Chapter 2 Ayla's Resentment

Ayla stormed into Lucas's office, her heels clicking loudly on the floor. She was so angry that she couldn't keep her mouth shut any longer. She had spent days planning the new project, but Lucas came in and tore it apart in a matter of seconds.

"Lucas," she said, her voice colder than she meant it to be, "you can't just break apart everything we've been working on. You're making choices without knowing what will happen.

Lucas didn't look up from his work. He moved his fingers over the papers in front of him as if she weren't even there. His calmness only made her more angry.

"You don't like what I decided?" His voice sounded calm and distant. "Then maybe you should be the one to decide. But you don't run things here, do you?

Ayla clinched her hands so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. She understood that being mad wouldn't help, but this was too much to handle. "I am the boss of my squad. And what you're doing is making things worse.

Lucas eventually looked up at her, but his eyes were dark and unreadable. She couldn't move because of the way he looked at her. "You think you know everything, Ayla, don't you?" But you forgot one thing. I sign the checks.

Ayla's breath stopped. She wanted to yell out and tell him how wrong he was, but she could feel the heat of his gaze and the weight of his authority on her. He seemed to be able to see right through her, into the parts of her that weren't sure.

Lucas slumped back in his chair, and his face was unreadable. His voice was low as he said, "I'm not here to make friends, Ayla." "I'm here to help this business do well."

Ayla's heart raced, and the tension between them was clear. She opened her lips to say something back, but she stopped. We couldn't win this fight. Not yet.

She turned around and strode out of his office, her body tense with anger. She looked over her shoulder as the door snapped shut behind her. He kept looking at her, weighing her, making her feel both small and defiant at the same time.

The remainder of the afternoon dragged on in a cloud of quiet discussions and deadlines. But Ayla couldn't stop thinking about what Lucas had said, how he had dismissed her like she was just another part of the machine. She couldn't stop thinking about it. She wasn't going to sit back and watch him run over all she stood for.

From the very beginning, the following meeting was strained. Lucas strolled in looking like he was in charge, with a mask of indifference over his keen features. Ayla sat across from him, determined not to let him get the upper hand again.

Ayla could feel the fire rising in her chest when Lucas started talking about the project's stats. He didn't know how much thought and effort she had put into the plan. This time, she wouldn't let him make a choice without a battle.

Ayla's voice cut through the room as she said, "I don't think that's the best thing to do, Mr. Steve."

Lucas raised one eyebrow. "Oh? And what makes you say that?

"Because the numbers don't support it," she said, and her confidence grew as she talked. "The way you're thinking about it will only make things worse. I've already laid the basis. "We don't need to change everything; we just need to make a few changes."

Lucas leaned in, and his face was colder now. "Do you ever stop to think, Ayla, that you might be too close to this to see the big picture?"

Ayla's jaw got tighter. "Lucas, I'm looking at the picture from all sides." Maybe if you took the time to see things from my point of view-

"That's enough." He spoke loudly enough to cut through the air and stop her. "I don't have time to hear your ideas." This business needs answers, not more questions.

It felt like the room was getting smaller. Ayla's heart was beating so hard that she could hear it. With every syllable, the tension grew thicker, and she could feel the weight of the eyes on her.

Lucas remarked, "You're pushing me too far, Ayla," in a low but passionate voice. He stood up, and his figure loomed over her. "Be careful."

She didn't flinch or back down, but she felt a shudder run down her spine. Lucas's words hung in the air, and Ayla couldn't determine if they were a promise or a warning.

Ayla was at her most angry towards the end of the day. She couldn't let it go. Not when all she had worked for was hanging by a thread, ruined by one man's need to dominate everything.

She marched right to Lucas's office without thinking, her heart racing in her ears. She didn't care that he was busy; she wasn't leaving until she got what she wanted. Her heart raced as she threw the door open.

Lucas looked up from his desk and saw her standing there with her arms crossed, evidently ready for a fight. His eyes narrowed.

"What's wrong this time, Miss Weathers?" He asked, his voice full of sarcasm.

"You shut down the project," Ayla hissed, her voice quiet but quivering with rage. "Without even asking me. Without even letting me say anything.

Lucas lifted an eyebrow and looked like he didn't care. "And what do you want me to say, Ayla?" From the outset, the project was not good. You were aware of the risks. "I'm just doing what's best for the business."

Ayla's hands turned into fists. "You can't make such choices by yourself. You have no idea what we've been doing. You just ran over everything, including my ideas and my crew. My job." She broke up on the final word.

Lucas got up slowly and walked towards her. His presence filled the room and made the space between them smaller. The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a knife.

Lucas stated in a quiet voice, "I'm not here to play games." "I'm here to win. And if you can't manage that, maybe this job isn't for you.

Ayla's breath caught in her throat. They both felt something in the air between them that they weren't ready to accept. She didn't move or back away, but she also didn't have the strength to say anything else.

He leaned in a little, and his voice was low and scary. "We need to have a chat. "Now."

The words hit her like a train. She wanted to yell, fight back, and express all she had been holding back. But at that moment, all she could do was stand there, her heart racing as she thought about how much this talk would cost her.

"Why did you change what I said?" Ayla's voice was stern and wanted a response. "Nobody even talked to me about it. You simply made up your mind?

Lucas sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. His icy, calculating gaze watched her every step. He had that expression on his face that said he was thinking about whether or not she was worth his time. His voice was low but strong. "I made the choice because it's best for the business. I don't have time to worry about how everyone feels.

Ayla stepped forward, and her chest felt tight. "Is that all? You make the decision, and everyone else follows? Just like that?

Lucas let out a slow breath, as if she were a small problem. Ayla, I don't have time to play games. This is about getting outcomes.

Ayla's hands were clasped at her sides. "It's always about the results with you. What about the folks who put forth the effort to attain those results? What about the crew that has been working hard while you've been sitting in your office and pulling strings from above?

His lips moved a little, but there was no smile. "Do you think I'm doing this for power?" His voice got so low that it was almost a growl. "I have my reasons, Ayla." And they have nothing to do with you.

Ayla froze, and a chill ran down her back. His words hung in the air, full of something sinister that she couldn't quite understand. He wasn't only talking about the business. No, he was talking about something different, something private.

There was so much tension between them that it was hard to tolerate. The silence was so deep it felt like a cloud. Ayla didn't know what to say for the first time since she met him.

Ayla was shocked after her fight with Lucas. She had stormed out of his office, feeling a mix of fury and perplexity. She strolled outdoors into the cold evening air to clear her brain. The quiet rustling of leaves filled the silence around her. Her mind was a mess of anger, his words, and something deeper that she couldn't shake.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket just as she was ready to go back inside. She looked at it and saw a message from her adoptive father. A knot formed in her stomach. He didn't typically text her unless it was important, so the fact that he was doing it now, after everything, made her nervous.

The message was short and hard to understand: "You've walked into the lion's den without knowing it, Ayla." "Be careful."

Ayla's breath seized in her throat. Her adoptive father had always been careful and even secretive, but this was different. The way he spoke made her heart race with worry. What did he mean by "lion's den"? And why now?

She couldn't stop her mind from racing as she tried to figure it out. Was it about Lucas? Was he telling her to be careful with the man she worked for? She couldn't deny that she was getting more and more uneasy about him. The more she thought about their conversation, the more she realized how little she really understood about him.

Ayla shook off the chill that had descended over her and put the phone back in her bag. She didn't know what to do, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. There was something wrong with this.

She couldn't stop thinking about the warning, and for the first time, she wondered whether her father knew anything about Lucas's family that she didn't. What would that entail for her if so? And most importantly, what was Lucas truly hiding?

As Ayla walked back into the building, she drew her coat more closely about her. The weight of the message was heavy on her shoulders, and she didn't know what she would discover.