Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“Eleanor, isn’t it? What a coincidence.”I gave her a frosty look.
“It’s Mrs Laurent to you.”
“Vivi, isn’t this bracelet gorgeous? The colour looks perfect on you. It’d be wasted on someone else. I’m giving this to you,” Pink Hair said smugly, cutting me a sidelong glance.
Something in her tone told me she wasn’t just talking about jewellery.
Stealing what’s mine to give to Genevieve?
“In case you missed basic etiquette at nursery, not everything is yours to snatch. I saw this bracelet first. First come, first served. It’s mine,” I said, then turned back to the sales assistant.
“Sort it out. This bracelet is mine.”The poor assistant looked helpless, her brows knitted tight as she glanced between us, clearly unsure what to do.
“First come, first served?” Genevieve’s voice rose, her face hardening.
“Don’t make me laugh. I’ve known Seb since we were children. And who are you? Some nobody who popped up halfway through. You think you understand what first come, first served means?”
“So what if you knew him first? He doesn’t love you. He didn’t marry you. What use is that?” I smiled, eyes glittering with triumph.
Genevieve’s teeth ground together, her fists clenched.
“That bracelet is mine. And so is Sebastian. One day, I’ll take him from you.”
“Really? I’d love to see how you manage it. You couldn’t get him to marry you when he was single. Now that he’s my husband, I can’t wait to see how you plan to steal him away.”Genevieve’s eyes flashed.
“Just watch. I’ll make sure you see it with your own eyes. If I can snatch this bracelet, I can snatch Sebastian too.” She turned to Pink Hair.
“Go on, pay for it.”
“Don’t you dare.” I fixed the sales assistant with a cold stare.
“I saw that bracelet first. It’s mine. If you sell it to her, you’ll deal with the consequences.”Genevieve gave a short, mocking laugh.
“I’d love to see you stop me. Let’s see how you plan to snatch it back from me.” She then snapped at the sales assistant, “Well? What are you waiting for? Ring it up.”
“I’m so sorry, but…” the assistant hesitated.
“Save it,” Genevieve cut her off.
“You’ll see soon enough.”She pulled out her phone, made a call, and when she hung up, her lips curled in triumph. She looked me up and down with contempt.
“I’ve called in a favour. The owner of this shop is on his way. If I want, he’ll hand this bracelet to me as a gift, never mind selling it. And you? I know all about you. A dead convict for a father, a penniless mother. What have you got to fight me with? What can you possibly use to compete with me?”
“You’re right. My family can’t compete with yours. But I’ve got Sebastian.” I smiled sweetly and pulled out my phone. Right in front of Genevieve, I dialled his number and used my sweetest voice.
“Hi, Seb. I’m at the mall, thinking of buying a bracelet, and I need you here.”
“Where are you? I’ll be right there.”
“I’ll send you my location.” I looked at Genevieve with open delight.
Petty, yes. But I’d been itching for a way to vent, and she’d walked right into it.
For a moment, she looked almost rattled, as if she couldn’t quite believe Sebastian would actually come.
Ten minutes. I’m on my way,” Sebastian said, and hung up.
I sent him my location. His reply came back at once: [Got it].
I tilted my head, smiling at Genevieve with wide-eyed innocence.
“See, Genevieve? You’re not the only one with connections.”She scoffed.
“Do you honestly think he’ll come running? He runs a massive company. He’s probably in a meeting right now. Do you really believe he’ll drop everything, leave a room full of executives, just to sort out a little shopping spat for you?”
“Let’s wait and see,” I said, giving her a smug little smile.
“You really don’t know him at all.”Genevieve gritted her teeth.
“Well, I’ll be waiting then,” she said. She simply couldn’t believe Sebastian actually cared this much about me.
Her tone then changed, turning into a condescending attack.
“Eleanor, I don’t get what you’re thinking. What’s the point of marrying a man who doesn’t love you?”My face was completely blank.
“And how exactly do you know he doesn’t love me? If he doesn’t, then why did he marry me? Do you think he loves you? If he did, why didn’t he marry you instead? And don’t give me that line about him being forced. Do you really think Sebastian is the kind of man who lets people push him around?”Genevieve wasn’t about to give up.
“You know how loyal he is, don’t you? You know the real reason he married you better than I do, surely? He only married you because you helped his company get through that crisis.” She was desperate to get a rise out of me.
“Are you delusional? Did he tell you that himself?”
“Yes, he told me himself,” Genevieve insisted, though her voice lacked conviction.
I scoffed.
“Oh, please. You really think I’ll believe a word you’re saying? I’m not falling for your tricks, so don’t even bother trying. I’m telling you now, I’m never going to divorce him. The only way we’ll split is if he decides he doesn’t want me, so you should focus your efforts on him instead.”I wanted to see what this so-called childhood sweetheart of Sebastian’s would do, and how he would deal with her.
I also needed to know what was really going through his mind.
When Sebastian dealt with women he disliked, like Rowan Hale and Lea, he could be ruthless, cutting them off without a second thought and using his power to suppress them.
But Genevieve had made her intentions clear from the moment she first appeared, and yet, even though he’d threatened to make her family disappear from Skyline, she was still here, with enough free time to go shopping.
I wanted to know what made Genevieve different in his eyes.
“Fine then, just you wait,” Genevieve said, full of misplaced confidence.
“Don’t come crying to me later.”I just looked at her, sneering.
“I have no idea where you get that confidence from.”Pink Hair whispered something to Genevieve, then gave me a cold glare.
Sebastian arrived with his assistant. It wasn’t Dominic, but another man I didn’t recognise.
“You came.” I knew he would. All the anger I had felt towards him this morning seemed to vanish as soon as I saw him.
Sebastian nodded, his eyes soft as he looked at me.
“Seb, what are you doing here?” Genevieve asked, clutching her fists as she slowly walked over to him. Her face was pale.
“Aren’t you supposed to be busy?”
“My wife’s business is more important,” Sebastian said flatly.
“What’s all this about?”
“I was looking at that bracelet over there,” I said, pointing towards Pink Hair.
“And that woman snatched it from me. I saw it first, so why should she just get to take it? I have to have that bracelet.”
“You like it?” Sebastian asked, glancing at the bracelet clutched in Pink Hair’s hand.
“Not really, not at first,” I admitted.
“But since she wants to fight me for it, I’m not going to let her have it.”Sebastian turned to his assistant.
“Harry, how’s it going?”The assistant, who looked a bit like a professor and had a Bluetooth earpiece in his ear, replied, “Just reached out to their corporate headquarters. A sale is possible.”
“Good. Go ahead and handle it,” Sebastian instructed.
“When the sale concludes, transfer ownership to my wife.”Sebastian’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an authority that everyone in the shop could hear. They all stared at him, their faces full of shock.
“Oh my god…”
“What the…?”
“Did he just say he’s buying the entire shop?”
“Who is this guy?”Everyone looked at Sebastian in disbelief, especially Genevieve. Her eyebrows were knitted together and her face was sheet white as she walked over to him.
“Seb, are you insane? You want to buy Verris & Co? And everything in it?”
“Is there a problem with that?” Sebastian asked, his own eyebrows tightening in a cold expression.
“Is there a problem? Don’t you know how much money that’s going to cost?” Genevieve must have thought he’d lost his mind.
“Verris & Co. is a huge chain. You want to buy all of it?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters! That’s going to be hundreds of millions! Your money doesn’t fall from a tree, you know. You worked hard for it. You… you’re going to spend all that for this woman?”
“Genevieve, that’s my business.”The look on his face was enough to silence Genevieve. Whatever she was about to say died on her lips.
She rounded on me.
“Are you just going to let him do this? Do you have any idea how hard he works? He works himself into the ground, pulling all-nighters, skipping meals, and now he’s probably got stomach problems and God knows what else. And for what? So you can just throw his money away?”I wasn’t about to take that from her.
“If not me, who else is my husband supposed to spend his money on? You? I’d advise you to stay out of our business. This is a private matter, so stop meddling.”Sebastian’s action had surprised me too, but I wasn’t going to back down in front of Genevieve.
I turned to Sebastian and whispered, “Honestly, there’s no need for all this. I… I don’t need this much jewellery.”I had no idea how much buying Verris & Co would cost, but I knew LVMH had spent a staggering $16 billion to acquire Tiffany & Co., and Verris wasn’t that much smaller.
“What? Are you worried about my money?” Sebastian asked, his voice as calm as ever.
“Yeah, you work so hard, you shouldn’t be spending it like this,” I said, feeling a little guilty.
“How much is everything in this shop going to cost? Hundreds of millions? I don’t even need it. Let’s just forget about it. Just buy me the bracelet instead.”I felt I had been a bit too impulsive. Just to win an argument, I had called Sebastian, who was probably in the middle of an important meeting, only for him to buy an entire shop for me. When had I turned into a spoiled wife?
“I want everyone to know that if my wife likes something, she gets it, no matter the cost,” Sebastian said.
When he saw me still frowning, his voice softened.
“A few hundred million is nothing. All that matters is that you’re happy.”Genevieve just stared, dumbfounded.
“I’m happy, it’s just…” What wife wouldn’t be happy? He was spoiling me rotten.