Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“My priority was keeping the man alive. If he dies, no headline in the world is big enough to bury that. And in case you missed it, I’ve already shut the story down. I’m tracking every post, every feed. I don’t need you playing PR consultant over the phone.”He was alsout to hang up when Reginald whined, “You don’t resp me. Not a bit. Look how you talk to me,
Sebastian tilted his head, rolling his neck until it cracked.
“How I talk to your depends on how you act. You get what you give!
Another beat of breathing. Then Reginald sighed.
Forget it. Whatever. Anyway, we’ve been asking you to come back for dinner. Not me your grandfather. He asked for you himself. You ignoting him now too?”His birthday’s coming up. I’ll be there.”At least you’ve got some manners left.”Sebastian paused, then added flatly, “One more thing. Thought I’d give you a heads-up. I’m married. I’ll be bringing her with me. It anyone so much as pulls a face at her, I swear I’ll buff the place down with all of you still inside,”He hung up before Reginald could open his mouth again.
His eyes shifted to the study door.
Three doors down was Eleanor’s room.
She was in there.
Showering, maybe.
Or lying in bed scrolling through videos.
Or… just sitting there, stewing, wondering why the hell he hadn’t come knocking yet.
He wanted to.
His body wanted to.
Every muscle was strung tight like he’d just done a full set of deadlifts with no rest.
The craving was physical now-crude, annoying, sharp-edged.
But-
He exhaled, like he was trying to bleed the tension out of his lungs.
Then he rang Cassian.
There was still work to clear.
Ramon Vega’s status needed chasing.
Dominic had better have an update.
The legal team needed marching orders-start prepping charges for that rat bastard in procurement who’d pocketed kickbacks and ordered garbage-grade steel.
If criminal negligence didn’t stick, they’d slap him with something else.
Truth was, he should’ve dealt with it all hours ago.
But Octavia Grey had given him one window-tonight or not at all.
So he’d made the dinner happen.
And after what Eleanor had pulled in the car-sliding into his lap like she lived there, mouth hot and greedy on his, fingers threading through his hair-
Yeah. He’d do it again in a heartbeat.
The next morning, we didn’t talk about almost having car sex.
Because obviously, pretending nothing happened was the mature thing to do.
The silence stretched across the table like a bad wifi connection-atchy, tense, and just begging to crash.
I was the first to crack.
“Can I ask you something?”.
Sebastian looked up.
“Sure.”I went to LGH that day, and Dominic said you were out on a date with some actress. Octavia Grey, he’d said. But then she told me last night you two are just mates. So, who was the mystery woman you were actually hooking up with?”I’d told myself I didn’t care.
Turns out I was full of shit.
His silence had been gnawing at me all morning.
He was the one who’d kissed me like he wanted to memorise the taste of my tongue, and now he was sitting here, sipping his coffee like we hadn’t nearly dry-humped in a Maybach.
Sebastian choked.
Full-on, coughing-up-a-lung choked.
He grabbed a serviette and wiped his mouth, coughing out, “I never went on a date with any actress. Dominic was just… talking nonsense.”
“Right,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
Because Dominic Everett, a man who looked like he alphabetised his Spotify playlists, just strikes me as the kind of guy who randomly makes up celebrity hook-ups for fun.
Sure.
But if Sebastian wanted to lie, that was his problem.
It wasn’t like our contract had a truth-telling clause.
He reached for his water and muttered, “Clearly I’ve been giving Dominic too little work. He’s got too much time to be creative. I’ll dock his pay.”Poor Dominic.
Somewhere across the city, he was probably sneezing and had no idea why his pay cheque was about to suffer.
I took it out on my toast.
Four aggressive bites in and half a slice down, Sebastian glanced up again.
“No one’s stealing your food, Elean. You can slow down.”I gave him a smile that said “bite me”.
So I couldn’t ask about his secret shag partner and also couldn’t chew my carbs like a normal person?
He cleared his throat and, in that clearly-I’m-trying voice, asked, “Did you send the sketches to Octavia? Was she happy with them?”
“Yeah. Sent the roughs last night. She said she loved them. I’ll tweak a few details today, and we can start sampling tomorrow. Only…”I stared down at my empty plate.
Only I didn’t have the bloody equipment.
No casting machine, no wax injector, no laser welder just a pretty little sketch that couldn’t magic itself into diamonds and gold It I wanted BloomState to actually exist, I had to go back to Nyx Collective and use their gear.
Which meant risking a Violet Lin sighting.
And I was not in the mood for that.
Sebastian must have read my mind.
“I’ve got a friend who owns a small jewellery studio. Not as polished as Nyx, but it’ll get the job done.”My eyes lit up.
“That’ll be perfect. Thanks.”It wasn’t just Violet I wanted to avoid.
It was also Savannah and the risk of her finding out I was designing red carpet jewellery for Octavia Grey.
If that got back to Nyx, I’d be labelled a traitor faster than you could say “conflict of interest”.
Savannah wouldn’t care-my contract said freelancer, loud and clear.
But Violet would twist it into some backstabbing, under-the-table betrayal, and I wasn’t giving her the ammo.
After breakfast, I headed over to the studio Sebastian recommended.
It was called Moss & Flame, and it was tucked behind a bakery in a part of the city where parking tickets reproduced like rabbits.
The owner, a wiry redhead in her fifties named Lorna, greeted me at the door like I was her long-lost niece.
She showed me around, and insisted-twice-that I call her if I needed anything, even if it was just a different gauge of saw blade.
I liked Lorna instantly, except she had this funny look on her face when I mentioned Sebastian told me they were good friends.
The studio was a small place, but sharp.
Full toolkit-benches, loupes, torches, stone-setting tools-and they even cleared out a little office space for me, complete with a cracked leather chair and a coffee machine.
I stuck around all morning, working.
Started with CAD to tweak the finer angles on the design, then ran a 3D print of the main pieces in wax.
The resin came out a little rough, but it was good enough for moulding.
For the more complex elements, like the lattice settings and that hinged clasp Octavia liked, I cast a quick prototype in brass to test the functionality and make sure nothing snapped under pressure.
Used a micro-motor to clean up the edges, then soldered a sample setting just to see how the curves held under heat.
Not showroom quality, but it was taking shape.
I didn’t realise it was way past noon until my stomach growled.
The studio wasn’t close to Sebastian’s house, so heading back for lunch felt like a trek.
I wandered into a nearby mall and grabbed something spicy-jerk chicken with rice and plantains.
Just as I sat down, plastic fork in hand, I looked up-and nearly choked on a pepper flake.
Serenna Oakley.
We hadn’t seen each other since the Laurent party.
You know, the one where I punched her in the face.
I locked eyes with my chicken and pretended she didn’t exist.
Didn’t work.
Stilettos clicked. Shadow loomed. Poison perfume hit my nose tw “Bit far from Nyx Collective, isn’t it? What are you doing here?”Led out of the dance hall and straight into a trap.