One Wild Night

Once they walked into Tom's office and shut the door behind them, Lucy faced Tom when she remembered the offer from the foundation. "Uhm, I need to tell you something."

"I have something to tell you too."

"Let's talk before we eat," Lucy suggested, and Tom gave her a nod as he led her to one of the comfortable sofas in his office.

Lucy dug into her handbag and took out the letter the women had given her, "Two ladies came to see me earlier on. They're from the She Can Heal Founda..." She stopped talking when she noticed the slight frown on Tom's face.

"What is wrong?"

Tom shook his head, "It's nothing. What did they want?" He asked, feeling even more suspicious of them now.

"They want me to be the face of the foundation and also work for them on weekends, so it doesn't interfere with my job. The benefits are listed here," Lucy said, trying not to sound too excited as she handed the letter to Tom.

Tom tried to gather his thoughts as he read through the benefits. Once he was done, he turned to her, "I have a confession to make."

"What confession?" Lucy asked with a curious smile.

"I already knew about them. I spoke with Alicia earlier this morning, and she told me about it, but I asked her not to tell you about it. I'm sorry," Tom said apologetically.

"Why? Why didn't you want me to know about it?" Lucy asked with a slight frown.

"I know it was not my place to make that decision for you. I was just worried out of my mind and didn't want you out of my sight since we are yet to take care of Anita," Tom explained, and Lucy just stared at him without saying a word.

"Are you only telling me this now because I already met them? Or would you have told me about it even if they had not come to see me?" Lucy asked, hoping that the latter was the case.

"I was going to tell you about it and explain why I think you shouldn't work with them," Tom said to her relief.

"Okay, let's assume Anita wasn't a problem. How do you feel about this offer?" Lucy asked after some time.

"You were forced to share that dreadful experience only because of the scandal, not because you were ready for it. They can't just come to you like this. I don't like the fact that they contacted you so soon and couldn't even wait for Alicia to talk to you first. Their action reeks of desperation, and it is never a good sign," Tom finished, and Lucy looked at him with a slightly raised brow. He hadn't said the one thing she had expected him to say first.

"How come you didn't complain about them asking me to work during weekends when I'm supposed to be with you?" She asked, and Tom shrugged.

"I can't be selfish right now. I'm trying to think of what you want, not what I want," Tom said, and she smiled, pleased that he was thinking about her while she was also trying to think about him.

"The benefits look too good to be true, though," Lucy said, and Tom gave her a nod.

"If something looks too good to be true, then it's probably not true," Tom said, and Lucy giggled.

"Here I was thinking you were true," Lucy teased, and Tom chuckled.

"I'm not too good to be true. If I were, I wouldn't have deceived you from the start," Tom reminded her.

"Good people sometimes do bad things. That doesn't make them bad," Lucy said as she touched his face, "I still think you are too good to be true."

"I guess I'm the only exception to the rule," Tom said, and Lucy hit his arm.

"You're supposed to say that I'm too good to be true too," Lucy pointed out, and Tom chuckled.

"I don't think you're too good to be true. I know you are true," Tom said as he kissed the tip of her nose, and she giggled.

"Tell me honestly, do you want to accept their offer?" Tom asked, looking deeply into her eyes.

"The offer is quite tempting."

"I could give you all that is offered there and more if you want. The car, the house, the all-expense-paid trips, you name it," Tom said, and Lucy smiled.

"But it won't be the same as something I worked for. Besides, if I accept their offer, I can actually affect the lives of other young girls too," Lucy explained.

"You don't have to work for them to affect the lives of young girls. We can establish a foundation in your name if you want," Tom offered, and she smiled as she leaned into him.

"It won't be the same. I don't want my success to be tied to you," Lucy said, and Tom sighed.

"You don't think that everything you do now might be tied to me whether or not you want it to?" He asked as he held her shoulders and gently pushed her away from him so that she faced him.

"Lu, I understand how you feel, and I know how much your career means to you, but I also need you to understand that we will have little or no control over how people perceive you and our relationship. People are going to have a lot of things to say about us both behind us and in front of us. It is something you will have to learn to accept," Tom said, looking into her eyes.

"And you should know that being your man; I wouldn't also just stand aside and watch you struggle to get stuff done. I will always try to make things easier for you, and I won't be pleased if you turn down my help just because you don't want people to think that you're successful because of our relationship. Whether or not you let me help you, people will think whatever they choose to think," Tom pointed out.

Lucy gazed into his eyes, and she knew that he was right. Whether or not she liked it, every time she did something for herself now, people would always think that it was thanks to her relationship with Tom. She would have to work twice as hard to show people that whatever she got was earned, and it wasn't because she had Tom beside or behind her.

"So what are you suggesting? That I ride on your coat tail?" She asked, and Tom shook his head.

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't hesitate to accept my help when you need it or make rash decisions simply because you're worried about public opinion," Tom explained, and she sighed as she leaned against him once again.

"You really don't want me to accept their offer, do you?"

"Yeah, I don't want you to. But if you choose to, I will support you," Tom promised as he placed his arms around her.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me," Lucy said as she rested her head on his chest.

"So? Are you going to take it?" Tom asked, hoping that she would say no.

"I don't know. Can I at least think about it?" Lucy asked, and Tom shrugged.

"You can."

"Thank you. So what were you going to tell me about? Can we discuss it while we eat?" Lucy asked curiously.

"Maybe it can wait until after work hours," Tom said, not sure anymore if it was the right time to tell her about Rachel's role in her abduction, about Rachel and Anita's relationship, or even the fact that Anita's family were thinking of harming her.

Lucy looked at his face closely, and she could tell that whatever it was he wanted to say was something serious, and it was bothering him, "Is it about me or our relationship?"

"Yeah. But it can wait. Let's eat and..."

"No. Tell me about it now," she cut in.

"You need to return to your office. Lunch break will be over soon," he reminded her.

"Then you should start talking. When we leave work, we will be too busy with the rest of the family at your dad's party to talk. I don't want to wait," Lucy insisted.

Tom contemplated whether to play the recording or just tell her, "Rachel is Anita's cousin." Tom blurted out.

"Rachel? Which Rachel?" Lucy asked in confusion, wondering if there was a Rachel they both knew in common.

"Rachel. Your brother's ex-fiancee," Tom said, and confusion swam in Lucy's gray eyes.

"Rachel? Anita?" She asked in disbelief, trying to find the connection.

Seeing how surprised and confused she was, Tom picked up his phone and replayed the recorded conversation.

"That is not Rachel's voice," Lucy said, and Tom nodded.

"Yeah, that is Anita's elder sister, Lisa. Just listen," Tom said, and she remained quiet as she listened to all the conversations with mixed emotions until Anita mentioned Rachel's name, and her jaw dropped in surprise.

"Wait, what? What is she talking about?" Lucy asked, turning to Tom with wide eyes when Anita made reference to her abduction.

"Rachel? She... she helped Jamie?" Lucy asked, her eyes brimming with tears as her chest rose and fell with emotion.

"Jewel..."

"This whole time Rachel remained beside my brother and even wanted to marry him despite playing a role in what happened to me? Has she no conscience?" Lucy asked angrily as the tears dropped from her eyes.

She shook her head as she swiped at her tears angrily, "No. I'm not going to take this lightly with her. I can ignore Anita for whatever she is doing, but Rachel? I will not ignore her. At least she is no longer my brother's fiancee, and I don't have to hold back anymore," Lucy said as she tried to stand up, but Tom grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

She struggled to get up, but he embraced her and held her tightly until she stopped struggling and broke into a sob, "This is why I thought it was a bad idea to tell you about it right now," Tom murmured as he patted her back while she cried.

"Why? Why me? What did I do to deserve such wickedness?" Lucy asked as she cried.

"I was never a threat to her or their relationship. Lucas is my twin brother. Why would she do that to me? Why are Anita and her family doing this to me?" Lucy sobbed.

Tom held her and just kept patting her back while whispering to her that she did nothing wrong until she was able to pull herself together.

Once she was calm, she pulled away from him and looked at him with her tear-stained face, "Lucas can't ever find out about this. He is going to blame himself if he knows that she was involved in it," she said, and Tom gave her a nod as he took out his handkerchief and dabbed at her tears.

"Are we done with the tears now?" He asked hopefully, and she gave him a wobbly smile as he kissed her forehead.

"Thank goodness. For a moment there, I almost joined you but had to hold back my tears because I wouldn't look as pretty as you," he joked, and she laughed softly as she hit his shoulder.

"So let's assume for a moment that I didn't hold you back just now. Where were you going to? And what were you going to do? I doubt Rachel was standing outside my office door," Tom asked curiously.

Lucy scowled, "I don't know. Maybe I would have called her and given her a piece of my mind."

"Yeah, I thought you were going to do that. You can't let Rachel know that you are aware. That will make them know that we are on to them, and we can't have that. And secondly, to correct what you said a moment ago, you are not ignoring Anita and her family. We will deal with every one of them," Tom assured her.

"One more thing I want you to know. Anita's mother is involved in charity. She is a prominent member of a lot of nonprofit organizations."

"You think she has something to do with this offer from SCHF?" Lucy asked, thinking that it didn't make sense.

"It is not impossible."

"How is an offer like this supposed to hurt me? I'm sure there are less expensive ways to get rid of me if she wants to."

"It might not make sense to you, but you never can tell what goes on in the head of people like her," Tom said, and Lucy raised a hand to massage her temple.

"It makes sense that they are all related. My head is beginning to ache," she said with a sigh, and Tom lifted her hand to his lips.

"Enough of the serious conversations. Let's just eat. We can revisit this at a more convenient time," Tom suggested as he stood up.

"Yes. Let's do that," she said as she let him lead her into his mini bedroom, where Adolf had set their meal.

"By the way, are you trying to matchmake Harry and Jade?" Lucy asked, wanting to change the subject to something more pleasant and light.

Tom chuckled, "Where did you hear that?"

"Sonia thinks so. Are you?" She asked as they sat to eat.

"I'm not exactly matchmaking them. I think they will make a good pair, but I'm leaving it entirely up to them to decide. Although I think they are interested in each other," Tom said, and Lucy narrowed her eyes as she recalled her conversation with Harry.

Perhaps something happened between them while either of them was drunk? Lucy mused. She also recalled her brief interaction with Jade earlier. "I think you are right. They will make a great pair."

"Of course, I'm right. That's why I'm your Mr. Right," Tom said with a wink, and Lucy laughed softly as she looked at him.

As she watched him eat, she remembered her conversation with Sonia earlier. Was he going to be okay with just being in a relationship with her? Without marriage or kids? Was she supposed to raise the subject herself or wait for him to talk about marriage before doing so? If she was to raise the subject, how and when could she do so?