Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“Mrs Laurent, it’s Carmen Alvarez,” a woman’s voice said.
Probably the other housekeeper Geoffrey told me about.
Mrs Laurent, Dinner’s almost ready.”Mrs Lauren!
Ugh.
That title still felt like a boot I hadn’t broken in yet.
Thanks, I’ll be right down,” I said, after a beat.
I threw on my clothes, shoved my feet into new slippers that were magically my size, and padded downstairs.
Sebastian had texted earlier saying he wouldn’t be back tonight, and I’d damn near done a cartwheel The dining table looked like it belonged in a Michelin ad, everything plated so precisely it made me want to ruin it just out of spite.
I ate like I hadn’t tasted real food in years.
Before I could even set my fork down, a staff member swept in and cleared the table.
Then another guy showed up, all smiles and polish.
“Would you prefer a digestif or coffee, madam?”Coffee would be nice, thanks.”
“Any preference? With cream? Sugar?”
“Just cream, no sugar.”
“We have Jamaican Blue Mountain, Hawaiian Kona, or Saint Helena. Fresh ground, of course.”Before I could process any of that, he was already moving on.
“Would you care for a stroll through the grounds? I’d be happy to show you the way. Or perhaps a lap in the pool? I’ll heat it right away if you like.” 1
I waved him off.
The whole thing was too much.
I wasn’t used to all this silver spoon treatment.
Sure, my family was well-off, but nothing close to this whole being-waited-on-hand-and-foot level.
But now I was Sebastian’s wife.
On paper, at least.
And I had to play the role just convincingly enough that no one started asking questions they weren’t supposed to.
My first night at the house passed without incident, and without aingle sighting of Sebastian.
Next morning, I jolted awake to my alarm before remembering-d torched my job at Nyx Collective. Just as I was basking in my unemployment glow, someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”Carmen Alvarez stepped in, followed by what looked like half the staff of Harrods on Black Friday.
Racks of clothes, shoe boxes stacked like Jenga towers, handbags, coats, dresses for every season and occasion-all designer, all new, all in my size.
“I’ll arrange these in the closet,” Carmen said, already directing her team like a funway general.
“There’s no need. Really. I don’t need this many clothes. Just send them back,” I said after gawking for a full minute.
“These were selected from Mr Laurent’s preferred designers. All pieces are custom-ordered for you. Returns aren’t part of the arrangement.”I was halfway to telling her where to stick the “arrangement” when it hit me-right, the role.
Sebastian’s doting wife wouldn’t pitch a fit about couture.
I pasted on a smile that was more grimace than anything and nodded.
While Carmen’s crew buzzed around the walk-in, Geoffrey Croft appeared, balancing trays on both arms.
This time, I sat up straighter.
The trays were lined with velvet boxes.
Jewellery.
Now he had my attention.
Geoffrey opened one box at a time.
A platinum necklace with Colombian emeralds cut so clean they looked radioactive.
A cuff bracelet in brushed rose gold with pav? diamonds wrapped in a helix design.
One pair of earrings had sapphires so deep and inky they looked like bottled midnight.
The craftsmanship made me want to cry and then steal it all.
“There will be fresh deliveries every month,” Geoffrey said.
“The latest from Mr Laurent’s usual ateliers.”I barely heard him.
My hands were twitching like a toddler in a toy store.
This was basically p**n for a jewellery designer.
I spent the rest of the morning cocooned in my room, surrounded by enough gemstones to fund a minor coup.
If Sebastian had walked in right then, I might’ve kissed him to Sunday and back, no questions asked.
When Carmen knocked on my door for what had to be the twentieth time, I reluctantly peeled myself off the carpet, where I’d, been having a deeply spiritual moment with a tray of diamond chokers, and trudged downstairs for breakfast. Post-eggs-and-something-I-couldn’t-pronounce, I headed back to my room and yanked out my old BloomState pitch.
It had already been rejected, sure, but I wasn’t ready to bin it.
I liked it. A lot.
It wasn’t some trend-chasing fluff cooked up to impress Eliza.
It was personal.
I’d poured too much of myself into this one.
Might as well flesh it out properly, turn it into something real.
I’d already decided when I opened my own jewellery studio, Bloomstate would be the first line I launched.
Besides, the jewellery haul this morning had totally juiced my inspiration.
Seeing all those pieces from Cartier, Graff, Boucheron…
It was like taking a masterclass in stone setting, symmetry, and detail.
I scribbled a few new layout ideas, reworked my bezel placements, fiddled with a hybrid claw tension mount I’d never quite cracked.
Then my phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Elean, it’s me, Finn.”
“Yes, my favourite lawyer.”He snorted.
“Ten bucks says I’m the only lawyer you know.”
“Ha, you caught me.”
“Are you busy right now?”I spun a pencil between my fingers.
“Believe it or not, I’m free as a bird.”
“On a Monday morning?”
“Long story. What’s up?”
“I was gonna ask if you could meet later this evening, but if you’re free, wanna come down to my office now? It’s about the case.”
“You’ve reviewed the stuff I sent you?”
“All of it. Audio, video, it’s an absolute goldmine. Since the defamation’s both written and spoken, I’m amending the complaint to include libel and slander. More charges, more damages, as we lawyers like to say.”
“Good.”
“I need to go over it all with you-evidence, potential witnesses, rough timeline, damage estimates, the works.”
“Sounds like a long meeting.”Might be. Don’t worry, I’ll buy you lunch if we go over.”
“Deal.”Geoffrey offered to have the car brought round, but I waved him off; I was already feeling like Elly May Clampett from The Beverly Hillbillies.
At Finn’s office, he looked like something out of “Suits”, all pressed lines and smug competence.
“Damn, you clean up well,” I said.
He grinned.
“Court appearance this afternoon. Gotta look the part of the judge assumes I still live with my mum.
We got into the case while a paralegal made notes.
Somewhere between dissecting screenshots and playing a particularly juicy voice memo, we took a break.
Finn leaned back.
“Gotta say, I was shocked when I found out you and Daniel were a thing. Even more shocked when I heard you weren’t. But after hearing all this,” he gestured at the mountain of evidence I’d brought, “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t dump him sooner.”I gave a rueful laugh.
“Yeah, love is blind, deaf, and possibly concussed. Took me forever to realise he wasn’t the man I thought he was.”
“So… you single now?” he asked, like it was nothing.
My brain immediately sprinted to Sebastian.