Inside Tom's dark bedroom, he and Lucy lay naked on the bed after another round of intense lovemaking, both feeling exhausted and lazy but unable to go to sleep.
Tom listened as Lucy explained the conflict between Sonia and Bryan, and told him about Sonia's annoying reception and her conversation with Sonia.
"You handled things very well," Tom said with approval and then listened as she continued to tell him how they had left for the meeting with the producer and Sonia's editor, and how their plans had changed after his first phone call to her informing her he was traveling to take care of something.
"You mean, my dad told you that you would find Bryan at Harry's apartment?" Tom asked with an amused chuckle as Lucy told him about her day and all that had happened.
"Yeah. He laughed so hard when we showed up there, wanting to surprise Bryan and ended up being surprised. He even yelled, 'Surprise' can you believe that?" Lucy asked, feeling more amused now than she had felt at the time, while Tom laughed really hard.
"Well, he never fails to amuse us. I can't say I'm surprised. He has always been more mischievous than even us, his kids," Tom said with a sigh as he rubbed his Hand down Lucy's naked back.
"Your mom didn't take it so lightly. And I wasn't amused by it either. If he had told us the truth, I wouldn't have lied to you about being at the cinema," Lucy said as she adjusted her head on his chest and circled her forefinger around his nipple.
"So how did the meeting at Harry's apartment go?" Tom asked, and Lucy told him all that had happened, including the girls discussion in the kitchen and how Jade was planning to spy on Harry and Aurora.
"She never listens," Tom said with a shake of his head.
"Maybe you should talk to her. I think Harry might be pissed if she does that," Lucy suggested.
"I'd rather not get involved in their business. They will sort it out on their own," Tom said as he played with Lucy's hair.
"Tell me about your day," Lucy suggested, and unlike Lucy's long narration, Tom summarized his without much details.
"After dropping you off at the airport, I came back home and took Candace and Jamal to Harry's. Although that was after getting into a brief argument with Bryan. And then Harry, Jade, and I went to the company for the interview after we saw a video Bryan's former company released. After that Bryan decided to travel down to Heden to see Sonia, and I decided to go with him to see you. And now I'm here," Tom said, and Lucy wrinkled her nose with disapproval.
"What happened to the details?"
"I didn't want to bore you with them," Tom said, and Lucy scowled.
"Does that mean I bored you with mine?"
"I could listen to you all day and never get bored, Jewel. Talking about my day in details will make us go to sleep faster," Tom said, and Lucy giggled.
"Alright."
"Jewel?" Tom called after sometime.
"Hm?" Lucy asked with a contented sigh.
"I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to explain yourself earlier," Tom said, and Lucy raised her head which was resting under his chin, to look at him.
"Thanks. At least you called back. That made me very happy," Lucy said as she kissed the spot under his chin, and he chuckled.
"God! I love you too much, Lucy," Tom said as he kissed her forehead, and Lucy smiled as she let her head rest on his chest once again.
"I know. And I love you too much too," Lucy assured him.
They both fell silent for a while, Tom thinking about how he would love to have her this way with him forever and Lucy thinking about her conversation with Harry while wondering whether or not to raise the subject.
"Are you sleeping?" Tom asked when she had been quiet for some time.
"No."
"I just realised I never asked you this question. Why did you decide to take such a risk on your birthday? I mean, your checklist?" Tom asked, and Lucy giggled at the memory of Tom catching a glimpse of the checklist.
"I always played safe after that incident. For a change, I wanted to mark my birthday by doing something shocking and wild. It was a dare to myself to lose my virginity on my birthday if I got the promotion...."
"Maybe I'm wrong, but that doesn't sound like something a practical person like you would do. It was dangerous. This whole time I was thinking maybe Sonia dared you into doing it. I can't imagine you deciding to lose your virginity to a stranger on your birthday," Tom said, and Lucy sighed.
"Sonia had nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, my intention was to shock her. But you are right about it not being something a person like me would do. The funny thing is I dared myself I would do that IF I got a promotion before my birthday. I didn't think I was going to be promoted before. Maybe after, but not before. And then you can't imagine my shock when the promotion came two days before my birthday," Lucy said, and Tom chuckled.
"I think I would have gone home without approaching anyone if you had not offered yourself," Lucy said with a grin.
"I guess the universe was trying to hook us up hence the promotion came when it did," Tom said, and Lucy giggled.
"Even if I hadn't gone there that day, we would definitely have met at the company," Lucy said reasonably.
"I highly doubt that," Tom said, and Lucy sat up to look at him with a slight frown.
"Why not?"
"Because I would not have paid any attention to you...."
"What makes you think so?" Lucy asked, feeling slightly miffed at that.
"Because I do not mix business with pleasure. I don't get involved with my employees...."
"Yet here you are lying naked with one," Lucy said dryly, and Tom chuckled.
"The most beautiful and sexy one at that. I'm such a lucky bastard," Tom said, amused by her annoyance.
"We both know that's not true," Lucy said with a scowl even if she was pleased by the compliment.
"What's not true? You don't think I am a lucky bastard?" Tom asked with a grin, deliberately misunderstanding her.
"I'm not the most beautiful or sexy staff at I-Global," Lucy said, and Tom raised a brow.
"I don't know what you're talking about. But it's true for me. You're so beautiful that I find everything you do sexy. You could even fart right now, and I'll get a hard-on," Tom said with a grin, and Lucy burst into a peal of laughter.
"That's so disgusting, and it's not even true," Lucy said amidst her laughter while Tom smiled as he watched her.
"I guess you're no longer feeling offended?" he asked, and Lucy tried to maintain a straight face.
"I wasn't mad."
"You were not pleased either. I didn't fall for you as my employee, Jewel. I don't even remember that you work for me most of the time. I liked you before realising who you were. So with you, I'm always simply Tom..."
"So it's 'like' now? No longer love?" Lucy asked, and Tom chuckled as he pulled her back to lie on him.
"I think you should go to bed now," Tom suggested as he kissed her forehead.
"You haven't told me how you handled Rachel," Lucy reminded him.
"I gave her dad a call using her phone," Tom said, and Lucy raised a brow.
"Why her phone?"
"Why would I want someone like him to have my personal line?" he asked, and Lucy smiled.
"So what if you didn't have Rachel's phone?"
"Then I would probably have used Adolf's or Samantha's phone," Tom said, and Lucy laughed softly.
Lucy sighed after Tom told her about his threat to Rachel's dad, "Do you also think he killed his brother?"
"It's not impossible. But I don't think I care about that. I don't want to know about it. We already have enough trouble on our plate, and I don't want to add that to it...."
"You shouldn't say that. If he killed his brother, then it's our duty to expose him and make sure he is punished for it. Evil prevails when the good do nothing," Lucy said, and Tom sighed.
"Jewel, we have no business with Rachel's dad...."
"You mean apart from the fact that he raised such a silly daughter and also stole Candace's money and dumped her in an orphanage home?"
Tom sighed, "What do you want us to do?"
"I don't think you need to do much. I thought about it earlier. I think we could send an anonymous message to his opponents informing them of Candace's existence and telling them of the possibility that he killed his brother. I'm sure with such information, his opponents would be more than eager to dig into his past and expose him. He would not only lose the elections but also face justice," Lucy said reasonably.
"That is assuming his opponents don't have their own secrets," Tom pointed out.
"That's the reason I said opponents, not an opponent. They all can't be corrupt. There must be someone among them who will be willing to expose him, and when that happens, if Candace wants she can take him to court to fight for all that is rightfully hers," Lucy said, and Tom nodded.
"Alright. We will discuss it with the others later. But you realise that doing that might also mean that Harry and Candace have to explain their relationship and expose Sara, right? I don't know if they will be willing to do all of that."
"We will definitely discuss it with them," Lucy said with a sigh.
"What about Rachel? Do you have anything in mind for her?" Tom asked, and Lucy fell silent for some seconds.
"I think dealing with her father should be enough punishment for their family. At first, I wanted to punish her and expose the role she played in my abduction, but then I had to think of Lucas. He loved her for years. He was this close to making her his wife. For his sake, I'm willing to let it go. But I will have to hit her. Just once, at least," Lucy said, and Tom nodded.
"I will make it happen," He assured her.
"I know you will. What's the plan for tomorrow?" Lucy asked curiously.
"Today, you mean? It's past midnight already. We could spend all day right here in bed and then go out for dinner. What do you think?" Tom asked, and Lucy opened her mouth, wanting to ask about everyone else and if they didn't need to spend time with them, but with one look into Tom's eyes, she changed her mind. They could all wait.
"Sounds like a plan. Apart from the fact that I don't think there's any way we can achieve that with so many people in the house with us. They're going to interfere," Lucy pointed out as she snuggled closer to him.
"I guess we will have to go out earlier then. Let's go to bed," Tom said as he kissed her forehead before patting her back and hair to put her to sleep.
"Sweet dreams, Jewel," Tom whispered.
Just as Lucy was at the edge of drifting off to sleep, she remembered something and opened her eyes, "How come Director Anderson did not recognise you? She is a director, right? So by now, she must have seen your face. Am I wrong?" Lucy asked, and Tom, who had been trying to go to sleep himself, opened his eyes, wondering why she was suddenly asking him that.
"She has seen me only once since her appointment as director some months ago. I'm sure she would never have imagined I was the one. Not with the hairstyle, piercings, or contact," Tom said, and Lucy nodded.
"I guess so. Even I would never have imagined it," Lucy said with a yawn.
"Why did you ask?"
"I was curious about it before now during the last meeting and only just remembered to ask now. I thought she must have been pretending not to recognise you and was making passes at you," Lucy said, and Tom chuckled.
"I see. You don't have to worry about Cora or anyone else...."
"Don't mention her name. You're never to call her that," Lucy said, pressing his lips together, and Tom chuckled.
"What am I to call her then?"
"Director Anderson. That's masculine enough," Lucy said, and Tom chuckled again.
"Yes, my queen," Tom said, and Lucy sighed in contentment as she snuggled closer.
"I want to get inside your body," she said sleepily, making Tom laugh.
"You're so adorable," Tom said as he kissed the tip of her nose.
"Sweet dreams, Ace. I love you," Lucy said with another yawn before giving in to her tired body.