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Now, being his lawyer, she immediately sought to bring him some benefits from the situation. From what she was suggesting to Director Graham, Don could see that what she wanted for him was not to gain money from this but increased benefits from the organization, which would help Don on his hero journey.

From Director Graham\'s responses, Don could see that even he understood that, and thus his attempts at offering money and benefits outside the organization instead.

As the food arrived, they finally reached a conclusion, and only then did Ms. Claire and Director Graham turn to face Don. Ms. Claire asking, "What do you think of this deal?"

Don couldn\'t help but think, \'Until now, it was like I wasn\'t even there, despite being the main catalyst in all this.\' Although he thought that, he gave a small nod, his expression neutral as he agreed. "I think it\'s fine."

Ms. Claire gave him a small smile and nodded back at him before looking at Director Graham and saying, "Brilliant. I suppose that settles that."

Director Graham showed a warm smile, but then, as he adjusted the necktie of his suit, it could be seen from his body language that he wasn\'t in full support of the deal but was rather left with no choice.

Don couldn\'t help but admire this part of Ms. Claire. She was genuinely ambitious and brutal with the verbal means by which she pursued her goals. But with that said, she was also a threat.

Just from observing her this far, Don could see that she was now having a lot of control over his matters and what was now becoming his life outside of home. The problem with this was, in his current state, he was helpless to stop it.

Her knowledge and expertise were invaluable if he wanted to avoid getting the short end of the stick in more professional matters. But as much as that was important, Don felt it was equally important to retain at least some form of control or risk becoming just another puppet. And that\'s where the question came: how?

For the remainder of the meal, where not much was said aside from casual conversation, Don began thinking of ways he could overcome the obstacle he was faced with. But as much as he thought about it, the easiest and quickest route was also the hardest: simply becoming more powerful.

Whether it was physical strength or mental strength, if he wanted any hope of being treated as an equal or more, he needed to achieve this. Until then, Don felt largely dissatisfied despite the gains of the day and thus chose not to speak too much. MVLeMpYr-original-content

Around 15 minutes after they began eating, Director Graham removed the napkin that was tucked into his collar and said, "Apologies," while turning his head to look at the watch on his left hand. "I have some other arrangements to get to. This was quite enjoyable."

Without missing a beat, Ms. Claire also removed the napkin she had on before saying, "Not a problem. We also need to be on our way."

Don\'s opinion didn\'t seem to matter; he simply removed his napkin as well and placed it down on the side of his plate. Director Graham put on a warm smile and said to them both, "I see. In that case, I bid you safe travels." After saying this, Director Graham took the liberty of leaving first.

Once he was out of view, Ms. Claire turned toward Don before saying, "That went reasonably well, don\'t you think?"

Don gave a small nod and replied, "I always keep my expectations low, so I perceive a lot of things as good outcomes."

Don\'s choice of words made it purposefully hard to discern whether he was being positive or negative in his comment, knowing that Ms. Claire wasn\'t one to directly ask about someone\'s intention but rather reach her own conclusions about it and stick to it. This was the most concise thing he learned about her this day, and he already began to put it to use in the way he replied to her.

Ms. Claire looked at him with a slightly narrowed gaze before showing a small smile at the corner of her lips and saying, "Interesting. Shall we be on our way?"

With nothing more needing to be done, Don and Ms. Claire left the complex and began driving back to Don\'s home.

During the silent drive, in which Ms. Claire was absorbed in a book, Don thought about needing to do his research on Mr. Barclay and his son. After all, although Director Graham stepped in today, he wasn\'t a reliable form of protection, so Don needed a contingency.

By the time they were arriving at the front of his house, he heaved a sigh as he thought, \'As if eco-terrorists and disgusting mutants weren\'t enough, now I have to deal with egotistical assholes who have too much pride.\'

So immersed in his thoughts, Don hadn\'t realized that his sigh was loud. It caught the attention of Ms. Claire, who closed her book and turned her head toward him as the melodic tune playing in the background continued.

"What troubles you?" she asked.

Don turned his head and locked eyes with her. Her cold, almost black eyes left little room for interpretation as to what was behind them—pain, misery, perhaps a calculative genius. Don didn\'t know, and for now, he didn\'t intend to find out.

Rather, he was going to protect his own interests. And so in reply to her question, he simply said, "Nothing that I can\'t solve."

Ms. Claire\'s expression showed some minor confusion at the answer. She furrowed her brow only momentarily before they straightened back into place, and she gave a slow nod in agreement. "I see. Do feel free to reach out to me if it\'s anything I can help with."

Ms. Claire could only reply with this largely neutral answer because, in the same way she left no room for interpretation, Don\'s answer and tone made it hard to distinguish whether he was simply giving her a concise and genuine answer or politely telling her not to butt into his business.

This careful selection of word choice when speaking felt strange to Don, but he now felt it was the most rational way of talking to Ms. Claire. \'This isn\'t going to be easy,\' he thought.

Thankfully for Don, the interaction came to an end since they had arrived at his home, so he chose to quickly end their conversation by saying, "Thank you for the help today. I\'ll be sure to reach out if anything else comes up."

After saying this, Don took the liberty of opening the door to step out. Ms. Claire replied with a soft and sultry, "Of course," before turning her head away as he closed the door.

As the car drove off, Don couldn\'t help but think, \'Time to get to work.\'