Page 44 of Obsessing Over His Favorite

“I heard she’s been to a few events with him lately. And even though she’s kind of new, she’s already in charge of major projects. Weird, right?”

“She must be really talented... or really close to Mr. Cantrell,” someone said with a suspicious edge.

As Dillon and Amelia passed the break area, another voice spoke just low enough to not be overheard.

“Is she Mr. Cantrell’s girlfriend? She’s got that ‘soon-to-be fiancée’ vibe, doesn’t she?”

“No kidding. Dillon’s treating her like royalty. He wouldn’t act this attentive unless she was someone special to Mr. Cantrell.”

“Even when that billionaire investor came last week, Dillon wasn’t this helpful.”

“Exactly! You think she’s Mr. Cantrell’s secret girlfriend?”

“Would explain a lot. Like how fast she’s climbing here.”

Meanwhile, Dillon stopped Amelia just as she started to head toward the meeting room.

“No, Ms. Amelia,” he said quickly, holding up a hand with a polite smile. “You don’t need to wait there.”

She blinked in surprise. “I don’t?”

“Of course not,” he chuckled. “You’re special to Mr. Cantrell. How can I make you wait in a meeting room like everyone else?”

He gestured to the executive hallway. “Please follow me. I’ll take you to Mr. Cantrell’s office directly.”

Amelia nodded, pride gleaming in her expression as she followed him. Her heels clicked with confidence, while whispers stirred behind her, growing louder with every step.

“Did you hear that?”

“She’stoo specialto wait?!”

“Okay, she’s definitely more than just a designer.”

“She’s probably living with him already!”

“Next thing you know, we’ll be getting wedding invitations.”

***

Emily burst into Lucas’s room without knocking.

She came to an abrupt stop when she saw she wasn’t alone.

Amelia sat on the couch, Lucas beside her, both absorbed in flipping through a file. The room was silent.

Emily’s lips curled into a victorious smirk as she strode up to them and threw the printouts onto the glass table between them.

“See? Iwasn’tlying. Amelia’s been stealing designs—again. These,” she pointed to the pages, “are part of the new project she claimed to have created. But they’re stolen. That one there for your new project? It’s stolen too!”

Lucas took a deep breath, his patience visibly thinning.

Amelia sat stiff, eyes darting between Emily and Lucas, her hands twitching with nervous energy.

Lucas said nothing at first.

Then he stood, set his file aside, and stepped toward Emily.

“When are you going to stop being so childish, Emily?” His voice was low, tinged with irritation.