Chapter Two
Lucas hoped that he wasn’t late for a meeting he had with a new investor. Hamilton Enterprise was branching out more into other parts of Europe, such as buying property for companies that could turn over a more substantial profit. He and Tyler were opening Hamilton branch offices all over Europe.
Their newest one would start work in Italy. They were setting their sights on France, which was why they were meeting with Mister Martin Jacques. He and Tyler were very excited about the new venture. Since their dad resigned and turned the company over to them, they've made a lot of changes to improve the work performance of their company's employees.
One of the new changes affected them both personally because they had young children. They decided to empty out all the offices on the ground floor of the building and knocked out the office walls converting the open area into a daycare for everyone to take advantage of cost-free. He looked down at his watch then back at his daughter who was not a happy camper that morning. Zoi seemed to have a hard time letting go of him. Each time he tried to put her down she started to cry and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
"Come on, Zoi, Daddy has to go to work. I’ll be upstairs if you need me, I promise,”he told her as he tried to put her down one more time.
"No, Daddy," she whined.
Pattie, the daycare provider, reached out for her, and it only made Zoi scream louder in his ear. Lucas would have been suspicious that the providers were mean to the kids, but it wasn’t the case. Parents were allowed to show up throughout the day to spend time with their kids. Never mind the cameras stationed around the room that connected to a secured company website where parents could log in and look in on their child whenever they wanted.
Maybe she's coming down with something?
He touched her forehead checking her temperature. It felt normal to him. He tried to put her down again when Sadie, her little friend, came over to them and was trying to get her attention, but Zoi refused to even look at her friend.
"I'm sorry, Sadie, I don't think she's in the mood to play today."
He didn't have a choice—Zoi was going to be spending the day with him. The deal they were working on was very important, and his investor would just have to understand that he was dealing with a cranky child.
Maybe I can have my assistant watch her while I'm meeting the Mister Jacques or try to put her down for a nap. Yeah, no two-year-old goes to sleep when you tell them.
He got on the elevator and glanced at Zoi who seemed happy that she got what she wanted.
"Good morning, Mister Hamilton," his assistant, Matthew, greeted when he got off the elevator. He tried to hand Lucas a hot cup of coffee but stopped realizing he had Zoi in one hand and his briefcase in the other.
Lucas handed Mathew hisbriefcase along with Zoi's bag and took the coffee cup from him. "Good morning, Matt.”
"Sir, would you like for me to take Zoi to the daycare?" he asked as they started walking in the direction of his office.
At hearing her name, Zoi lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at Matthew as if he was a stranger to her.She’s definitely in one of those moods."No, thank you, it's a spur of the moment, take your daughter to work day." He smiled at Matthew. "Is my brother here yet?"
"Yes, sir, he's in the conference room. He wanted to check everything over before Mister Jacques arrived."
"Did you remember to—"
Matthew was already nodding before he finished his question. "Yes, sir, and I checked to make sure that Mister Jacques arrived and was picked up on time. And that he was settled in his hotel room. He was treated to dinner and special entertainment at his request."
"What about—"
"There's a car waiting for him as we speak to bring him here and Clarence will be waiting downstairs to greet and show him to the conference room after he's been given the guided tour."
"Thank you, Matt, you are truly an asset to me. What would I do without you?” he complimented his assistant as they separated, but not before Lucas heard his mumbled words of "I could think of a few things."
Lucas knew that Matthew had a small crush on him, but it never interfered with doing his job, and he never encouraged his feelings. Lucas simply pretended he didn't know. As a matter of fact, a few of the women and men who worked for him had a small crush on him and his brother. But Lucas wasn't interested in dating anyone. His heart still belonged to Rebecca, and it would for a very long time.
Lucas headed straight to the conference room while Matthew went to his office. He opened the door to the conference room and just as Matthew said, Tyler was checking things over. They both had an obsessive-compulsive disorder when it came to making sure that everything was done a certain way for their meetings.
"Hey, big bro," he greeted with a smile. "And it's Princess Zoi, what brings you to our lovely kingdom today?" Tyler walked over to them with his hands extended and she practically jumped into his arms.
Lucas sighed, happy that he was finally able to take a sip of his coffee and watched as his brother made his daughter smile. Lucas was known for spoiling Zoi but so did everyone in his family. He knew that it wasn't out of pity because she had a way of melting the coldest hearts—one of the reasons he easily bent to her will.
"Hey, Ty, do you think you can handle the meeting on your own?"
Tyler looked away from Zoi and looked him over. "Yeah, but why?"
"This is the most she's smiled all morning."
