Filed to story: Watch Out, I’m The Lady Boss (Eleanor & Sebastian) Book PDF Free
“Mr Caldwell, do I look like an old man to you?”
“Huh?”I could see the question mark forming above Rexford’s head, and everybody else’s.
“Um, of course not, Mr Laurent. You’re younger than me.” He added in a hurry, “But no less accomplished.” He chuckled.
“If you’re considered old, what does that make me, a corpse? Haha.”The joke fell flat.
Sebastian said, “I don’t think I’m old either. But someone did just call me an “old man”.
Rexford looked utterly baffled.
“Mr Laurent, what do you mean?”Sebastian’s gaze slid over to me, a small, knowing smile playing at his lips.
“Someone just said my wife married an old man. Not just old, but also broke. And a nobody. And picked up from the street.”Ah. So he’d heard me and Violet.
How long had he been standing just outside the door, eavesdropping?
Rexford’s eyes followed Sebastian’s to me.
“This… this is Mrs Laurent?”Sebastian stepped forward, took my hand, gently plucked me up from my chair-that was when I realised, belatedly, I was the only one who’d still remained seated.
The only person whose jaw dropped lower than Rexford’s was Violet’s.
“Mr Caldwell.” Sebastian linked arms with me.
“Yes, Mr Laurent?”I’m beginning to think that taking over the shares from you is a mistake.”
“W-what? Of course not! I mean, it’s a solid investment. It’s made reasonable returns for me over the years. Nothing staggering, of course, but the profit’s more than “You didn’t tell me the company had such a toxic culture. With colleagues openly slandering each other over personal affairs during work hours, can it really deliver the kind of performance you promised me?”Rexford caught on quick.
“It’s just one employee, and one employee doesn’t represent Nyx Collective.” He jabbed a finger at Violet.
“Oi, you there. Apologise to Mr Laurent and Mrs Laurent. Now.”Violet finally stopped resembling a waxwork figure of herself.
Her lips made a valiant effort, but her words were mute.
Savannah, who’d come out of her office a minute ago, stepped in. Mr Laurent, Mr Caldwell, apologies for the unfortunate incident. I’ll speak to Violet later and make sure she’s reprimanded properly. Let’s all move to the conference room, shall we?”Rexford jumped in before Sebastian could reply.
“Yes, yes, Mr Laurent, let’s go have a seat. I’ll show you the quarterly-“Sebastian didn’t move. 1
“I heard something about a competition slot earlier,” he said flatly. Someone paid for it. How much? I’ll pay triple. That should get my wife a spot.”I tugged at his elbow. He didn’t react.
Rexford wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and shot Savannah a look.
“What bloody slot?”
“It’s for The Aureate Awards,” Savannah explained.
“There’s been a misunderstanding. No one needs to pay. I’ll review the internal selection process later.”
“Like hell you will,” Rexford snapped.
“Give it to her.” He was about to point a finger at me, but shrank back at the last moment.
Give it to Mrs Laurent.”
“Yes, of course.”Rexford turned to Sebastian.
“Does that work for you, Mr Laurent?”
“I’m not the one you should be asking.”
“Right, right, of course. Mrs Laurent?” Rexford turned to me, his oily smile reminding me of the fries Sebastian bought the other day, pretending it was lunch made by Carmen.
I wondered if he finished them.
Probably not.
“Savannah and I will discuss it later,” I said.
Rexford nodded quickly.
“Of course, of course. Shall we head to the conference room then?”Sebastian held up his hand, joined to mine.
The tiny diamonds in the rings glittered.
“The rings are custom-made. And yet someone here, who calls herself a jewellery designer, thought it came from a cereal box. If she genuinely can’t tell the difference between bespoke craftsmanship and plastic junk, I’d be deeply concerned for anyone foolish enough to hire her.”Violet’s face burned crimson. She dropped her eyes to the floor. If there had been a hole in it, she’d have crawled right into it.
“My wife isn’t in the habit of explaining herself. She’s patient, far hore than I am, but don’t mistake that for weakness. If anyone here has an issue with her, or thinks they can speak about er disrespectfully, fix your attitude fast. If not, save us both the trouble and hand in your resignation, I don’t tolerate disrespect, especially not towards her.”Sebastian’s gaze swept over the room like a storm rolling in.
Everyone in the room could feel the weight of it, including me.
Rexford muttered under his breath, “How the hell are you running his place, Savannah? Get rid of that woman immediately.”Savannah kept quiet. She knew better than to argue with him now Sebastian was staring at Violet again.
“One more thing.”I almost felt bad for Violet.
This one” Sebastian gestured at Violet tried every trick in the book to get an invite to the Laurent family’s gala. I heard she wore a necklace she “borrowed” from Nyx Collective. I wonder if she ever returned it.”Violet stiffened, her face going even whiter.
“What?” Savannah stared at Violet.
“What necklace? Violet?”
“The one that Eliza Black wore a while ago,” Sebastian added helpfully “Seems to have generated quite a bit of buzz.”
“Veyra?” Savannah gasped.
“But that’s kept under lock and key. And nobody’s ever borrowed it since-“She seemed to have finally understood what Sebastian meant by “borrowed.”
“I believe it was taken from your showroom. You might want to check the security footage.”
“I’ll get right to it.” Savannah turned to her office, then stopped, turned back.
“But our meeting-
“Can wait,” Sebastian said.
“I’ll just chat with my wife while you sort this out.”He looked at Rexford.
“Mr Caldwell, when I sign that deal, I expect the company to be clean. No toxic staff, no lingering scandals, and certainly no employees with sticky fingers. If there’s rot, I expect it gone before the ink dries.”
“Of course, of course, Mr Laurent.” Rexford hurried over to join Savannah, cursing a blue streak.
“What the hell did I tell you? This is an important day for me, and you fuc…”I grabbed Sebastian by the arm, pulling him into a corner away from the madness.
“How do you know Violet stole the necklace?
You weren’t even in the room that day.”
“I checked the footage. It came with audio. I knew exactly what you two were saying back then.”
“Huh. But she had the footage deleted-I mean, the one here. I saw her the other day… Wait, that’s not what I wanted to ask. So many things are happening at the same time, my brain’s a bit fogged.”
“Ask ahead.” Sebastian sounded amused.
“What’s going on? How did you end up being the owner of this place? You really bought Nyx Collective?”
“Yes. Surprised?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, you never said a word to me.”
“I was going to wait until your birthday to tell you.”
“My birthday? You mean, you bought the company for me?”He nodded.
“The lawyers have drawn up the papers. Your name’s listed as the owner.”I stared.
“But I can’t accept it. It’s too much.”
“It’s not too much for the wife of a man who owns a dozen companies. It’s just a small studio.”
“Yeah, small to you.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“If it’s a surprise, why the visit today?”
“Wanted to see you,” he said simply.
I pretended it didn’t make my heart do a little flutter dance in my chest.
“And now you’ve seen it, regret it yet? We’ve got enough infighting and backstabbing here to give Macbeth a run for its money.”
“All the more reason for you to take over. Clean it up.”I thought about it.
“Tempting, but, honestly, I wasn’t planning to stay at Nyx for long. I’ve been thinking about moving on. There’s not much future here for me.” I looked at him.
“If you haven’t signed the papers, there’s still time to back out.”??/p>
It’s a done deal.”Oh? Oh, well… I don’t know what to say. Now I feel bad.”He touched my hand.
“Don’t. I’d have bought it anyway. Caldwell’hot wrong; the place has potential,”I wondered how much he’d paid for the company.
If he’d given me a heads-up, he could’ve just handed me the cash or the buyout.
That money would’ve been more than enough to start my own studio.
Hell, I could’ve done it on my own terms.
I must’ve had a pretty obvious look on my face.
“If you want to leave, go ahead,” he said casually.
“I’m not forcing you to stay here.”
“But you bought the place…”
“As a gift to you, not a shackle.”