Bait for a Gentleman novel Chapter 13

The Everest Law Group occupied a towering high-rise right in the beating heart of Kingshire's CBD.

By the time Sebastian left the hotel and arrived back at the firm, it was exactly nine-fifty. The meeting was slated to start precisely at ten.

During the grueling two-hour year-end review, he didn't absorb a single word from any of the department directors.

But then again, no one else in the conference room was paying much attention to the financial projections on the projector screen, either.

From the moment Sebastian sat down, no less than seven or eight pairs of eyes kept darting toward his neck. There was a glaring red mark, placed at an incredibly conspicuous angle. His shirt collar completely failed to conceal it, and halfway through the meeting, he had nonchalantly reached up to loosen his tie, exposing even more of it.

When the meeting finally adjourned at noon, absolutely no one dared to ask him about it. However, the second they stepped out of the conference room and dispersed toward their desks, the private group chats were already exploding.

"Did you guys see that? Was that... a hickey on Mr. Hawthorne's neck?"

"Holy shit, I thought I was seeing things."

"Wait, so Mr. Hawthorne actually had a hookup last night???"

"Since when does he have a woman? Isn't he basically a monk?"

"The ones who live like monks are the scariest. They starve themselves, but when they finally eat, it's an absolute feast."

...

His personal assistant, Layne, followed Sebastian into his private office, clutching a tablet as he began running down the schedule for the upcoming week.

"Monday morning, there's a hearing at the Kingshire Intermediate Court. The afternoon is booked for the equity dispute mediation. Tuesday, you fly out to Shoreham City for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new branch. Wednesday..."

Sebastian leaned back in his leather chair, eyes closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Layne paused briefly before scrolling further down. "Thursday... Kingshire Financial News sent another invitation. The Financial Frontline program wants to book you for an exclusive interview."

Sebastian's voice carried a hint of impatience. "Reject all of these types of interviews from now on. Don't even bother asking me."

"Understood." Layne swiped a line across the tablet and scrolled down two more rows. "There's one more thing at the end of the month. The Sutton Group's anniversary gala. Zachary Sutton sent a personal invitation. You mentioned earlier that you might be busy, so I've been holding off on RSVPing."

Sebastian opened his eyes. "Clear my schedule for those days."

"Right away." Layne looked down, tapping the notes into his tablet.

Having finished the briefing, Layne quietly saw himself out, pulling the heavy door shut behind him.

...

Monday morning, precisely at eight o'clock, Audrina reported to the Kingshire Financial News headquarters.

After completing her onboarding paperwork, she clipped her ID badge to her blazer and took the elevator straight up to the financial programming department.

As she walked past the pantry, she caught snippets of a lively conversation.

"Hey, did you guys hear? For the Sutton Group's anniversary, they rented out an entire ultra-luxury cruise ship! I heard it's setting sail from Kingshire Port for a massive three-day party! Ugh, to be that rich!"

"The Sutton Group? Which Suttons?"

"How many Suttons are there in Kingshire? Zachary Sutton's family, obviously."

"Oh, right. Who is his fiancée again? What was her name?"

"No idea. She keeps a super low profile anyway."

Audrina didn't break her stride, gliding silently past the pantry door.