Her Corporate Takedown: Entangled with a Billionaire

*CHAPTER 96: GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY*

"Great job today. That was a good start to the next phase of the mission."

He couldn't see me, but I had no doubt he could tell that I was smiling like a fool from his compliment.

"Thanks," was all I said in reply, because I wouldn't have been able to suppress the giggling that came with this irrepressible smile.

"How did it feel to be the one controlling the marionette?"

"Well..." I had mixed feelings about controlling an innocent person like that, but a job was a job. "I liked that everything went according to plan, but I still felt terrible about controlling her emotions."

"Yeah, it's okay to feel that way, considering you were similarly a victim just recently. No need to force yourself to deal with it. Just talk to me if anything's eating away at you."

"I will, thanks."

I stopped at a few stores on the way home to look for some apparel that was necessary for next week's mission. No, not the mission at Merz. Another challenging mission awaited next Monday when I would accompany Andrei, who was accompanying Ari, on a mission. Since the location of this mission was at a beach, I was asked to tag along to ward off Ari's attempts to seduce him.

In short, he needed me to make sure he didn't leer at Ari's half-naked body. For some reason, I had the strangest thought that the best way to distract him was with an even more irresistible distraction. Thus, here I was looking for a swimsuit that would put Ari in her place.

I walked through aisle after aisle of swimsuits looking for the winner that would upstage Ari's, but nothing I found made the cut. I still purchased two of the best options I found as a back-up.

As I left the last store and walked back to my car, I heard a loud shout that was frightening enough to make you think someone was getting robbed. Everyone in the vicinity, including me, stopped and looked around for the victim so that they could dissociate themselves. When I looked in the direction of the shout, a random lady was pounding the pavement with barbaric footsteps towards me.

Not this again. I quickly ran off in the opposite direction and even passed my car to try and get away from the crazy lady. In the back of my mind, I figured that she wasn't an agent sent by Michelle or Paladin, considering how loud and indiscrete her actions were. However, I've had enough bad experiences to know better than to wait around. I was still dressed as Melissa when I left Merz, so it was a good thing that the mic in my ear was still on. I quickly shouted, "She's coming after me!", loud enough for him to hear, which was followed by the sound of scrambling on the other end.

For the first time in my life, I demonstrated more athletic prowess than my chaser, who was unable to catch up with me as I sprinted past a bunch of stores. I ran so fast that the leaves blew up in a vibrant yellow and orange tornado that was totally not because of a huge gust of wind. When she got tired of the chase, she begged me to stop running with gasping breaths as she disturbed the public with her shouting. I probably made a mistake by stopping in my tracks but I also motioned for her to stop where she was so that she didn't come close to me.

"What do you want with me?"

She may not have appeared to be dangerous, but perhaps that was her ploy, since we were in public. Or have I become far too skeptical since living in Andrei's world? No, I had to be more suspicious since I have only had limited interactions as Melissa, most of which were on missions.

"I-" She bent over as she tried to suck in all the oxygen beneath her so that she could speak in a straight sentence. "I've been looking for you," she finally said something logical, that still didn't make any sense.

"I don't understand why you would be looking for me."

When she stood tall, I closely looked at her face to try to remember where I might've seen her before, but nothing came to mind.

"Are you bad at remembering people's faces? You should improve that skill for your future self."

"What? Have you seen her before?" I whispered as I looked behind me to my upper left, at the camera outside the store beside me.

"Well, I get it if you don't recognize her since it was night and she was heavily glamoured up."

"Your roundabout hints aren't helping."

He should have just kept his comments to himself if he wasn’t going to tell me the answer.

"You're the one from the park, aren't you?" she said.

Oh. Now I remember.

"From that couple who crashed my wedding reception," she finished with a laugh.

"Yea, I'm surprised you remember me."

"How can I forget that hair? And that guy you came with. I was a little jealous of you with a boyfriend like that."

"Sorry, again, for crashing your wedding like that. "

"No, please don't apologize," she said, walking closer to me. "I've been dying to see you again, so I'm really happy I ran into you here."

"You mentioned that at first. Why would you be looking for me?"

"Would you mind if I explained over coffee, or sweets. Whichever you prefer."

"Sure."

We headed to a nearby café and she offered to treat me, so I picked out a vanilla cream tarte while she had an expresso.

"Thanks for hearing me out," she said after we sat at the shop's pristine white sandy-top tables.

"Don't thank me yet. You haven't told me what's going on."

"Right. So, my sister is actually a wedding planner and she was the one who planned my entire wedding and reception."

"That's amazing. Good for you. It was a great reception."

"Thanks. I'm glad the wedding and reception turned out great, but at the end of my reception something amazing happened. This 3D digital art display appeared out of nowhere and it was incredibly beautiful."

"Oh, yes it was," I replied so apathetically, she must've heard the strain in my voice.

"Well, several of my guests got bits and pieces of it on video and uploaded it on my sister's Xoro page. The videos have become so popular that clients have been asking for the same service at their weddings. The problem was, she was not the one who did that for my wedding, but the requests had been coming in such droves that she couldn't shy away from a potential new wave for her business. So she said that my wedding was a pilot project and that, because of the amazing engagement and feedback, she would be offering the service soon."

Wow, what a way to take advantage of the situation.

"The next problem was, she hasn't been able to get any of her tech experts to recreate the same visuals from my wedding. But I had noticed on that day, in the distance, a certain couple was at the epicenter of the magnificent display. Which means that the display was meant for you or it was done by you. So, that's why I've been hoping to see you again. Could you please connect my sister to the one who did those visuals? I'm asking the favour of a lifetime."

I took a moment to think everything through before I blurted out something I might regret. However, I didn't need even a moment to know what my next move should be. I used that moment to ensure I didn't miss anything important before I made my proposal.

"What is your sister's company?" I then asked.

"It's called, 'Flourish in White'. Here's her social media page."

She showed me her page with a whopping five million followers and a ton of job requests flooding her page. Just like she said, most of the recent requests and comments were in anticipation of the new style of visual display weddings.

"Your sister is amazing for building such a successful business. Well, you're in luck. I'll help your sister launch this new project."

"Really! Thank you so much."

"But only if she agrees to a partnership with the company I'm working with. This is the company that can help your sister with the new wedding idea."

"Okay, deal! Which company is it?"

"It's called Soaress, a much smaller event-management company."

She smiled as she realized that our conversation was heading into that of a business deal. I gave her my card and asked her to have her sister give me a call or send an email if she was interested in joining forces. Thankfully, there wasn't any unnecessary information on the card - just the company's name and a new cell number specifically for Soaress. Before leaving, I reminded her that the only way her sister would have access to those highly demanded features was through me. I wasn't wrong, since those heirs technically live in hiding and I wouldn't want my problems to risk any unnecessary exposures.

I left the café feeling ecstatic at the new venture I had acquired for my business and the exciting events that lay ahead. But first, I needed to procure certain resources to convince them I was a worthy partner. For that reason alone, I was glad when I saw Malik lingering around a few feet from my car.

"I thought you turned back."

"It was a chance to see you, so I figured I'd come anyway."

"Well, I am glad to see you. If you heard that conversation, you probably know why."

"I'd love to hear the reason directly from you. I don't want to assume anything."

You're one to speak. You've been presuming things without asking me ever since we met.

"Are you able to create those visuals that Shelli made in the park?"

"I've never done that before, but it can't be that hard. In the meantime, why don't you ask Shelli whether she wants to help us or just tell me which software she used?"

"Sure. Either way, we need to get this project up and running. This could be the chance of a lifetime, so I want you to help me to craft a proposal for our next meeting."

"I like how you implied that you offered these services when you really don't."

"Hey, she did the same thing when her clients asked about it. Fake it till you make it, right?"

"Is that how you see it? Anyway, I'm hungry, so why don't we eat out at a Japanese restaurant tonight? Unless you're feeling petty about it being a Japanese restaurant."

"I'm not petty about it. Let's eat at your favorite Japanese restaurant." The way I replied sounded like I was still a little petty about it.

"Or shall we eat here instead?" He asked as we stopped in front of a fancy Chinese restaurant.

"On second thought, I have another idea."

I kept walking past the restaurant and he followed me while I searched for the location on my phone.

"I see someone has some assertiveness leftover from her mission today. But what was wrong with the Chinese restaurant?"

I paused my scrolling at his snide comment but I didn't respond and continued my search. When I finally found what I was looking for, I grabbed his hand and we walked several blocks to the next plaza while ignoring the man who kept asking me about where we were going.

We entered the large mall and went to the second floor where our destination awaited. I bought some tickets at the window, then walked back over to the mercilessly hot guy leaning against the wall outside, who every girl entering was gaping at, and who every boyfriend passing him glared at.

I handed him one of the tickets, then dragged him to the entrance of the movie theater.

"To this day, we haven't gone on a single normal date. So, tonight, there shall be no overpriced memories, nor intricate schemes, nor ulterior motives."

"Is that what you've thought of our dates so far? Why don't I sense any sentiment?"

"Let us enjoy a completely NORMAL evening today."