New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 363 Frustrated Robert

The loud, persistent sound of someone knocking on his car window startled Robert awake. His eyes fluttered open, and he immediately winced as the blinding sunlight streamed through his car's windshield.

He groaned and straightened up in the driver's seat, feeling a sharp, stiff pain in his neck. "Ugh, great," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to ease the discomfort.

Turning to his window, Robert nearly jumped out of his skin. Standing just inches away was a man, looking concerned, still knocking on the glass. Robert blinked, disoriented for a moment, before rolling the window down. "What?" Robert grumbled, his voice thick with irritation.

The man peered down at him. "You okay, man? You've been sitting here for a while. Didn't know if you were, uh... you know, dead or something."

Robert frowned, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm fine," he said, not bothering to hide his annoyance. He slammed his hand on the button, sending the window back up with a solid thud.

The stranger shrugged, giving Robert a puzzled look before walking away, apparently satisfied that he wasn't dealing with a corpse. Robert leaned his head back against the seat and groaned. "Unbelievable," he muttered, feeling the throbbing in his neck intensify. He cursed under his breath. "Damn Eligos and his goons."

It hadn't been that long since they'd dumped him unceremoniously into his own car, leaving him to wake up in the most uncomfortable position possible. The stiffness in his muscles was a harsh reminder of that. If he ever saw Eligos again, he'd... well, he wasn't sure what he'd do, but it definitely wouldn't be pleasant.

Meanwhile, across town, Claire was not having the peaceful day she had hoped for either. After her brief escape to Cryptonic-where she thought she'd get some much-needed quiet-her stress levels had only skyrocketed.

Someone had managed to hack into her highly secure firewall, one of the toughest ones she'd ever created, and left behind a taunting message. She'd spent hours trying to trace the hacker but kept coming up empty-handed. The frustration gnawed at her. Claire rubbed her temples, feeling the beginning of a headache forming. "Great. Just great," she muttered, pushing away from her desk. Needing a change of scenery, she decided to head to the robotics room to check on the progress of their latest project. When she arrived, she found Stephen tinkering with the second robot, his hands moving deftly as he made some final adjustments. "How's it going?" Claire asked, her voice a mix of curiosity and exhaustion.

Stephen looked up, smiling. "It's going well! We're ahead of schedule, actually. The second robot should be finished before the month's over."

Claire's lips curled into a small smile of appreciation. "That's great news. Thanks, Stephen, and thank the team too for all the hard work."

"Will do," Stephen replied, nodding before turning his attention back to the robot.

it but as soon as she sat down, her phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID, and

Adrian greeted her, his voice warm and full of affection.

couldn't see her. "Not

Adrian scolded playfully. "If you don't, you'll

the door to her office swung open, and Matthew strolled in, laptop under his arm. He caught sight of Claire on the phone and immediately made a ridiculously exaggerated kissy face, complete with loud smooching sounds. Claire rolled her eyes but couldn't help the grin that broke across her face. "Matthew," she hissed, picking up a pen from her desk and throwing it at

laughing as the pen sailed harmlessly past him. "Close, but not quite!"

line, Adrian had clearly heard the commotion.

Matthew

els

who was now lounging

en novelxo

chuckled. "Tell him I

eyes at Matthew, daring him to say something

him I say hey back. And also

the flush

teased, his

miss you too," she admitted softly. "When are we going to spend some

suggested. "We could do something fun-just the two of

sounds perfect," Claire said, smiling

and Claire threw another pen at him and

It's a date," Adrian said, his voice full of warmth. "Now, go eat something, okay? I'll talk to you

soon or else Matthew couldn't help but be jealous over our phone call." Claire said,

Matthew let out a dramatic sigh from the couch. "Oh, young love.