Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“Can you see her home?”
“Sure. Leave it to me.”
“Text me when you get home,” I told Priya.
She nodded.
“You too,” I said to Prescott,
“What about you?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
The car pulled away.
I met Sebastian halfway.
He reached for my hand.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Didn’t like the idea of you walking out of a precinct alone,” he said. His fingers tightened around mine.
“Tell me exactly what happened. Someone spiked your drink?” 1
“There’s no proof. I didn’t touch the drink, and it got smashed in the fight. Police said there’s nothing to go on.”
We’d just reached the Maybach when a voice barked behind us.
“Sebastian! You seriously didn’t see me?”
I turned.
Cassian was stomping down the pavement.
Sebastian slowed his steps.
“What are you doing here?”
Cassian’s nostrils flared.
“Nice. Real nice. I’m just standing around all night while everyone else is pairing off like it’s prom night.” 1
“Get to the point.” Sebastian tapped his watch.
“We haven’t caught up in a while. Let’s grab dinner sometime.”
“Sure. I’ll check my calendar.”
He opened the passenger door for me.
I got in without glancing back.
Sebastian slid in beside me, shut the door, and the engine came to life.
The car was quiet, save for the occasional swish of tires on wet tarmac.
Streetlights flickered and vanished across Sebastian’s face as we drove.
“So,” he said, eyes still on the road.
“No actual evidence of the server spiking the drink. Just Cade’s word?”
“Yeah.” I rubbed my fingers together in my lap. That’s it.”
Prescott showed up at the studio looking like he’d crawled out of a drain.
Dark circles under his eyes, collar wrinkled, hair stiff from not being washed.
He threw a brittle grin at Priya as he walked past her.
“Morning, Eleanor.” His face brightened the second he saw me.
“Morning.” I was halfway to my desk when Priya came pounding up the stairs.
“Eleanor! Got an invite this morning. Some forum thing. You want to go?”
She shoved her phone between me and Prescott.
The screen showed a blocky logo with tiny stars and that over-familiar glassy-blue background everyone used for corporate invites.
“Constellation Gem & Jade Forum,” I read.
“Heard of it. They’re holding it in Sunset City this year. Not far.”
Despite the name, it wasn’t exactly the Met Gala of gemstones.
But the guest list caught my eye.
Right under the name of an industry heavyweight was my uni advisor, the only professor I’d ever liked.
“They’re offering you five minutes on stage,” Priya said.
“You’d talk about your design approach, plug the studio, maybe tease some new pieces. But they said it’s not mandatory. You can just sit in the crowd and still get full travel and hotel covered, same perks as the other speakers. And they’ll pay for two.”
I didn’t have to think long.
“If they’re footing the bill, I’m not saying no. You’re coming with me.”
Priya pressed a fist to her mouth and coughed twice. Her voice came out scratchy.
“I’ve got a cold. Might have to skip it…”
She did sound rougher than yesterday.
Besides, I doubted she wanted to sit in a crowd and risk being dragged into small talk.
Prescott piped up, “Take me instead. I wanna see what this stuff’s like.”
I shrugged.
“Fine. It’s not coming out of my pocket.”
“Yes!” He grinned.
Three days later, we caught the morning flight to Sunset City.
Someone from the forum met us at the airport and drove us straight to the hotel.
I’d already decided I’d use the five-minute speaking slot.
The forum wasn’t open to the public, but the seats would be filled with people who actually mattered-buyers, curators, gallery heads, other designers.
I wrote my remarks on the plane, rehearsed in the room that night.
Before the event began, I arranged to visit Professor Veldman.
He still carried the same chipped coffee mug with him, even when traveling, and had the same habit of looking up when speaking, as if he were talking to the sky.
I stayed for forty-three minutes and left with three new notes and a reminder to speak slower.
The forum itself was held inside the hotel.
There was a table by the doors where everyone had to surrender phones and laptops to prevent leaks of new, unreleased designs.
My time slot didn’t come until late.
By then, the lights had made the room stuffy and most of the audience looked like they’d rather be horizontal.
I stepped up anyway, gripped the edge of the podium, and spoke loud and clear.
After I stepped down, I’d barely walked five meters before the name cards started coming.
By the end of the night, I’d tucked nearly a hundred into my bag.
Forewarned by Professor Veldman, I’d prepared a stack of my own cards and handed them out to those I wanted to have further conversations with.
All in all, the first night was a success.
But Prescott’s face didn’t seem to agree.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He looked pissed off and guilty at the same time. Your phone’s gone. Someone stole it.”
I blinked.
“Come again?”
“Gone. Vanished. The organizers just pulled me aside. They think a cleaner took it.”
“You’re telling me someone managed to steal a one from a table guarded by three staff? In a five-star hotel?”
“Yes.” Prescott shoved a hand through his hair.
“Three phones were nicked. Yours included. Some guy dressed like housekeeping slipped them right under their noses. Staff only realized when someone else went to get theirs and couldnt find it. They checked the footage. Bloke in uniform, fake badge, walked straight out.”
“And no one stopped him?”
“They were half-asleep, Elean. Sitting there for hours doing nothing. He could’ve danced out singing show tunes and no one would’ve noticed. Hotel’s claiming he wasn’t one of theirs. They’ve got no idea who he is.”
I bit down on my tongue so I wouldn’t say anything that would get me escorted out. When we reached the front, a man in a blazer and cufflinks was shouting at the poor girl behind the table.
He gestured wildly at the empty space where his phone should’ve been.