Secretly Mine

As I walked back to the painting room, I could feel the soft and slippery material of the dress glide against my body.

The silky material was cooling to the touch, causing my nipples to get hard. Thankfully, the material was opaque, so it wasn't easy to tell.

I entered the painting room and froze. My eyes were glued to the sight in front of me.

"Lucas! How did you manage to paint it so quickly?!" I exclaimed in shock.

He turned around to see my expression, but froze in place as he looked at me in the dress. The pause was only a moment long before he resumed his normalcy.

"Yeah. I didn't sleep at all last night. In fact, I didn't stop painting since you left all the way until I left to pick you up," he admitted, guiltily.

"What? You stayed up all night painting? No wonder..." I said with surprise.

The portrait in front of me felt like I was looking into a mirror. Lucas was able to perfectly capture every part of me.

"I don't even know what to say. This is incredible..."

I walked over to get a closer look. There was so much detail in the way the light reflected off of me that it felt like the version of me in the painting was alive.

Lucas smiled, pleased with my reaction. "It's almost finished. I just need to add a few small details, and thank you for wearing the dress....you look stunning."

I felt my face heat up from his compliment. Averting my gaze, I shyly nodded. "Thank you."

Lucas led me over to the chaise lounge in the center of the room. The table beside the chaise was already filled with various snacks and drinks.

"This is wine, and those are fruit juice," he said, pointing to the various glasses.

I smiled and nodded, grateful that he took the time to point out the wine so that I wouldn't embarrass myself like last time.

"Let me know if there's anything you need or if you need to take a break," he said softly.

I nodded and looked at him with slight concern. "Are you sure you want to do this? You haven't slept, I'm sure you're exhausted. We can finish this tomorrow if you'd like."

Lucas flashed me a bright smile, showing off his pearly white teeth. "Thank you for your concern, but I assure you I am doing well. In fact, I'm more excited about painting something than I've ever been in my entire life."

After reassuring me, he disappeared behind the canvas.

The room became silent, and only Lucas's small steps could be heard as he walked from one side of the canvas to the other.

I continued to lie on the chaise, occasionally treating myself to one of the snacks that Lucas had kindly prepared.

As I was lying, my thoughts continued to ping back to the conversation I had with Christian earlier. Something was definitely strange about the situation revolving around my father.

Could it really be true? Could he really be involved in something so horrible?

I shuddered at the thought. Unless my father was secretly a gambling addict, I really couldn't come up with how we would suddenly be facing a financial crisis. It also happened very suddenly-- too suddenly.

A financial crisis rarely happens overnight. Especially for a well-established business like our auction house.

I even entertained the thought of my father having a secret family somewhere that he's been supporting all these years. But even if that was the case, how would that lead to a sudden downfall?

My head was starting to hurt from all of the scenarios I was coming up with. But worst of all, I kept landing on what Christian said.

Okay. What if it were human trafficking... how would that suddenly land us in a financial crisis?

At first, no real ideas came to mind, but as I began to think more and more, I started to finally come up with possible scenarios.

Hush money, payment, paying people off to get access to places, paying off government officials...

There was a whole list of possibilities, and I was sure there were more than just what I had come up with.

My body turned cold. I wasn't sure if it was out of fear, but I immediately started convincing myself that I was being ridiculous.

But Christian made it sound like he was close to finding the evidence. He was also very serious about it.

I closed my eyes while my expression turned serious. There was only one way to find out. I had to go see for myself.

-

"Leslie?"

I jolted up in my seat, meeting Lucas's smiling face.

"Haha, are you doing okay? I've been calling your name for a few minutes now," he asked with a slightly amused expression.

"Oh! Yes! I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought!" I quickly replied, looking away shyly.

"Not a problem. Come, I want to show you. I think it's finished," he said, holding his hand out to help me up from the chaise.

I accepted his hand, using it to help me stand up. However, after I was already standing, Lucas didn't let go.

"Come take a look," he said, pulling me to the other side of the painting.

The moment I laid my eyes on it, I was stunned speechless. I had already thought that there weren't many ways he could improve it, but now the portrait felt like a photograph.

"Lucas... this..."

The way the moonlight glowed off of my skin, and even the glistening of my eyes. The person in the painting looked prettier than me in real life.

Lucas was closely studying my expression as my eyes continued to wander around the canvas.

"You painted me to look so ethereal. Like a fairy," I said softly with a smile.

Lucas shook his head, "No. I only paint exactly what I see. This is what you look like in my eyes, Leslie."

At first, I thought he was being silly, or just complimenting me in this manner, but when I met his eyes, I realized that he was being completely serious.

"..Lucas..." I said softly, unsure how to answer.

We both looked into each other's eyes, looking for the words to say next. My heart started to beat a little faster, and my face felt a little warm.

Lucas extended his hands, placing them around mine. He took a step closer, standing closer to me than he ever had in the past.

"Leslie. There's something I want to tell you. It's something that's been buried deep in my heart since the moment I first saw you on stage."