Chapter 3

At nine o'clock on Monday morning, the people in the conference room trickled in one by one.

I got there ten minutes early, setting the project proposals in front of every seat.

Mia followed me in, speaking quietly, "Lucas is already here."

I nodded. "It's just business. Let's keep things professional."

As soon as I finished, the conference room door swung open.

Lucas walked in, with two company execs trailing behind him.

When he saw me, he paused for a moment.

Then he broke into a smile.

"Ms. Bennett, what a coincidence," he said.

I didn't respond to that.

"Mr. Grant, your seat's on the right," I said.

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Last night you called me Lucas, and now it's 'Mr. Grant'?"

A few of my coworkers glanced over.

I closed my laptop.

"This is the office. If you want to talk about personal matters, let's do it after the meeting," I said.

Lucas's smile faded a bit. "Alright. Whatever you say."

With that, he slid into the seat to my right.

That seat was supposed to be Mia's.

Mia shot me a look, then quietly slid over to the next spot.

I wasn't about to argue with Lucas.

At nine o'clock, the meeting began.

The Architecture Profiles series was the publishing house's big project this year.

The first book in the series was about Ethan.

He was thirty-two, an associate professor in the architecture department, and also a partner at Parker & Associates Architects. He had won quite a few awards, both domestic and international, over the past few years.

Grant Group was planning to build a new tech park headquarters, and they were already in talks with Ethan's team.

So it wasn't surprising that Lucas was willing to sponsor this project.

I'd finished going over the initial planning and was about to move on to the promotion section.

Lucas suddenly raised his hand. "I have a question."

I paused. "Go ahead, Mr. Grant."

He flipped through a couple of pages of the proposal.

"The budget for the in-person launch event is way too low, and the venue is nothing special," he said. "Grant Group can throw in another 600 thousand dollars to move the event to Summit Hall."

People in the conference room were clearly stunned.

Renting Summit Hall for one night was already a huge expense.

And now Lucas was offering to add another 600 thousand dollars on top of that.

The chief editor Bill Yates's eyes practically sparkled. "Mr. Grant, are you—"

But I cut Bill off. "That's not necessary."

Lucas looked at me. "Why not?"

"The current budget is already sufficient," I said. "This project is about architecture and culture, not a corporate gala. Too much sponsorship would only overshadow the actual content."

Lucas set his pen down on the table. "Isn't having more money a good thing? Didn't you always hate scrambling for budget back then, Claire?"

I looked up. "Like I said, Mr. Grant, let's keep our personal history out of the workplace."

No one said a word.

Lucas's smile stiffened for a split second.

Soon, he leaned back in his chair. "Alright," he said. "Then we'll go with Ms. Bennett's plan."

Mia lowered her head in the back. Her shoulders were trembling.

I didn't need to look to know she was holding back a laugh.

The meeting went on.

At 9:20 AM, footsteps echoed outside the door.

The assistant pushed the conference room door open, saying, "Sorry, Mr. Parker just finished his class at the university."

I instinctively looked up.

Ethan walked in.

He had a black coat draped over his arm, and underneath was a plain dark gray shirt.

He glanced around the room. His eyes paused on me for a moment, then he quickly looked away.

"Sorry I'm late," Ethan said. "Traffic was a nightmare."

Bill stood up immediately. "Mr. Parker, no need to apologize. Please, have a seat."

There was only one seat left in the conference room, and it was right across from Lucas.

Ethan took the seat.

Lucas reached out to shake hands with him.

"Mr. Parker, I've heard so much about you," he said.

Ethan shook his hand. "Mr. Grant, my team should've reached out to you about the tech park project."

"Yeah, I've seen the proposal."

Lucas's eyes lit up. "When would you have time for a one-on-one discussion, Mr. Parker?"

Ethan glanced at the proposal on the table. "Let's talk about the book first. We can discuss other matters later."

Lucas didn't get upset. Instead, he smiled. "Alright. I like how you keep business and personal separate."

I kept my head down, flipping through the files, but I almost couldn't hide my smile.

Lucas probably had no clue that nobody in this conference room was better at keeping business and personal issues separate than Ethan.

In the next half hour, Ethan and I hashed out the interview details.

"Let's delete Chapter Three," Ethan said.

I frowned. "Why?"

"That's too personal."

"But that's when your whole approach to architecture shifted the most."

"Let's use a different example."

"The other examples aren't strong enough." I slid the file over to him. "We have to keep this section."

Ethan looked at me. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

He paused for a couple seconds.

"Alright," he finally said. "We'll do it your way, Ms. Bennett."

Mia blinked, but Lucas frowned.

"You are this agreeable, Mr. Parker?" Lucas said.

Ethan said calmly, "When it comes to professional matters, I trust the editor."

Lucas smiled. "Fair enough."