Chapter 206

206 The Constant Disturbance

When Lucien opened his eyes the next morning, he was tortured by an excruciating pain that seemed to inhabit the inside part of his skull and pierce through it with a thousand needles.

It took him a while to remember what brought about this horrible headache.

Once he recalled everything, he groaned and closed his eyes again.

In the kitchen, his phone kept ringing incessantly.

How annoying.

Lucien buried his head under a second pillow.

He did not want to hear from anyone.

He was tired.

He wanted to sleep and do nothing else for five days.

.....

And then someone banged at the front door.

Lucien peeked from under the pillow and stared in the direction of the front door. Unfortunately, being a werewolf did not grant him the ability to see through walls.

“...”

Thinking that it might be someone who was acquainted with Mrs. Wilson, Lucien dragged his sorry ass from the bed and stumbled toward the front door.

Unexpectedly, the person at the door was Alice Clearwater.

“... Mom.”

“Oh, Lucien, my baby,” the woman heaved a deep and theatrical sigh.

Alice swept her son into her arms. “I heard that you moved here temporarily.”

Lucien rolled with his eyes. His mother sure was up-to-date with the latest news.

He did not need to ask his mother where she heard it from.

“Mom, I am fine,” he said, trying his best to belittle the pain in his heart. “I just need to breathe some fresh air somewhere else.”

Away from Ronan’s pheromones that kept trying to cloud his mind.

“Of course,” Alice patted Lucien’s cheek and gave her son an understanding smile.

Without waiting for her son to invite her inside, she then walked past Lucien and stepped into the cozy living room.

“Oooh, look at the nice rug! The owner must be quite a classy lady!”

Beaming at Lucien, Alice then continued, “This is my first time in South Bedford City. Can I stay with you for a while?”

“Um... Yes Mom, of course. Make yourself at home.”

Lucien rubbed at the painful spot between his brows. His mother acted as if visiting South Bedford City was her lifelong dream.

“Goodness, Lucien Clearwater! What’s with this pile of junk food that you bought???”

Lucien swallowed.

“Get your coat!!! We are buying groceries, NOW!”

Lacking another option, Lucien put on his coat and followed his mother out of the house. He threw a glance at the phone that was neglected on the kitchen counter, untouched since yesterday night.

He still did not want to look at it, so he left it behind.

Alice dragged Lucien from shop to shop, buying all sorts of vegetables and meat that was more than enough to feed a family of four for two whole weeks.

Lucien later found out why, and it did not make him any happier.

While Lucien was helping Alice to prepare food, more and more people came to knock at the door to visit Lucien.

The first one was the dean of South Bedford City Art College. And then his ex-colleagues. And then some of his students back when he was still teaching art.

The funniest thing about them was that they came with the same excuse, saying that they were there to visit him after hearing the news that he planned to stay in the city for a few days.

Just where did they hear the news from?

Did Ronan Silverback announce his arrival on television?

Alice did not mind at all. She even urged them to stay longer and offered every single person a seat at the dinner table.

That was how Alice’s visit turned into a dinner party.

“...”

Lucien was speechless.

He was also furious.

With so many people around, even though Lucien wanted to think, he was unable to.

The last people who appeared just before dinner and then of course also stayed for dinner were the curator and designer of Clearwater Contemporary Art Gallery.

The designer just happened to be one of Maya Greenwood’s cousins. He was in charge of designing the set for all of Lucien’s paintings, including the last one which he was working on.

“Absolutely exquisite,” he praised with eyes full of admiration. “I am so happy to be able to see the last painting in your masterpiece series.”

“...”

Lucien wondered how much Ronan paid them all to be here, to coax and cajole him like some high school girl.

“Will Mr. Clearwater be interested in working with me on the last set?” A bright, hopeful smile spread across the designer’s face. “It is always nice to get some input from the artist himself. Your interpretation must be deeper than mine. We can do that for all the others too.”

Well.

Lucien did not want to complain, but he did have some constructive feedbacks that he was dying to give.

The offer was so attractive that he could not refuse it at all.

“Alright,” he said. “When can we start?”

At the Infinite Eclipse Pack House, Ronan Silverback was tapping impatiently at his desk.

He had a lot of work to do, but all he cared about was getting some news about Lucien. Sometime before dinner, he finally got a message from Maya Greenwood’s cousin, the designer Alistair Greenwood.

There was a photo of Lucien during dinner with the caption “Reporting to the Alpha, Mr. Clearwater has agreed to work on the set for the fourth painting.”

Ronan leaned against the headrest and shut his eyes.

He needed Lucien to be busy.

Busy enough to not pay attention to the latest news in media.

Ronan stared at his computer screen. Featured on the cover of an e-magazine for famous rich heiresses and madams, Glamvision, was Lillian Woodland.

She was photographed with a sleeveless, cordless, light-blue and grey satin maternity gown that showed off her naked shoulders and arms.

On the first page of the main article, the beautiful blond woman posed with both hands cupping her round belly, looking as radiant as the sun.

The title of the article was “Pregnant With The Silverback Corporation CEO’s Child – Secret No More”