Chapter Five — A Debt Unpaid
496 Words
Lucas didn’t like funerals.
Too much emotion.
Too much noise disguised as silence.
Too many people pretending to care.
The car door shut behind him with a soft click as he stepped out in front of the towering glass building that carried his name.
Everything here made sense.
Control.
Structure.
Power.
Not like that house in the countryside.
He walked straight through the lobby, barely sparing a glance at the staff who greeted him.
“Good afternoon, sir.”
“Welcome back, Mr. Hale.”
He didn’t respond.
He rarely did.
Inside the private elevator, the silence returned.
The kind he preferred.
Clean.
Untouched.
His reflection stared back at him from the mirrored walls.
Perfectly composed.
Sharp suit.
Unreadable expression.
Nothing out of place.
Exactly how he liked it.
But his mind wasn’t.
It drifted back to the funeral.
To the crowd.
To the quiet whispers.
To the weight of a man being buried.
His employee.
Lucas exhaled lightly.
The man had been efficient.
Reliable.
But careless.
Debt had a way of exposing weakness.
And weakness, in Lucas’s world, was expensive.
The elevator doors opened.
He stepped into his office without slowing.
Floor-to-ceiling windows stretched across the room, overlooking the city like it belonged to him.
In many ways… it did.
A file sat neatly on his desk.
Already prepared.
Of course it was.
Lucas picked it up.
Flipped it open.
Name.
Position.
Financial records.
Debt history.
Everything about Mia’s father was reduced to numbers.
Clean.
Simple.
Understandable.
Except one thing.
Lucas paused.
His eyes lingering briefly on a section that didn’t quite fit.
Unresolved.
His jaw tightened slightly.
“Sir.”
The voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
His assistant stood by the door.
Careful.
Professional.
Always precise.
“The board is asking about the outstanding account,” she said.
Lucas closed the file.
Calmly.
“It will be handled.”
She hesitated.
Just for a second.
“His family…?” she asked carefully.
Lucas looked up.
His expression didn’t change.
“The debt doesn’t disappear because he’s dead.”
His tone was flat.
Final.
His assistant nodded.
She knew better than to push further.
When she left, the room fell silent again.
Lucas leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly against the armrest.
Once.
Twice.
Then still.
For a moment, everything was exactly as it should be.
Then—
Her face crossed his mind.
Mia.
Standing at the funeral.
Eyes heavy with grief… but steady.
Not weak.
Not broken.
Just… holding on.
Lucas frowned slightly.
He didn’t like distractions.
And yet—
There she was again.
Uninvited.
Unnecessary.
And somehow…
impossible to ignore.
He leaned forward, picking up the file again.
This time, his gaze lingered differently.
Not on the numbers.
Not on the debt.
But on the name.
Amelia.
His fingers stilled.
“Interesting…”
The word slipped out quietly.
Almost like a thought he hadn’t meant to say aloud.
Because for the first time…
this wasn’t just business anymore.
- Writer
