Chapter 22

After minutes in each other's arms, her father finally broke the hug and cupped Luna's face. "I probably have a lot of explaining" he mentioned, earning a chuckle and a nod from Luna. Her father laughed a little before standing up. "Come on, let's go to the kitchen and talk," her father said as he reached out his hand to Luna to help her stand up. Luna grabbed his hand and stood up to follow him in the kitchen. She then sat down on one of the stools and watched her father get a drink from the fridge. "Ask away" her father instructed. Luna has a lot of questions, so it took her a while to pick what to ask first. After a few seconds, she finally decided. "Is Mary my stepmother?" she asked. "yes. Your real mother died right after you were born. And when you were only 5 months old, I met Mary. She was applying in being my personal assistant back then, and as days went by, we both fell in love, at least that's what I thought. But as you heard from earlier, she just wanted me because of my money and my name" her father explained as he poured some apple juice into two glasses, offering Luna one, which she accepted and took a sip before asking another question. "why didn't you tell me this when I was little? I would've understood" Luna asked, eager to hear his answer. Her father sat next to her and faced her before speaking. "I was afraid. She might hurt you even more, and she might bankrupt me and take down the business, then make me and you leave this house, and that will lead me into taking care of you without money in my pockets" he explained. "and she shouldn't know about this. Most of the agents in the company look up to her very much because of what "business" she's doing. If she finds out about us talking and the fact that you forgave me, she might tell her agents to take both of us down" he added. "dad, I can handle them you know" Luna defended. "no. don't make any move. It's a very dangerous risk. I wanted you to run the business, so, if you do something now, we might lose it and she'll take over it" her father explained, now looking in a different direction as he sips from his glass. Luna can see the fear in his eyes, the fear of losing. She wanted to tell him more about who she is now, what potential she has now, how much power she has now, but she chose not to. She doesn't want to freak him out, and she's assuming he'll keep denying her. so, she just nodded and took a sip from her cup before asking a different question. "why is she so mad at your brother? Who's your brother anyway?" she asked. "Ace, Ace Washington. He changed his last name when he got married and decided not to change back to our last name even after his wife left him. Mary's mad at him for being successful. And wanted us to be more successful than him, well, she wants to be more successful than him. Ace runs this business where his agents "takes care" of the people who do other people wrong, may it be a bully or an actual gang, and this made him the most known, the most successful, and the richest company that has that objective in this city. Mary planned to build this group of people to terminate him and his agents. She keeps adding people in this group and they train almost every day because she knows how powerful Ace's agents are" her father explained, leaving Luna dumbfounded. "wait, what?! Your father is Ace's brother?!" both Adrien and Kelly yelled through her earpiece. Luna was just staring at her father when he snapped his fingers in front of her face. "are you okay?" he asked once Luna came back to her senses. "yeah. I'm just a bit sleepy. Sorry" she responded. Her father nodded and picked up his cup with Luna's. "go to bed. I'll be taking you to the office tomorrow while Mary will be on a two-day business trip and she'll be leaving after breakfast tomorrow" her father instructed and mentioned as he stood up. Luna just nodded, still staring into nothingness. After putting the two glasses in the sink, John walked towards Luna and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "goodnight sweetie. Don't think about this too much" he said before walking away and going to his room. After a few seconds, Luna snapped back into reality and stood up. "Woah, what the fuck," she thought before walking back into her room.

"Luna. Explain. Now" Kelly demanded in a stern voice. "I still need processing Kelly, even I was caught off guard. But I can't speak of this, for now, most of all, I can't mention this to Mary. We're going to stick with my original plan" Luna explained. "Ace, you're the one who needs explaining" Luna added, knowing that Ace is listening. "I know. But in all honesty, I think it's better if you have your father explain it to you" Ace said. "wait, I want to know now!" Kelly exclaimed. "why does it seem like you're more affected than Lu?" Adrien mentioned. Kelly was silent for a moment before letting out a small and nervous laugh. "Sorry Lu" she apologized. "it's alright. I'm going to sleep. This is too much for one night" Luna responded. Everyone said their goodnights and stayed quiet for Luna to sleep.

Friday

"madam? Breakfast is ready" a maid said as she peeked through Luna's door to wake her up. Luna groaned before responding. "okay" she said, making the maid nod and leave. "good morning cupcake" Adrien greeted. "shut up" Luna responded salty before sitting up. "Salty dream?" Adrien asked, surprised at Luna's response. Luna kept silent and stood up. as she stood up, she felt something "down there". "fuck" she exclaimed before turning around to look at her bed. When she saw the red stains, she groaned louder. "are you fucking kidding me" she said and rushed into the bathroom. "what's wrong?" Adrien asked, hoping for a less aggressive answer. "shut up. I'm trying to look for my necessity" Luna answered as she roams around the bathroom. Before speaking, Adrien checks his calendar in his room. "oh, it's your first day" he mentioned once he saw what the date was. "how did you even know?" Luna asked after finding what she needed. "I keep track of your time of the month so that I know how to treat you properly while you're on your period" Adrien explained. "what a man you got here, Luna" Kelly chimed in. "both of you, shut up. I'm going to take a shower and get ready, which means I'll be getting this earpiece off," Luna said before removing her earpiece and started to undress herself to take a shower.

After an hour or so, Luna finished getting ready and went to the dining room, expecting her parents to not be there for she took way too long to get ready, but she was wrong. "I thought you guys already ate breakfast. I was literally in the bathroom for a fucking hour" Luna said bitterly as she sat on a chair. "Well then, you're lucky it took me an hour as well to get ready. I'll be leaving after breakfast for a business trip. You better behave young lady" Mary said as she eats, not even taking a second to glance at her. Luna just rolled her eyes. "by the way, can one of you change my sheets and wash my clothes. Thanks", she instructed one of the maids in the dining room before starting to eat.

After eating, Mary left, and John instructed Luna to wait in the living room. "just give me a few minutes, I'll just ready my things and we'll head off" her father said before walking to his room. Luna groaned a little and slouched on the couch in the living room. "I can feel the salty vibe from here" Kelly teased, earning an eye-roll from Luna. "felt that eye-roll too" Kelly added before laughing. "you can stop now, kell" Adrien said, making Kelly stop laughing and rolled her eyes as well. "you're very no fun," Kelly said. "Luna, will you wait later tonight, please?" Adrien asked in a calm voice. "for?" Luna responded. "I'll be sending a package for you. Since your stepmother is away, and you and your father are on good terms, I decided to send a package for you later" he explained. Luna just hummed in response since she can hear her father walking near her. "let's go?" her father asked. Luna nodded and walked behind him and went straight into the garage and into the car.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the building and went inside. A woman greeted them as they walked in. "good morning Mr. Crawford and Ms. Crawford" the woman greeted. "call me Ms. Luna instead" Luna said sternly. "anyway, is the room ready?" her father interrupted. "yes sir, please, follow me" the woman said and walked ahead, Luna and her father followed behind. "what room?" Luna asked her father. "you'll see" he responded with a small smile plastered on his face.

They went into the elevator and went to the 21st floor. They stepped out of the elevator and the first thing Luna noticed was the silence in the halls. "there aren't many people here" Luna said. "yeah. I was guessing that you'd like to work in a quiet place" her father responded. "what do you mean?" Luna asked for she was a bit confused. Her father was about to explain, but the woman who was leading them stopped walking and spoke. "we're here" she said and stepped aside to show them a door with a sign that says "Ms. Crawford" on it. Luna tilted her head in confusion. "go ahead, open it" her father said as he gestured her to open the door. Luna slowly walked towards the door and opened it. As she opened the door slowly, it showed a simple yet beautiful office. "Woah" Luna blurted out as she walks in and scans the room. "this is now your office. I hope you like it" her father said sheepishly. "I love it. thank you" Luna said as she turned to face her father, her facial expression was soft and calm.

"You stay here for a while and get comfortable. I'll be in my office. If you need anything, just go to the 24th floor, you'll find my office there" her father said before walking out of the office, the lady trailing behind him. "Wow" Luna whispered under her breath, feeling a bit soft and emotional. "you have a new office now?" Adrien mentioned. Luna just hummed In response and walked around the office, taking a closer look at every detail. "he even provided me a mac book" she mentioned once she noticed the laptop on top of her desk. "seriously, how rich is your father?" Kelly asked. "this rich, I guess" Luna answered as she sat on the chair behind her desk. "I think you should look around the building more. get more clues and hints of what your stepmother wants to do" Adrien recommended. Luna nodded and stood up to walk out of the office.

She went to the 24th floor to ask her father something. "hey, do you somehow have a card that you use to go to the top floor?" she asked her father once she opened the door of his office. "no. that floor was Mary's request, only her and her personal agents have the access to go up there" her father explained. Luna rolled her eyes and thanked her father before walking out of his office. "maybe you can find some agent in the lobby that can get you on the top floor" Kelly said. Luna did what Kelly suggested and went to the lobby on the ground floor. She scanned the area, looking for agents with a different attire since she noticed that her stepmother's agents have a different uniform than the other agents on the building. After a few seconds, she saw a guy with a certain uniform, flirting with an ordinary agent. Without hesitation, Luna walked towards the two love birds and tapped the guy's shoulder. "sorry to bother you and your flirty girlfriend, but I need you to take me to the top floor" Luna said in a stern tone and an unbothered look. "make me" the guy dared, earning an annoying chuckle from the girl he was flirting with. Luna scoffed and smirked. "alright," she said before throwing a hard punch on his face, hard enough for him to fall on the floor, but not enough to make him unconscious like what she did back then. She walked on the side of the guy and bent over a little bit, hovering her face over his. "I said, take me to the top floor you little shit" Luna demanded, earning a terrified look from him. The guy stood up and hesitated for a moment before walking ahead, Luna following behind.

Once they entered the elevator, Luna spoke. "is she an ordinary agent?" she asked. "I don't know what you're talking about," the guy said nervously. "I'm going to ask you again. Is she an ordinary agent?" Luna repeated. The guy gulped before speaking. "n-no" he stuttered. "then why is she wearing the same uniform as the other ordinary agents? Isn't she supposed to be working on the top floor as you?" she asked. "Mrs. Crawford told her to go undercover. She wanted to know what Mr. Crawford is doing, just in case, someone blocks her plans" the guy admitted, making Luna nod. "You bastard," she thought.

After a few floors went by, they finally arrived at the top floor. And, once again, every pair of eyes were glued on her once she stepped out of the elevator. "what are you looking at? Get back to work!" Luna yelled, making the agents remove their gaze on her and continued with their assigned work. Luna walked around and checked every detail the agents were doing. "I'm saying this one last time sir, Mrs. Crawford is not here right now" Luna heard a female agent say. She walked towards that agent and grabbed the phone from her hand and placed it on her ear. "This is Ms. Crawford, Mr., and Mrs. Crawford's daughter. What seems to be the problem?" Luna asked, ignoring the agent in front of her who's giving her a dirty look. "I need to talk to the CEO of this agency right now. I want to apply and work for Mrs. Crawford, and by achieving that, I need to talk to her personally to talk about a deal" the man on the other line explained. "then explain the deal to me. surely, I am the new CEO of this company," Luna said. "what? No way in hell will I talk about this with some girl" the guy exclaimed. "it was nice talking to you then. I guess you're not desperate enough to have the job you wanted in this agency" Luna said, about to hang up, but the guy spoke again. "alright, fine. My deal is; my gang and I will work for Mrs. Crawford in helping her defeat Ace, so long as she pays us 5 million dollars" the guy explained. "So, he doesn't know who I am," Luna thought before speaking. "alright. Come by here tomorrow with your gang, we'll be talking about it personally. You have a high chance of having this job" Luna faked. "But arrive at late afternoon, that's the only time I have for tomorrow" she added. "alright. I'll see you then, Ms. Crawford" the guy said and hung up. Luna gave the phone back to the agent and rolled her eyes at her.

Luna then went to her father's office again to borrow his phone. "what for?" her father asked when she asked for his phone. "I'm going to call Billy to pick me up. I'm on my period and I just want to lie down on my bed" Luna explained. "alright" her father responded before giving her his phone. Luna dialed Billy's number and told him to pick her up.

After a few minutes of waiting in the lobby, Billy finally came and drove her back home. Luna rushed to her room and flopped herself on the bed. "heard that flop on the bed. You alright cupcake?" Adrien asked. "shut up, I'm going to take a nap" Luna answered and quickly drifted back to sleep.

Meanwhile

"what happened?" Mary asked through the phone. "Your daughter took the phone and talked to me. she told me to come by tomorrow and we'll talk about it personally" the guy who Luna talked to on the phone said. "alright. be cautious once you arrive there. That little bitch has a lot of surprises" Mary mentioned before hanging up.

"Better do your job right," Mary thought before throwing her phone in her bag.