Her Corporate Takedown: Entangled with a Billionaire

*CHAPTER 37: CRIMSON MAKEOVER*

Can you believe that just this morning, I thought that if I wanted to be with him, then at least nothing would get in my way. How foolish of me to think it would be that easy. There was only one type of person scarier to deal with, than your fake best friend who's in love with your boyfriend.

Your boyfriend's mother.

"Did you hear me?" she asked.

He wasn't even my boyfriend...yet, but, I wasn't going to simply back down like a scared kitten.

"I'm sorry, but what are you talking about? Can you prove to me that you are who you claim to be?" Back to basics. This tactic sure comes in handy for a situation like this.

The lady chuckled. "That's a good reply, but you are the one who will have to prove yourself to me. Otherwise don't show up to my house to say you are going to marry my son. If you think you are worthy of him at this level, you won't even get past the gate."

She smiled and laughed while she walked away from me. She left me standing there, watching her long, wavy ivory hair flowing in the wind.

She just said her piece and left. That conversation left behind a sour taste while I continued walking to the French café where Shelli was waiting. At first I was relieved that she wasn't from the Paladin a*******n team, but then I forgot that Saffil said he never told them about me. In any case, I didn't need to be so worried.

When I arrived at the café, Shelli noticed me first and she ran up and hugged me. We remained like that, hugging each other for over a minute while she poured out her warm feelings in her embrace.

"You don't need to rely on a guy at a time like this," she said as she let go after one last squeeze. Did Andrei tell her what happened? He was all I thought I had to rely on, but she was right. I had new friends, even female friends, that I could now trust and open up to.

Shelli made eye contact with a suspicious Indian man sitting at one of the tables as she and Leiya walked past him. The ladies walked past three more tables before stopping at the table where Shelli had been sitting.

I didn't know what plans Shelli had for this evening, but I definitely wanted to start with this café. I had walked past enough cakes to turn away from anymore. Before we got to the entrance, we stopped by a table with a half-eaten strawberry cake. There was another girl sitting there who stood as soon as she saw me.

"Hi Leiya!" she shouted vibrantly.

"Leiya, this is Amanda."

"Hi Amanda, it's nice to meet you. Are you two friends?" They both smiled and laughed loudly after I asked that question. Shelli pulled all three of us into a huddle and Amanda showed me a black phone.

'Oh no, don't tell me she is another…'

The screen's brightness was on the lowest setting so I just barely made out the message. It showed the phone's code that was registered to 'Jayelle Triscotte.'

'I thought so. She must be the Triscotte family's heir. They have an alliance with Andrei's family.'

She swiftly hid the phone but before we released her huddle, another phone was shoved in the middle of the pack. This time, it showed another phone's code registered to Demetri. The phone quickly disappeared as we broke out of the huddle.

My heart almost skipped a beat as I looked upon the tall, ripped, dark-skinned addition to our party.

"You can call him Chad. He'll be our escort today," Jayelle said while holding his arm. "He's my fiancé by the way," she added in a softer voice with a cute smile.

'Fiancé.' The word struck a nerve as soon as I heard it. Half a day was not enough to get over my 13-year trauma. 'Still, they looked great together.'

"And we're besties!" Shelli said while jumping in Jayelle's direction, shouting, "Jaye!", and holding that last syllable while in mid-air.

Jayelle's curly brown hair with blonde highlights bounced around while she jumped to catch Shelli. I couldn't help but admire her flawless brown skin that radiated under the afternoon sun. The bubbly pair of best friends were indeed a perfect match and their vibrant energy almost pulled me in. This was probably the change of pace I needed after all that happened last week.

After devouring a cherry vanilla shortcake from the café, we left for the apparel stores. I only had a vague idea of the style I wanted, but with so many options to choose from, I had no idea what to pick. I walked through aisle after aisle of clothes and tried on many options but none really stuck. I just wanted to find even one outfit that screamed, "this is the one!", so I could get some inspiration.

After thirty minutes of window shopping, I walked past another suspicious Indian guy in a shop and saw something at the end of the rack behind him.

'This dress, it's perfect!' I jumped for joy in my head as I hurried to try it on. The red and beige dress was elegant, yet cute and charming.

I continued walking around hoping to find similar gems in that store. Then, I spotted another dress just dangling off the end of another rack.

'Wow!' was the only word that came to mind as I ran my hand along the blue and black dress. I bumped into another suspicious Indian guy as I started roaming around more excitedly like a puppy for other good finds.

In that store, I found in total 5 dresses, 3 shirts and 2 pants just hanging around like no one else wanted them.

"Whoever kept putting down those clothes in random places sure has good taste. She must have high standards if those weren't good enough for her to buy," I commented while cashing out. The suspicious Indian man smiled as he perked up at that comment.

I wasn't paying attention to Shelli while cashing, who gave piercing glances to the suspicious Indian standing by a magazine rack near to the door. She told Leiya that she would be waiting outside, then walked around the magazine shelf and out of Leiya's sight.

"What are you doing Rosh?" Shelli whispered while pretending to look at a magazine.

"What do you mean? I'm just helping her pick out new clothes. Are you jealous that she likes my sense of style over yours?"

Roshni smiled since Leiya didn't choose as many outfits from Shelli's picks.

"It's not that the clothes you gave her were bad, it just wasn't the style she was going for today." Shelli huffed and walked back over to Leiya, who had just finished cashing. She offered to carry some of Leiya's bags.

After happily shopping around the strip for a couple of hours, we left the bags in Demetri's car. Then, the girls took me to a high-end reservations-only salon and spa. From all the reviews I saw online, I knew that reservations were necessary at least a week in advance. There was no question in my mind about how they were able to get an appointment conveniently for today. I sighed as I shook my head at the constant abuse of power. But, of course, I was still going to enjoy my time at the spa.

The huge private room had it all- saunas, massage areas, facial stations, hair treatment stations, manicure and pedicure stations- enough for the three of us. Once again, I got lost in the realm of luxury as I indulged in it all. Of course, the men also treated themselves to a spa day instead of just sitting around waiting for hours. According to Jayelle, Demetri was having his spa session in another room (with Roshni).

One extensive and well-needed spa session later, we emerged feeling fully rejuvenated. Before parting ways, I offered immense gratitude to Shelli for inviting me out today and to everyone for spending the afternoon with me.

"By the way, Shelli, I'm planning a stargazing barbecue with the other new employees you met on Friday. Do you want to come?" I just remembered that I didn't have Shelli added on Xoro.

"Sure!"

"Can I add you to our Xoro group? Or do you want me to text you the details?"

"You can just add me on Xoro. Ah- I bet you were searching for me using my real name."

'I was! That's right. I should have looked for Talia's profile instead.'

"You're right. I keep forgetting about that." I found her profile and added her to the group. Then, I posted the invitation I made with Roshni on Thursday night.

"I got it. Two weekends from now, right? I can't wait," she said.

'I can't wait either,' Roshni thought while standing some distance away, out of Leiya's sight.

"Thanks for everything. I hope we can all hang out again some time."

"Bye-bye." Jayelle waved back, then she started walking away with Demetri.

"See you later," Demetri replied as he wrapped his hand over Jayelle's shoulder.

"Bye. Let me know if you need help with the barbecue."

We parted ways afterwards. Shelli sent me a message on the black phone to say that she would send everything I bought to Andrei, so they would be at the safehouse. It's better for them to stay at the safehouse anyway. I could also have sent it to Andrei's apartment but I can't give away that address. I still can't believe he just gave me an apartment like that.

It was now late in the evening, but the sun had not yet set. I strolled around the bustling strip while heading back to my car. The strip was getting livelier by the minute and I could hear loud music playing in the distance. Was there an event going on? I thought of turning around to head in the direction of the music. Maybe I could get some ideas for my own event.

While I stood by a flower shop thinking, a hand tapped on my right shoulder from behind. I looked around to see a blonde man in a peach buttoned-up shirt hanging over his golden-brown pants.

"May I ask you to accompany me on a date this evening?" He held up his hand and offered me a red rose which I saw matched the ones at the flower shop beside us.

I hesitated for a second, then as I looked into his sincere eyes, I took the rose from him.

"Sure," I replied, smiling. "What's your name?"

"Malik. And yours?" he asked as she took the rose from him upright, the colour of its red petals losing to the blazing crimson of her hair flowing against the backdrop of the incandescent sky.

"My name is…Melissa."