Between the Dream I Don’t Need to Continue or the Old Friend I Never Expected

Evelyn asked suddenly.

Lucas froze for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. I'll have Daniela arrange it for you."

"Will my position be lower than Daniela's?" Her eyes went wide.

"Daniela is the CEO." Lucas frowned slightly. "Unless you want the Chairman's seat, it will definitely be lower than hers."

"Am I going to be beneath her again?"

Evelyn's eyes rimmed with red, and she let out a pitiful whimper. "In school, she had better grades and was prettier than me. Later, we both loved you, but you favored her. Lucas, will I *never* be able to beat her?"

Lucas furrowed his brow and sent me a WeChat message: *Daniela, arrange for Evelyn to be a CEO as well. No distinction between primary and secondary.*

A dry chuckle escaped me as I read it.

From the moment I saw Evelyn, I knew she wasn't just here to steal a man—she was here to steal the fortune.

My bottom line had always been clear: infidelity I could ignore, but my property was sacred.

Evelyn had crossed the line.

I was handling paperwork when my office door was shoved open.

Evelyn strutted in wearing a pink professional skirt suit, head held high, chest thrust out. She aimed for imposing but landed squarely on gaudy—like a cheap secretary trying to seduce the boss in a bad movie.

"Daniela, Lucas agreed. My position won't be lower than yours!"

She tossed her handbag onto my desk with a heavy thud.

"I know."

I stood up immediately, grabbing my laptop. "Then I'll go find a spot in the general office area, okay?"

"No!"

Evelyn sneered, arrogance unchecked. "You aren't worthy of being on the same floor as me! I'll tell the cleaning department—you go work there!"

"Okay. I understand."

I tucked my computer under my arm and walked out of my own office without a fight.

Evelyn dropped into my chair, spinning around smugly. Her lips curled into a sinister smile. "It won't be long before the Dickerson Group is mine. As soon as I give Lucas a son, my status will be unshakable! Daniela, you're just a washed-up heiress from a bankrupt family—what right do you have to compare yourself to me?"

Not long after, Lucas's voice drifted in from the hallway. "Daniela, how is the land acquisition in the southern suburbs coming along?"

He pushed the door open, only to find Evelyn wearing headphones, playing video games on the CEO's computer.

"Lucas!" Evelyn ripped off the headphones and jumped up to greet him.

"Where is Daniela?" He scanned the room, confused.

"Daniela... she..." Evelyn stammered, then put on a distressed face. "She *insisted* on working in the cleaning department. I couldn't stop her!"

Her eyes filled with instant tears. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have made so many demands. I made her unhappy."

"Stop crying. I'll go talk to her." Lucas sighed and turned to leave.

He found me working in the storage room a few minutes later.

"You're unhappy, so you deliberately came here to work to spite me?" His voice was tight.

"I didn't..." I started, then stopped and nodded. "Sorry. I was being willful."

"I knew it—Evelyn is talking nonsense."

Lucas looked at me with reproach, but his tone held a trace of something softer. "But you know how it is. She loves me too much, that's why she acts like this. Don't be too calculating with her."

I had given up on Lucas the moment he first cheated.

But now, seeing him defend Evelyn so blindly, ignoring logic and reason, a familiar ache throbbed in my chest.

After all, this was the man I had once loved deeply.

The man who had once protected me against the world.