CHAPTER 114: ANNOYING FOREIGN INVESTOR

Two days later, a foreign client was scheduled to visit the company, with Sarah personally handling the reception.

Since Lucas happened to be in the country, he also planned to make time to properly welcome the guests.

After all, this was a significant client with a long-standing partnership with the company.

Sarah led the clients to the meeting room, where they engaged in lively conversation for nearly half an hour.

Her diplomatic skills were top-notch—her fluency in their language was almost on par with her native tongue—so she was often entrusted with handling the company’s major clients.

"Beauty, later, bring some hot tea and snacks to the meeting room.

Be careful, okay?"

Lena pointed to the tea set and pastries on the office counter as she instructed.

"Don’t worry, I’ll remember."

Beauty looked up, flashing Lena a bright, squinty-eyed smile before lowering her head again to focus on her work.

Lately, she had been swamped with tasks, nearly drowning in the workload.

After wrapping up a video conference, Lucas headed to the meeting room.

The client was a middle-aged man in his forties, showing slight signs of weight gain.

Upon seeing Lucas, he showered him with praise.

"President Marson, you’re truly a young and accomplished man of remarkable talent."

The man spoke in a broken but enthusiastic voice, his admiration evident.

Beside him, Sarah wore a faint smile—clearly, the earlier discussions had gone smoothly, and Lucas’s presence was more of a formality.

Just as the conversation was in full swing, the door to the meeting room opened, and Beauty entered carrying a tray of hot tea and pastries.

Though she wore flat shoes, her posture was graceful and poised from years of training, her long, slender legs drawing gazes effortlessly.

"And who might this young lady be?"

It seemed this client had studied English for quite some time, making an effort to blend in by conversing entirely in the language of New York.

Though his pronunciation was a bit awkward, communication flowed without much difficulty.

Beauty paused for a brief moment before gracefully introducing herself, "Hello! I’m Assistant to CEO Marson."

The man’s gaze lingered on her slender, porcelain legs, his eyes occasionally darting upward as if trying to peek beneath her short skirt.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances, but since he was a client—and with Lucas present—no one dared to speak up.

Only Sarah frowned slightly before forcing a smile.

"Mr. Neil, this is premium tea, brewed from the finest leaves in our country.

I recall you’ve always had a fondness for tea—would you like to try some?"

"Then I’ll trouble this lovely assistant to pour me a cup," Neil replied, his eyes still fixed on Beauty.

The moment the words left his mouth, all eyes instinctively turned to Lucas.

His expression remained unreadable, dark and inscrutable.

The tension in the room thickened.

Everyone knew that when Lucas was truly angry, it never showed on his face—by the time you realized it, it was already too late to make amends.

For her first time hosting a foreign guest, Beauty remained surprisingly composed.

Her gaze remained lowered, so she didn’t notice the lecherous stare the older man was giving her.

With practiced elegance, she poured the steaming tea into an emerald-green cup, her slender fingers gliding effortlessly before handing it to Mr. Neil.

"Beauty, step outside."

Finally, the boss had spoken.

A collective gasp swept through the room as Lucas’s icy voice cut through the air, his sword-like eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Sarah shot a sympathetic glance at Mr. Neil.

It wasn’t until Beauty had disappeared from view that Mr. Neil finally tore his gaze away, his eyes brimming with undisguised lust.

A dry cough from Lucas snapped him back to reality.

With shameless audacity, Neil immediately grinned.

"I had no idea all of Mr. Marson’s assistants were such stunners.

That last one was particularly... intriguing.

Will she be joining us for dinner later?"

Another wave of shocked silence rippled through the gathering.

Sarah’s heart sank.

Normally, their partner company sent a different foreign representative—this time they’d inexplicably sent this lecherous creep.

Things were about to go south.

Sure enough, Lucas tilted his chin up coldly.

"Mr. Neil mentioned being an expert in combat sports earlier.

Coincidentally, I have some modest interest in martial arts myself.

Perhaps we could spar sometime?

If you win, I’ll bring several more beautiful young assistants to accompany you for drinks."

Sarah pressed her lips together, barely suppressing a laugh as she silently mocked: Looks like Mr. Neil’s about to get schooled today.

"Fantastic!

Let’s have a friendly little match then," Neil replied, completely oblivious to walking into Lucas’s trap, already preening with imagined victory.

After all, Lucas had that deceivingly lean frame—the kind that hid powerful muscles under tailored suits—while Neil was all brute bulk.

The outcome seemed predetermined in his mind.

Twenty minutes later... Both men had changed into training gear.

Lucas peeled off his shirt, revealing sculpted eight-pack abs and bulging biceps.

His lips curled into a faint smirk as he sized up Mr. Neil.

The others waited outside, their hearts pounding with a mix of nervousness and excitement—though certainly not out of concern for their formidable boss.

After all, Lucas was a skilled boxer, someone even Drake couldn’t defeat.

That foreigner clearly stood no chance against him and was bound to get a brutal lesson.

Who told that lecherous old man to keep ogling Beauty like that?

Even they couldn’t stand the way he leered, let alone the boss himself.

A few of them pressed their ears to the door, catching only the rhythmic *thud-thud-thud* of blows—nothing else.

Lucas had only worn one boxing glove, claiming it was only polite to give the guest an advantage.

Neil, of course, was thrilled by the gesture—until he realized just how hard Lucas’s punches landed.

In no time at all, he was flat on the ground.

And somehow, those punches kept *accidentally* landing in the most sensitive spots, leaving him howling in agony.

From outside, it sounded less like a boxing match and more like... something far more suggestive.

The assistants exchanged gleeful glances, practically vibrating with excitement, wishing they could see the spectacle firsthand.

Sarah, however, wasn’t the least bit interested.

She knew Lucas’s temper well—this was his way of teaching that old pervert a lesson he’d never forget, all while leaving him no room to complain.

On the surface, he was being courteous.

In reality, every punch was calculated to inflict maximum pain.

By the end, Neil was drenched in cold sweat, utterly defeated.

At lunch, he didn’t dare ask for any of Lucas’s pretty assistants to join him for drinks again.

He endured the meal with a pained expression, forced to swallow his humiliation as Lucas, ever the cunning negotiator, drove the price even lower.

No one pitied him.

He had no one to blame but himself.

The incident had become the talk of the office, spreading like wildfire.

Even someone like Beauty, who usually paid no attention to office gossip, had caught wind of it—and to her shock, she was the central figure in the story.

She was utterly stunned.

Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that Lucas would go so far as to risk offending a major client for her sake.

Though the contract had ultimately been secured, the whole ordeal left her feeling both flattered and uneasy.

The moment she heard Lucas returning from his meeting, she practically bounced out of her seat, eager to greet him before he even stepped into the office.

But the sight of Drake instantly froze the smile on her face.