Fiona couldn’t calm down. For some reason, she felt that seeing Luca again was not a coincidence and it was making her nervous. She opened her computer and started searching everything about Luca Han. The man actually went to London to study—which explained his accent. He also went to Harvard to finish his degree. He could speak and read five languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French and English. And it was said that he was fluent in all of the languages.
He got his doctorate in Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering at the age of twenty-four and even won international awards because of his thesis. It was noted that he was a genius. Considering his impressive background, it was no wonder that his grandfather Mr. Simon Han, who is also the Director of HICI, made him the CEO of the company when he turned twenty-six. Since then, the company has become one of the top construction companies in Asia. This man was loaded! The sound of her doorbell made her jolt. She closed her laptop and stood to open her door. She was certain it was Candy and she was already expecting her scolding. Of course, she was prepared to tell her about the one-night stand, hoping she would understand that Fiona wasn’t planning to work with someone she once slept with. “I— “ Fiona widened her eyes when she saw Luca standing outside of her door. It didn’t take too long for her to realize that he also knew about the security company’s connection to her. “Let’s talk?” His words woke her up from her stupor. She stood there, staring at his tailored suit before she said, “Mr. Han… I don’t think there is something for us to talk about?” “What happened last night was— “ “Not even something worthy for a conversation.” Fiona smiled, her hand was already on the gun behind her door. He lifted an eyebrow, a smirk appeared on his handsome face. “Really?” She gulped. “Really.” “Then can we talk about the job?” “The answer is no. Please ask Miss Jones to find another woman that could help you out. Our company has dozens of people who can act as your secretary and bodyguard at the same time.” The fake smile on her face didn’t vanish. “Our company is an advocate of— “ “I want you.” This shut her up. She pursed her lips and stared straight into his eyes. “There is no reason for me to agree to this arrangement. Please leave or — “ “Or what?” Amusement flashed in his eyes, he was clearly enjoying his uncomfortable expression. “I will make you leave.” She put her hand who was holding the gun on her sides, showing him the pistol. “By force,” she added. To her surprise, Luca laughed, he threw his head back. “This is the first time that a one-night stand threatened to… shoot me.” “That’s surprising,” she fired back. “It’s not like you were too impressive or something.” Seeing the smile on his face vanished, Fiona snorted, mockery laced her eyes. “Coming from the woman who— “ Before he could say something that would embarrass her, Fiona already cut him off. “Let’s stop talking about the past as it doesn’t matter. What matters is the fact that I can show you images of our agents. All professional, beautiful, experienced, and definitely deadly.” He blinked at her. “I want you.” She wanted to say that she didn’t want him but that would be a lie. At least, she wanted him in her bed. But that wasn’t the point. “I’m taking that as a compliment but—” “I can help you.” “Excuse me?” Fiona was certain she wasn’t someone that needed help. “Clear out your name.” Fiona lifted an eyebrow. “My name…” “Fiona Chen, top one of China’s licensing examination. The young doctor at twenty-two, a doctor who lost her license because of a malpractice case that was filed by your own stepmother. I know about it. I can help you.” The color drained from Fiona’s face. She squinted. Hearing all this from a man like him made her recall all the memories she wanted to forget for years now. “I don’t need your help.” She lost her license. No big deal. It’s not like she wanted to become a doctor. It’s not like she chose to go to medical school. She only did it to impress her family, she did it to impress the people who backstabbed her. “I don’t appreciate you looking into my file. Please leave before I lose my patience and accidentally shoot your head.” He chuckled. “I wasn’t expecting the young miss of the Chen Family to become so violent after what? Five years? Six?” She gnashed her teeth, anger blazed in her eyes. “I will help you… have your revenge.” His words echoed inside her head, like a tolling bell. It made her irritated. “Look… can we talk about this inside? Can you at least give me the chance to speak? I can promise, my proposition will satisfy you.” Fiona stared at him for a few seconds before she took a step back, giving him access to her house. Killing someone in the open was definitely more risky than shooting him inside her house. “Please don’t tell me you are planning to kill me.” He stopped walking and turned towards her. He then held both of his arms up and gave her a playful smile. “I can see it in your eyes.” Fiona followed her towards the living room where her laptop sat. Luca calmly sat on the L-shaped sofa and leaned back, making himself comfortable. Then his eyes scanned the room. “Black and white, minimalist. Not bad. I quite like it.” Fiona grabbed a bottle of whiskey before pouring it into two glasses. Then she gave one to him. “I’m assuming you aren’t alone. I can give you water if you still need to write.” She sat on the side of the sofa a couple of inches away from him. “Speak.” She didn’t wait for him to react as she gulped down the whiskey. This… All this was really making her want to get drunk again. “I already said it. I can help you get revenge.” Fiona’s lips thinned. Revenge? It was a never-ending cycle of false justice. “I don’t think it’s worth it.” In the first place, she no longer felt anything about them anymore. Why waste her time in this pointless revenge? Would it make her happy at the end of the day? “As the eldest of Chen Clan, you are the legal heir. The one that was supposed to inherit Chen Medical. You were raised to be the heiress. But all of it was taken away from you. Don’t you want it back?” “No.” For a few seconds, he stared at her in disbelief. She blinked. Why does it look like her answer surprised him? Wasn’t it too obvious now? She was rich, she was independent. There was no need to waste her time and effort in this revenge stuff. As she said earlier… it’s just not worth it. “Then… what if I tell you that your mother… was actually murdered? That it wasn’t an accident at all?” Fiona frowned. “She had cancer.” “But it was operable.” “She died during surgery.” “Of blood loss. It could have been prevented,” he answered. “There’s no proof it was murder.” She already tried to dig this up and she didn’t get anything. Her mother died of blood loss because of the delicate operation. She even signed a waiver about this. “But what if something else was there? Something— that you missed?” Fiona’s brows furrowed. She was a doctor too… she saw the result of the post mortem examination. She knew it was inevitable. Before she could say anything, Luca handed her his phone, showing her an email. “What’s—” “The doctor who did the surgery, she was appointed by your father because she was the best of the best. Her expertise in Hepatocellular carcinoma earned her many awards, both local and international. But if I told you that she was already experiencing nerve damage weeks prior to the operation?” Fiona’s face turned darker. She continued reading the reports as he continued, “Your father knew that she had nerve damage, he knew that her hand was not in its perfect condition, he knew yet, he agreed to have her operate on your mother. Why do you think that is?”Fiona was frowning. She tightened her grip around the piece of paper, hoping to stop her arms from shaking. The documents were very thorough. It showed an examination of the doctor who operated on her mother, showing that she was experiencing some tremors on her hand and foot. This was taken four weeks before her mother’s surgery.The document also contained some signatures of her father.“Do you believe me now?” Luca asked. “Of course, it’s fine if you don’t believe me. You can always ask your father. I’m sure with all this proof, your old man won’t deny anything.”“And in return, you want me to become your secretary?” The email files that she read said that he needed her to act as a secretary to protect him from the women who liked him. Silly. However, Fiona understood that some wealthy people just needed to spend their money on something.“That was before I knew
“Being my wife would make them accept you. No questions asked. I am sure your stepmother would do everything to become your new best friend. Don’t you think so?”These were the words that made her angry at his proposition. Thinking about it now, she knew she had been really… impulsive. Considering that she already signed the marriage certificate, she knew that regretting her decision now was completely useless.She reluctantly met Candy’s eyes.“You’re crazy.” Candy shook her head.“Please tell me something I don’t already know.”“Do you even know him? I mean… like his family? You just signed a marriage certificate like that without knowing if he is a serial killer who wanted to cook you and serve you for dinner?”“Good thinking.” Fiona nodded. “A cannibal…” Her thoughts took her to that one-night stand.
Despite flying all the time, Fiona still thought an airport was like a canvass full of anxiety.The sea of people moved with ease as the lights from the tall windows hit them. The serenity and chaos would usually give her some unexplainable emotion of sadness.This time, though, the feeling didn’t come. She wondered if it was the champagne.She eyed the clouds that rested on the skies as she walked out of the private plane Luca arranged for her. The plane was under his name, but he insisted it was hers now. He said it was some bride price.“Welcome to Hong Kong International Airport, Miss Chen. I am Robert Hou, I will be your chauffeur for today.” The man was wearing a tuxedo, especially his white gloves made him look more professional and mature. Fiona smiled and let the man handle her suitcases before she walked inside the black Mercedes that was waiting for her, just a
Coming into Hong Kong didn’t just mean that she would act as his wife. Luca asked her to become his personal secretary. He insisted it was for his protection—something she was very good at.However, Fiona thought this had become a problem.First, Luca didn’t tell her about her gorgeous secretary that was working for him for two years now. Naomi Jiang.She was tall, about his age, and drop-dead gorgeous. Fiona thought she could easily join Miss Universe or any other international pageant. She stared at Naomi before she took a sip of the coffee in front of her.Fiona’s smile didn’t lessen the tension inside Luca’s office.“You want me to train her?” Naomi asked, eyebrows lifted in surprise. The sweet smile on her face when she welcomed Fiona, vanished as if it was never there in the first place. “Mr. Han… may I know if I did something wrong?”Fiona waited
“You will start working tomorrow,” Naomi said. “But it is essential that you come here in the basement to familiarize yourself. Those boxes are full of letters to Mr. Han. You have to check every letter and arrange it by… date.”Fiona eyed the stack of boxes in front of her. This room was definitely a storeroom. It wasn’t dirty, but it smelled of wet paper, which wasn’t very pleasant. “There are about fifty boxes in here,” Fiona said. And what did familiarizing mean? Was she supposed to look at everything today? This woman’s scheming was a bit irritating, eh?“Sixty-eight. There are sixty-eight boxes. Full of letters, the packages are at the back. There should be about twenty boxes of those packages,” Naomi said as she looked at her wristwatch. “I still have to attend
“You—” Naomi’s eyes widened in shock, the muscles of her jaw twitched as she looked at Fiona. “You are—”“Thank God, you’re fine!” Luca said before pulling Fiona into a tight hug, something that surprised the women in the room.“Of course, I’m fine.” Fiona smiled and gave Naomi a meaningful gaze. Naomi’s already pale face turned paler. It looked like a sheet of paper. “Did something happen? I just finished familiarizing myself at the storage in the basement.”Luca looked at Naomi. “That is not a part of the job. What were you doing in the basement?”“She asked me to sort out the letters?”“You will be working inside my office, not in the basement.” Luca narrowed his eyes at Naomi. “Isn’t that right, Miss Jiang?”“I—I just thought it would good to let her familiarize herself with&mda
“You look nervous.” Luca immediately noticed the discomfort in her face as they rode the Mercedes towards Old Man Han’s estate. He held her hand that was resting on her leg and smiled. “My grandfather won’t eat you. At least… not alive.”“Real funny.” She scoffed and turned her head away, ignoring the concern visible in his eyes. “What’s he like? Your grandfather?”“He’s strict. But he tries to protect me as much as he can. So I guess that’s a win.” He chuckled while slowly rubbing his knuckles at the back of her palm. The action was soft and smooth. She liked it. “When my father died, I was sent abroad to study. Then when I came back… he made me the CEO.”Fiona stared at him. The things that he said were something she already knew. Was it because he didn’t know that much about his own grandfather?“He aske
“The aim is to win,” Fiona said confidently. “I would sacrifice the queen to win the game.”The older man smiled, his wrinkled face turned brighter. “Sit down and play a game with me.”“Grandfather… I don’t think this is a good idea. We came here for dinner.”Mr. Han looked at his grandson, unimpressed. “You drove your woman up the mountain at this house without eating dinner?”“That—”“I thought I raised you well.”“I—”Amusement flashed in Fiona’s eyes as she smiled but didn’t say anything. Declining the old man’s offer might mean that she was disrespecting him. And saying that they had snacks before coming in here would mean that she wouldn’t get hungry for a few hours.Meaning, she could play against him.It was a trick.She looked at Luca, lett