Mathew Kim stood next to his boss and passed him the files which he was asked to bring in immediately after his boss had arrived at the office.

'Didn't he say that he had other plans and will be late?' He wondered and accepted the files which were given back to him.

'I pushed back all the meetings that were scheduled for this afternoon and he suddenly comes back right on time?' Mathew's brows furrowed as he bowed and exited the room.

He gazed at the closed door after he took a seat at his designated desk and tried to think of a reason why his afternoon plans had been cut short.

'I did not find anything weird in his behavior… He doesn't seem to be too mad or annoyed. So what might have happened?' Detective Mathew Kim began checking out all the possible suspects for his Emperor's unexpected and suspicious early return.

While Mathew Kim was busying himself in his useless endeavors, his boss was trying to make sense of what had happened earlier.

Inside his office, Reuben skillfully twirled the sleek black pen around his fingers and recalled everything that had happened.

When the three of them had come out in search of Lina, they found her conversing with the other woman.

"Wasn't that woman Director Liang's beloved daughter?" He questioned himself and then nodded in agreement.

He had met Burt Liang on multiple occasions in regards to their business collaborations.

Though the Liang Group wasn't a top-tiered business organization like the Yangs, Luos, Mings and the Huos, they were certainly a good and trustworthy company.

The credit for this belonged to Burt Liang who had spent his life's hard work in bringing the company to the great heights that it had reached today.

If there was one thing that could draw away his attention from his work then that would be his love for his daughter.

Everyone in the social circles knew just how much this single father doted on his daughter.

He then remembered how Burt had cornered Lina at LY's auction.

That was the first time that he had seen that strange frenzied look in his eyes.

'No wonder Kitten was shivering when I had come to rescue her.' He shook his head wondering why such an incident had even occurred.

"Wait a minute!" He exclaimed and hit the desk with his palm.

Reuben's eyes widened when he recollected exactly how he had chased Burt Liang away on that day.

'I told him that his beloved daughter is being hit on by some guy and he vanished in an instant.' He nodded his head while thinking of what had occurred.

However, the guy hitting on his daughter was none other than Wayne Luo!

This could explain why Wayne had reacted so strongly when he saw Jeanette Liang fallen on the floor with Lina standing on the opposite side.

Thinking of Wayne's actions after that moment, Reuben's eyes narrowed dangerously and the pen in his hand was snapped into two.

Throwing the pen away, he cracked his knuckles as a sardonic smile appeared on his face which soon dissipated.

"How dare that asshole smacked my Kitten's hand!?" He seethed in fury when that image popped up in his mind.

The sound of the smack that he had given to Lina's hand still echoed in his ear.

Here, Reuben had been planning on how to treat Lina with the utmost care and in the next instant, he witnessed her getting hit by her brother, his best friend.

'He seems to be too tired of living!' Reuben growled and then turned his chair to look out of the window.

'Maybe it is time to teach him some manners.' His eerie chuckle was the only thing that was heard in this otherwise silent room.

____

While Reuben was making plans on how to properly teach Wayne a lesson, someone was in the middle of planning to teach Lina a lesson.

"My mother is too kind. She would definitely try to stop me if she knew what we are planning to do." Mandy shook her head while pitying her sweet and unappreciated mother.

Valerie's brows rose higher as she shot Mandy a mocking look. She was trying hard to control her laughter after hearing such an amusing statement.

'If your mother was so kind then she wouldn't have schemed to sleep with Patrick Yang and then ran away when she got pregnant!' She guffawed internally and was about to speak her mind when she was interrupted.

Talia Zheng was aware of what her sister was about to say so she shot her a warning glare, asking her to keep her mouth shut.

'We all know just what kind of woman her mother is, you don't have to vocalize your thoughts and lower yourself.' She shook her head indicating that she should stay silent.

Valerie would never go against her sister and hence she decided to stay mum about what her real thoughts were.

Almost every woman from the higher families knew exactly what kind of thoughts ran in the minds of such women.

Their prejudice against 'secretaries' was enormous and unavoidable thanks to the large number of cases they had witnessed.

Cases where the married man would spend more time with the secretary at work causing them to eventually grow closer.

This closeness which was meant to be camaraderie would manifest itself in the most bizarre of ways either due to the long working hours or the lack of attention at home.

However, the end result was always the same which would be the husband cheating on his wife with his secretary.

But in most cases, the fault not only lay with the man who had a higher position of power in the workplace but also with the woman who was willing to go along with or silently accept his advances.

'But in Patrick's case, this woman's mother was the one who schemed to get into his bed.' Talia asserted with absolute confidence in her mind.

She then discarded all thoughts about Mandy's mother and decided to focus on the plan that they had to discuss.

Yet her mind wandered to a different zone while thinking of CEOs and secretaries.

'Thankfully, Brother Reuben is not a man with a loose character. He has principles and the best part is that he has that idiot Kim as his secretary.' She blushed while thinking of her loved one.

The thought of Reuben subsequently brought the image of Lina standing next to him.

Grimacing and wiping away that ugly face from her mind, she narrowed her eyes as a serious look appeared on her face.

"Since Jeanette did not tell you about the discussion we had last night, I'll fill you in on the details now." She announced as she picked up the glass of champagne and sipped it elegantly.

Mandy was unaware of the demeaning thoughts and opinions these two sisters had about her mother and hence she gratefully nodded her head after listening to Talia's words.

"I have added yours and Jeanette's names to my guest list..." She began but was soon interrupted by the knock on the door.

She paused and after giving permission she waited for the person to enter.

A waiter humbly walked inside holding a tray with a single glass of juice on it.

He headed straight towards Talia Zheng and lowered the tray, offering its contents to her.

Talia's brows furrowed when she saw the waiter's actions but noticing the napkin placed underneath the glass filled with juice, there was an exciting glimmer that twinkled in her eyes.

She hurried to pick the glass up and after nonchalantly wrapping the napkin around the glass, she sent the waiter away.

Valerie giggled seeing her elder sister's blushing face and then raised her hands in surrender when she was shot a threatening glare.

Talia's heart was pounding against her chest as she placed the glass on the table and gingerly held the napkin.

Mandy looked at the two sisters who seemed to be excited about a single piece of paper and rolled her eyes.

'So much enthusiasm just for one napkin? Women from higher families are weird!' She shook her head and tried to eat something in the meantime.

Talia's hands trembled as she unfolded the napkin.

Her hands which had been trembling from nervousness and excitement were now trembling in seething anger.

She quickly crumpled the napkin up and threw it aside after she was done reading it.

*He left a few minutes ago*

The message written on the napkin echoed in her mind and her mood which was soaring high up in the sky had now dropped lower than the depths of hell.

The 'He' that was mentioned in the secret message represented none other than the Emperor, Reuben Ming.

She had specifically chosen this restaurant because her spies in his company had overheard Asst Kim booking a private room for four in this place.

She was sure that he must have brought his clients over for lunch and thus had rushed over in hopes of having an 'accidental encounter' with him.

Sadly, her attempts of a fated meeting were now dashed thanks to his sudden return.

How did Talia know whether Reuben was still in this establishment? Who was the one who had sent that secret message over to her?

Well, let us just say that Talia Zheng had spies in every single one of Reuben's businesses who kept her up to date about his schedule.

Valerie scowled when she read that message which could only be called bad news for everyone around Talia.

'Jie gets scary when plans don't work out in her favor.' She silently lowered her head in hopes of not getting on her bad side when she was already in a bad mood.

Talia took a deep breath in and then tried to calm her seething heart.

'He must have received an urgent call from his office and had to leave in a hurry.' She made excuses for his abrupt exit.

If Talia had known that her chance to meet her beloved Brother Reuben had been thwarted because of Lina then she would have made life a living hell for her.

Regardless, it wouldn't make any difference to her because that was her plan to begin with all along.