"Boss, there’s no way you are thinking of giving that role to Andrew so he could place it on a platter for that Carla who tried to harm your reputation so many times," Antonio said as he looked at Elara from the rearview mirror.
Elara, who had her head leaning on the windowsill and eyes closed, opened one eye to look at her bodyguard.
"What makes you think I am ready to give up?" She asked.
Antonio pressed his lips into a thin line.
"That man said he will withdraw the divorce," Antonio complained like a child who wasn’t happy with the outcome of a film.
Elara smiled.
"I want to see him trying," she said.
Antonio but his bottom lip curiously. He could see that she was resting, but his mind couldn’t rest until it had all the answers.
"What’s going on in your mind, Miss Elara?" He asked.
Elara’s lips stretched again, but she didn’t open her eyes this time and got more comfortable in her seat.
"You weren’t there when my mom made me promise we would have everything like a family, right?" She asked.
Antonio denied verbally, and Elara sighed.
"I am supposed to take over as the vice chairman of the Glacier branch soon. According to the deal I signed five years ago, the price of her allowing me to sing on the stage. She remembered it quite clearly," Elara exhaled sharply.
Antonio raised his brows in surprise. He didn’t say anything for some time, doing the math in his head.
If Miss Elara became the vice chairman of the Glacier company, which dealt in real estate under the same provision, she would become a direct rival of Lloyd’s.
With the Frosts backing her, her influence would be more substantial, and if she played her cards right, she could overthrow Lloyd’s business in a few months.
It would leave Andrew with no choice but to kneel before her if he wanted to continue to have his business prosper in the provision.
"And did you agree to take over the company?" Antonio asked.
"No," Elara said blatantly.
Antonio—"..." So all that math for nothing? He wondered.
"I have much bigger plans. Do you think I am going to let them off the hook so easily just by taking over some random company?"
You mean one of the biggest branches of the Frost companies? Antonio wanted to correct her but didn’t.
"So who is the first in your target list?" Antonio asked casually, not really thinking she would’ve made any such list at all.
But he was wrong. She had indeed made a list.
She planned to start hitting everyone one by one, first starting small and then going big with her attacks.
"Sophia," Elara said.
"Andrew’s mother?" Antonio asked.
Elara hummed before she looked out of the window at the passing trees.
"It’s about time the old lady gets humbled," Elara smiled.
Antonio parked the car in the parking lot of one of the most expensive malls in the state, and Elara stepped out, ready to go to the elevators.
She was about to enter when her phone rang.
It was none other than Mason, and she raised her brows.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Buy me ice cream for taking your side before the producer and the director," He said.
Elara furrowed her brows at the random request.
"I don’t even know where you are," Elara said, rather than arguing with him and saying how she didn’t need it in the first place.
It was useless talking sense into him. Besides, she was delighted that day when he spoke in her favor. For once, she had people on her side, too.
"Behind you," the man said, prompting Elara to take a sharp turn.
Standing before her was none other than Mason, waving at her like an excited penguin, and she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.
She was about to walk over to him and ask what he had brought him here for and whether he was following her when the person who had exited the car next caught her off-guard.
Why did he look so familiar? She wondered.
"Surprised?" Mason asked, adjusting his mask.
Elara didn’t say anything. Her gaze was fixed on the tall man wearing a face mask, his eyes scanning her like she was some kind of eye candy.
What made it worse was that she wasn’t the least bit offended by his gaze.
"Daniel?" She whispered the name.
The man didn’t speak immediately. It was Mason who chimed in.
"Whoa, you really know him. I thought he was helping you in the contest because he owed you his life, but it looks like something else entirely," Mason said.
"Even I found it hard to recognize him when he came out wearing that mask. What kind of lenses do you have?" Mason stepped close to her to pry her eyes open, but his hand was stopped before it could even touch her face.
The man grabbed his collar and yanked him back like a toddler, making Mason look up with a pout.
"Hey! She is my friend first," Mason said.
The man just tilted his head and gave one look to Mason that was more than enough for him to shut up and zip his mouth.
"What’s going on?" Antonio voiced out the question that Elara wanted to ask.
"Well, you see, Mr. Daniel Macros here is my uncle. It’s a long story. But just know he is my uncle, the rude and unapproachable one," Mason said.
The man walked forward, stepping almost toe-to-toe with Elara, his dominating aura forcing her to look up into his eyes.
"Do I scare you?" He asked, inquiring about the mask more specifically.
Elara looked into his eyes for a solid 10 seconds before she lifted her hand and beckoned him to come closer.
The man furrowed his brows but followed nonetheless.
He leaned forward so he could hear what she had to say.
Elara stood on her tiptoes, cupping his right ear with her hands as if she were about to tell him a million-dollar secret, and the man held his breath to hear her answer.
However, what she said next was something he would’ve never expected in a million years.
"I think I am ovulating," Elara whispered, deliberately moving her lips against his earlobes before she stood straight and stepped back, leaving Daniel frozen in his place.
He looked up, his eyes dark and unfathomable, making Mason and Antonio wonder what kind of curse she said.
While Elara stood there with a smirk, her eyes clearly telling him how much she liked him, giving off dark romance vibes, the avid reader in her heart wanted nothing more than to have her fantasies played out tonight.
"You are going to pay for what you said to me," Daniel said, the yearning clear in his voice like a secret that only the two of them shared.