Kane walked into his office, tugging at his tie.
He dropped into his chair, and exhaled roughly, running a hand through his already disheveled hair.
He reached for a pen on his desk. Before he realised it, the plastic cracked beneath his grip.
His jaw tightened.
The scene in the cafeteria replayed with irritating clarity.
"Let go."
Lucy had begged to be released, yet the man refused. He wondered who he was.
Kane shut his eyes.
"Why am I still thinking about it?" He mused.
She was safe. He had stepped in to resolve the issue.
But the faint red marks on her wrist appeared every time his eyes were closed.
"This is crazy," he snapped his eyes open. "I shouldn’t be thinking about this. She’s my student, nothing more."
"I’d have done the same for any other student."
Yes, you would have. But you wouldn’t be thinking about any other student like you think about her.
Kane groaned, his brows drawing together.
The number of times you think about her every day... tsk tsk tsk. It’s unhealthy.
"Shut up," he growled. At times, he hated his subconscious.
Just then, his phone vibrated, bringing him back to reality.
Ethan (Executive Assistant): Good afternoon, Mr. Sterling. The board members are asking if you’ll be attending tomorrow’s meeting at the headquarters.
Kane’s first instinct was to reject it.
His thumb hovered for a second before he typed a reply.
I’ll be there.
He locked his phone, and leaned back into his chair.
It was finally time for a distraction.
***********
Lucy climbed the stairs leading to the departmental offices, her fingers tightening around the strap of her backpack.
The events of yesterday had replayed in her head all night. She still couldn’t believe he had stepped in the way he did.
No matter how many times she thought about it, one conclusion remained the same.
She owed him a proper thank you.
As soon as she stepped into the lobby, the departmental secretary looked up from her desk and smiled.
"Good morning, Lucy."
"Good morning, Ms. Powers."
"What brings you here this early?" she asked kindly.
"I... wanted to see Professor Sterling."
Ms. Powers’ smile turned apologetic. "I’m afraid you just missed him."
Lucy blinked, not understanding what she meant.
"He isn’t on campus today."
"He isn’t?"
"No." The secretary shook her head. "Professor Sterling had to attend to some important business outside the university."
Lucy nodded slowly. "I see..."
"If it’s about the laboratory schedules, you can leave whatever it is with me. I’ll make sure he gets it."
"Oh." Lucy offered a small smile. "No... it wasn’t about that."
Ms. Powers nodded.
"I’ll come back another time."
"Alright, dear."
Lucy thanked her before walking out of the department.
The corridor suddenly felt quieter, and she frowned slightly.
Strange.
Normally, by now... her phone would’ve buzzed with a reminder. A change in schedule.
But... there was nothing.
She slowed her steps.
When had she started expecting messages from him?
"That’s ridiculous."
Shaking her head, she slipped her phone back into her bag.
She had barely taken three more steps before she pulled it out again, almost on instinct.
Her thumb hovered over Professor Sterling’s contact, staring at the chat for several long seconds.
No new messages were waiting for her, just their previous conversations.
She hesitated. Then, before she could overthink it, she typed.
Good morning, Professor. Ms. Powers mentioned you weren’t on campus today. I hope everything is alright. And... thank you for yesterday.
She read the message twice.
Her thumb hovered over the send button.
"It’s just a thank you."
With this, she pressed send, and she immediately wished she could take it back.
She was about to delete it when she noticed that the message had been read.
"Shit," she cursed under her breath, snapping her eyes shut.
But one eye peeked open as if waiting for his reply.
But disappointment was all she got.
He didn’t reply.
"Stupid," she berated herself.
He had drawn the line between them... so why did she still bother?
On the other side, Kane was in a boardroom, seated at the head and surrounded by seasoned men.
His phone buzzed and he was about to ignore it.
That was until he realized that it was a special ringtone for one single person.
Before he could stop himself, he picked up his phone and checked the text.
Lucy.
His lips curved upwards slightly as he read her text. He stared at the screen for three seconds too long.
Ethan had worked for Kane long enough to know one thing.
He never smiled during meetings. Never checked personal messages.
Until today.
His gaze drifted to the phone in Kane’s hand, and he held his jaw, thinking, ’interesting.’
A board member on his left cleared his throat. Apparently, Ethan hadn’t been the only one to notice the shift in Kane’s expression.
"Mr. Sterling?"
Kane was brought back to the present and he schooled his features almost immediately as he set his phone face down.
"Please, continue."
The board member resumed speaking.
"Mr. Sterling?"
Kane blinked, realising he had absolutely no idea what had just been said.
The boardroom had fallen silent.
Every director seated around the polished conference table was looking at him.
His gaze shifted from the quarterly projections displayed on the screen to the file lying open before him.
"My apologies," he said evenly. "Repeat the last point."
A brief silence followed.
Several board members exchanged surprised glances, but they didn’t question him.
Instead, the Chief Financial Officer cleared his throat.
"I was saying that acquiring MedCore Laboratories would increase our production capacity by almost thirty percent while reducing manufacturing costs."
Kane leaned back in his chair.
This time, he listened.
The presentation lasted another five minutes. When it ended, the room waited for his verdict.
"No."
The single word landed like a stone.
One of the directors frowned. "May I ask why, Mr. Sterling?"
Kane flipped through the report with ease. "You’ve all focused on their projected profits." Then, he stopped at a page.
"But none of you looked closely enough at their liabilities."
He slid the file across the table. "Their compliance history has been poor for three consecutive years."
He flipped open another page.
"Two manufacturing inspections failed."
And another.
"Their research division has lost three lead scientists in less than eighteen months."
He finally closed the folder.
"If we acquire them, we don’t inherit thirty percent more production." His gaze swept across the room. "We inherit every one of their problems."
Silence settled over the boardroom.
One by one, the directors glanced down at their copies.
The numbers were there. They had simply overlooked them.
Kane rose smoothly from his chair. "Reject the proposal."
They didn’t argue with him. They couldn’t.
He was already walking toward the door when Ethan caught up with him.
"Mr. Sterling."
Kane paused.
"The renovation of the chairman’s office is complete."
His fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around his phone.
"The staff keeps asking when you’ll move into it."
For a long moment, Kane said nothing.
His father had occupied that office for twenty-three years.
Before him... it was his grandfather.
The thought alone made something inside his chest tighten.
"Not today." He answered and resumed walking.
Ethan watched him disappear down the corridor before quietly following behind.
Inside the private elevator, the silence finally settled around Kane.
Only then did he unlock his phone.
Lucy’s message remained open.
His thumb hovered over the keyboard.
He typed:
I’m fine. Thank you for asking.
He frowned and deleted it.
He tried again.
There was no need to thank me.
Delete.
He tried again. Then deleted it.
A quiet laugh escaped him before he could stop it. "When did replying to a text become this difficult?"
After a moment, he finally typed—
Thank you, Miss Bennett. I appreciate your concern. I’m attending to some matters outside the university. I’ll be back tomorrow.
Safe.
He pressed send and the message delivered instantly.
Kane stared at the screen for a second longer before locking his phone.
The board meeting had accomplished what he wanted.
It had distracted him. Or so he thought.
Because—
His thoughts had found their way back to Lucy anyway.