Girl, I thought the same thing! Could this guy have… stolen it?”
To make matters worse, an insider spilled the truth:
“I work at A51. That woman isn’t even the real daughter. And the guy? He’s disgusting. He proposed while cheating on his real girlfriend. Plus, he picked the wrong ‘heiress‘ to suck up to. What a joke.”
The online narrative flipped overnight, and the mall’s reputation took a hit as negative reviews poured in.
I honestly couldn’t care less about those two lowlifes‘ reputations, but A51 was my project— my hard work. Having it dragged into this mess was frustrating, to say the least. As such, I immediately called the marketing team together, and we worked late into the night to come up with a new strategy.
We issued a public statement, briefly explaining the situation. At the same time, we slashed screen rental prices by seventy percent and launched a series of proposal and declaration–of- Jove packages, along with the most aggressive storewide sales in the mall’s history.
The plan worked like a charm. Shoppers‘ attention quickly shifted back, and business at A51 Mall returned to normal.
+25 BONUS
Chapter 7
Once the dust settled, I officially took over A51 Mall and made some much–needed changes. Those parasites who used to kiss up to Tim, Esther’s father, were all fired. I wasn’t going to tolerate any dead weight.
Just as the company started to stabilize, Joel showed up again, sticking to me like gum on the bottom of my shoe.
“Baby, please, let me explain!” he begged, desperation in his eyes. “Esther was a crazy
woman! She kept threatening me with her depression, saying she’d kill herself if I didn’t stay with her. I was trapped!”
I let out a cold laugh, cutting off his pathetic excuses. “Really, Joel? She forced you to cheat?”
He tried to keep talking, but I threw down the stack of evidence I had from the private investigator I had hired. “These hotel records go back five years, all with your name on them. Are you still going to lie?”
He fell silent, too stunned to respond. However, he then changed tactics, plastering on a sheepish smile and inching closer.
“Baby, I know I messed up. I was stupid, okay? Let’s start over, please?”
As if on cue, he pulled out the prize from the proposal–two golden tickets. “Look! This is the Best Couple Award from the proposal, the five–day, four–night luxury honeymoon trip! Let’s go together, shall we?”
He tried to push the tickets into my hand, but I shoved them away, disgusted. “Joel, wake up. We’re done.”
I didn’t bother wasting any more time. I sent him a lawyer’s letter the next day. All the money I’d transferred to him during our relationship, plus the cost of the scratched diamond ring, totaled over seven hundred thousand dollars.
“Pay me back as soon as possible, or I’ll see you in court.”
