Chapter 1007 Madam Young's Birthday

"Lucas should be more agreeable now. Oh, he just woke up. Maybe you could..." "Sorry, Astoria, I've got to run." I quickly ended the call, and the room fell silent. Staring out at the overcast sky, I was grateful for last night's good sleep that kept the grogginess at bay. Back from Tully City, a mountain of tasks awaited me at Scott Corp. I headed straight to the office after rising. … At Scott Corporation, Minerva dumped a stack of files on my desk with a sigh. "Year-end's coming up, and there's no shortage of work. Uncle Marcus was worried you'd be stuck in Tully City too long, that these files would just keep piling up. Luckily, you're back." The sight of my desk, buried in paperwork, gave me an instant headache. Just days away and it looked like a paper avalanche. Any longer and I would have been buried alive in my own office. Such were the woes of the working class. I took a deep breath and told Minerva, "Looks like I'll be having my lunch at my desk today." She nodded, her concern genuine. "I'll bring you something to eat at noon." Right, as if lunch was the problem. It was not. I slogged through the day until a ringtone in the evening snapped me out of the sea of papers. Staring at the unknown number on my phone, it took me a second to slide to answer. "Hello, who's this?" "It's me." Lucas! His voice caught me off guard, but I quickly regained composure and asked calmly, "What's up?" He was off the grid and had no tech on him. This had Astoria all over it. A raspy voice crackled through the phone line. "I know you're mad at me. I overheard Astoria's call to you this morning." "Yeah," I replied, my tone subdued. "I've taken care of things with Astoria. Whatever you need, you can discuss it with her." I left the words hanging, a clear signal we had nothing left to say to each other. He could not possibly miss the hint. "I..." He trailed off, as if he had more to say but the words just would not come. Finally, he managed to say, "I'm going to get clean." "Yeah," I answered, my voice a flat note. I was waiting for him to get to the point. On the other end, I heard a soft sigh. "Astoria helped me out. She got me a phone and a SIM card. This is my number. We can keep in touch this way." "Alright," I said, giving nothing away. He seemed to run out of ideas after that. A pause lingered before he added, "You must be busy. I won't keep you." "Okay." I hung up without another word. Staring at the digits on my screen, my mind wandered. My feelings for Lucas were a tangled mess. I felt relief at knowing he was alive, pain at seeing him so broken, and then... It was all just too complicated. Snapping back to reality, I was ready to dive back into work when my phone buzzed with notifications. I had always been a bit obsessive about clearing those red alerts. Without thinking, I tapped through to the messages. It was from Emily: [Yvette, Madam Young's birthday celebration is at the family estate. I'm waiting for you.] Madam Young's birthday bash. In the day's chaos, it had completely slipped my mind. I glanced at my watch and saw it was nearly six. There was no time to waste. I grabbed my bag and phone and dashed to the car, heading for the Youngs' Old Manor nestled on the hillside. The roads were clear, and I made it there without a hitch. Luxury cars lined the driveway at the Youngs' Old Manor. Mr. Zachary was orchestrating the arrival of guests. He did a double-take when he saw me step out of my car. "Oh... Ms. Scott, you've made it," he said, catching himself mid-greeting. I gave him a nod and a wry smile. "Mr. Zachary, has the party kicked off yet? I got caught up and lost track of time. Sorry for being late."