual today.

She sighed in relief. He would probably work overtime, so she prepared to start cooking.

_

"Master, calm down." Lucy's young bodyguard tried to persuade for the umpteenth time, and he almost earned a slap.

"How the hell can I calm down?! Jaime Fort is out of jail." She almost pulled her hair off in frustration.

The young man nervously suggested, "How about we find ways to put him back in jail?"

Lucy glared at him. She had thought of this too. But it just wasn't as easy as it sounded. She would have to bend the law in order to have him locked up again, but Mark had already used that method to get him out.

The young man understood and thought about it before making a different suggestion. "How about we appeal against his bail? As long as we can prove that he is dangerous."

Lucy's eyes narrowed. The only problem with that was it would take some time, and every second at this moment was too valuable. Every second meant more time for Jaime to scheme. A gentle gaze slowly filled her face. "Kill him. Just create an accident or something. I want him dead in two hours."

"Master, we promised that there will be no more bloodshed." He audaciously reminded her, who now had her back facing him.

She didn't spare him a glance. "Just do it."

He wasn't doing this for the first time, so he left the room.

Lucy turned back to glance at the closed door. She had an ominous feeling, and hoped he would be able to do it before Jaime got to Zaria.

_

Zaria's phone rang just as she finished preparing dessert, and it was her dad. She picked it up joyously. "Are you finally on your way, dad? I have…"

Her statement was interrupted by a female one. "Hello, this is Grand View Hospital. Are you related to Mr. Theodore Willaims?"

Her heart dropped even before she knew why a woman was answering her dad's phone. Her eyes were already starting to sting.

"Please come to Grand View Hospital as soon as you can. Mr. Williams was involved in a traffic accident."