The plan had fully set in motion and the Prime Minister was playing along just the way Lucien planned.
"Oh why Lucien, you seem rather excited to be in such close proximity with me and that's usually rare, you flatter me with your signals." Lucien said nothing and stared directly into his eyes, not blinking once or noticing anything else in the room.
It was one thing to be a billionaire and another to be a playboy but Lucien was both and he delivered each character rather flawlessly and from the way things were looking, it was working.
The prime minister didn't say a thing and Lucien could tell the effect was troubling his senses and that was exactly what Lucien was trying to do. He came closer to his face, and the prime minister also leaned in, the tension was killing Lucien but he had to be calculative.
Just when their faces were a few inches away from meeting, Lucien stood up. Not hurriedly, but with calculated grace and reserve. The Prime Minister was taken aback by this reaction and turned to him from where he sat.
Lucien could feel his gaze on him and that was the perfect moment to spin the wheels on the situation. He lowered his head and turned stylishly, and made eye contact with the prime minister.
His face was like that of a character one would see in a romance movie, where the hero was yearning to get to his beloved but circumstances were against him. Then he finally spoke, "Why have you kept your feelings away from me? Why didn't you tell me all this time that you wanted me just as much as I wanted you?"
The prime minister was a middle aged man but the reply Lucien gave made him look like he was somewhere around his late twenties.
"Why Lucien, this is a surprise…"
"A surprise? Lucien said cutting him short, he couldn't risk giving him a chance to say anymore. He needed to listen to Lucien and take in each word bit by bit for this plan to be successful.
"All those moments where I didn't know what to do, and for a single moment, it didn't look like you wanted me and now you're so casually leaning in to kiss me?" Lucien continued with his face imitating the look of a man who had been so apart from his love for the longest.
"I've always wanted you but I wasn't sure you were ready to accept who you are, the truth about your interests, the truth you've hidden from the entire world, the truth you've kept hidden from your family, from your own wife. If you couldn't even accept yourself, then how can you accept me? How can you accept what we have? This ...."Lucien said, demonstrating the two of them.
"If we are ever going to be together then you'd have to fully be honest, to me, at least." It worked, perfectly, Lucien knew that if he asked him for the entire Newton city, the minister would give it to him in a heartbeat.
He sat there still, a mixture of shock and disbelief in his eyes. He looked so touched and Lucien could tell his waters were stirred in all the ways that he'd never experienced before.
"Lucien ... .why…why didn't you tell me this all this time?" He looked so touched, his hands were on his chest and he leaned in so feminine it almost made Lucien want to puke but he had to stay in character.
Somewhere in his heart, Lucien felt bad for trying to play with his feelings but the man was evil and disgusting. He was known to claim people's properties and had sexual crimes linked to his name. That was more than enough to remove the guilt from Lucien's mind.
"It's not that I didn't want to tell you Lucien, I just didn't know if you felt that way, matter of fact, you didn't cross my mind in a way that you'd want ... .this."
"That's where you're wrong, I've always wanted to tell you about my feelings," Lucien said, mimicking a man in distress.
"You have no idea the nights I stayed up just thinking and wondering if you ever saw me in the way I saw you, if you had said something this whole time, we could have made this work this work much earlier."
"What do you want? Tell me, I'll do anything you want Lucien, I'm so sorry I didn't realize much sooner, I just thought you played for the other side but you have no idea how I've wanted it to be you Lucien. Tell me what you want, a position in politics? Lands? Name it Lucien and you'll have it."
This was just perfect, he had said more than enough but Lucien was nowhere near done with him.
"I don't want anything from you, I just want your love and one thing."
"Name it Lucien." The prime minister said, standing up and reaching for him. Lucien stepped back, careful not to show his disgust but just right to believe that he was a man in pain.
"You promise?" He nodded with so much emotion.
"Tell me who the Crow is then." The prime minister's expression immediately changed and Lucien could tell he was taken aback.
Under normal circumstances, he would have taken his time to carve this plan properly but his father was about to hand over to the next president of Crane Board of Directors and he didn't have much time.
The other ultimatum would be to get married but he wasn't ready to settle yet, probably never.
"Who is that?" Lucien could tell he was trying to pretend and that was all he needed to stop there. In case he got suspicious, he had to end this ruse now. "I'll give you time to remember then." Lucien turned to leave and sneakily removed the camera Joe had placed when he entered the room.