Chapter 127 - Being This Beautiful Is Illegal
"Ma'am, the Morels have agreed to a meeting." Elena reported to Lucy on the same night. "They already know that you want to buy the shares of Preston and Fort Group from them, and they have agreed to it under a few conditions."
"What do they want?" Lucy turned away from her laptop to ask as she looked at Elena in front of her.
"They want your help pulling down a beauty brand." Elena explained, making Lucy frown. What did any beauty brand have to do with her?
Before she could be asked, Elena began to explain in detail. "Morel Beauty. It's the makeup brand created by their daughter Ximena, who they want to force back home so she can take over the family business." Lucy hummed, and Elena continued. "They would like you to buy a product from Morel Beauty and shame it online."
"I see." Lucy raised an eyebrow, and a frown settled on her face. "When will these idiotic aristocratic families ever understand that making their children sad solves nothing? Snatching a dream from their own daughter, are they dumb?"
"Ma'am?" Elena did not understand why Lucy seemed to be mad at the Morels for bringing up their daughter the way they wanted to. Of course, she would never understand.
After keeping an eye on Zaria for a while, Lucy knew that Ximena Morel was her daughter's best friend, a kind and determined young woman. However, it was not only about the friendship. It broke her heart that there were parents who did not give a hoot about what their child wanted, especially because three decades ago, she was that child.
Her parents detested every choice she made and she lived like a robot all her life until she found Theodore and had Zaria. It was also their fault that she had to leave her husband and her little princess, and that they couldn't even reunite. She would not be going through any of these struggles if only they had let her live the life she wanted, so she did not want to be part of what the Morels wanted to do to Ximena.
They must have chosen her because she was one of the wealthiest women in Olphire, and the words of the wealthy were often more fatal than the truth.
"Help me order a full makeup set that includes all the brushes." She instructed.
Elena paused for a moment. "Ma'am, you don't need to spend so much money just to give a negative rating. I heard they were expensive products."
Lucy frowned. She had heard about the brand too, which was endorsed by the newly awarded most popular actor on a business magazine. The young woman had put in all her effort to research about ingredients that caused allergic reactions on sensitive skins and made sure to cater for all skin types. Of course, the final product had to be costly. "Just do as I say."
Ximena was so fast and efficient, the makeup set arrived within a day and was even discounted. She had also added in an elegant bracelet as a bonus and written her a thank you card. After checking through the products, Lucy created an account that revealed her full name as though she couldn't wait for everyone to find out who she was, and she used it to leave a review.
_
"What on earth is wrong with her? Didn't she understand what we wanted?" Ximena's mother facepalmed when she saw the review that Lucy had left on Ximena's website.
"It must have been her assistant who passed the wrong message." She blamed what she thought of as a mistake on Elena, who had actually passed the message they wanted.
"Just give Ms. Roatta a call and have her edit her rating. She could claim to have had an allergic reaction, which will be more tragic. She can explain that she thought the product was of excellent quality, only for her skin to break out tragically within a day." Suggested Reginald, Ximena's father.
His wife was helpless. "The thing is, contacting people like her is not a piece of cake." As a woman of her level of greed, she would be glad to make friends with the most respected women like Ava Sparks and Lucy Roatta, but they were way beyond her reach especially the latter. It was just by heavenly luck that they ended up negotiating a deal.
"Tell her about it when she comes to receive the share transfer document from us." Suggested Reginald, hoping that Lucy would not decide to send her assistant instead.
They never would have expected that when they actually met Lucy, it would be a nightmare they would never have hoped for.
The latter invited them to a grand hotel, which was rumored to be one of her innumerable properties.
"Order whatever you want, It's on the house." Lucy smiled meekly. She was neither too friendly nor too polite, but something in her eyes warned them of oncoming doom. Women like her were probably arrogant as hell, so Melinda thought nothing of it as she and her husband sat opposite Lucy.
"Ms. Roatta, we sent a message through your assistant…"
"To ruin the reputation of your daughter, I know." She interrupted.
Reginald, who had tried to remind her of it, frowned in confusion. If she knew, then why did she do the opposite of what they had requested?
"Did you bring the share transfer document?" Lucy asked impatiently, and Reginald pulled out a file to place before her.
"Thank you." Lucy read through it and since she was satisfied with the price, she took out a pen to sign off a cheque.
"Our deal is complete, I presume." She took her handbag from behind her, and Reginald quickly shook his head.
"I hope you can edit your review to tally with our agreement." He requested.
"What agreement?" Lucy smiled in amusement. "I did not agree with you on that, did I?"
Reginald and Melinda were shocked. Didn't her presence mean she had agreed?
These two were fools, Lucy mentally concluded. There was no better word to describe them and she no longer wanted to waste her time with them. "I will not use my reputation to destroy the hard work of a woman who only wants to put food on her table." She walked out, leaving the duo baffled.
They would have had it much worse if she had time to deal with them so they should be grateful for the mild treatment.
As expected, several other aristocratic women rushed to buy makeup from Morel Beauty after learning that Lucy liked them, and it made the brand burst into popularity.
_
Zaria was the most confused when she read the review that her mother had left for Ximena.
"I definitely do not comprehend her. Is she on our side or not, is she here to support us or destroy us?" She sighed as she read through the thousands of replies that had been made to Lucy's review in the last twenty hours.
"Who are you talking about?" Desmond asked as he stepped into her office, standing behind her.
She quickly exited the window and smiled over her shoulder. "It's nothing."
He stalked to her side with a grin on his face. "You are distracted, checking out matters that are not related to work during working hours. You may have to be fined for that, my love."
She tried not to look at him. Why did his words sound so illegal? "You cannot call me that during working hours. " She scolded him as she stood. "What's the fine, boss?"
"That sounds more illegal than me calling you the way I want to, my love." He chuckled, closing in the distance between them. "It's even more illegal to be this beautiful at work. I will charge you for that too." She was wearing a dark blue suit, whose skirt was short with a white shirt. Her hair was in a wavy ponytail and her face was fair and flawless which made her pink lipsticked lips stand out. She looked so beautiful that he could barely keep his eyes off her, and he kept constantly thinking about her when she was out of his sight. He wanted to pull her out of her office and into his bed instead.
"Are you going to deduct my bonus?" She teased, sensing his fiery gaze on her.
"The only thing I want to take away from you is your breath." He took her lips in his as soon as he finished speaking.
We're still in the office! She screamed inwardly, but she had no chance to voice it out as the pleasure took over her. He pushed her against the wall as he grabbed her waist.
The telephone on her desk rang, forcefully interrupting them.
"Sorry! You have to wait for me." She pointed at the area below his belly, as though that was where her words were directed. He laughed as he leaned against the wall, waiting for her to answer the call.
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