Kendrick left for a meeting, leaving Niamh to tinker with the fragrance in the room alone.
Niamh used her sensitive nose and knack for creating new perfumes to easily come up with a few new and unique scents.
After registering a trademark and a brand for Niamh, Kendrick then pushed the products to the market.
A few days later, the feedback received was not bad.
The weekend arrived, and Kendrick brought Niamh to see Adam.
Adam handed over a bottle of medicine and stated that it was to be taken with the previous one for the best results.
Niamh thanked Adam and went to have lunch with Kendrick in a restaurant, only to meet Fabian’s sister, Lana, there.
With a look filled with passion, she came to join them and handed over her name card. “Unlike my brother Yorick, I dabble in legal businesses. I quite like your newest perfumes, Mrs. Waldburg, so I was wondering if we could pursue a partnership?”
Kendrick was about to reject her when he felt a leg touch his under the table.
He first thought that it was an accident but then found the infatuated looks Lana was giving him from the corner of his eyes growing more presumptuous.
Kendrick tucked his legs back, his expression growing cold.
He was about to bring Niamh away, but she seemed to be engrossed with replying to her texts. He did not want to bother her, let alone let her know of Lana’s actions under the table.
“I’m taking a call, Kendrick. You can talk to Miss Johnson first.” Niamh got up and left.
Kendrick thought to take the chance to bring Niamh away, only to have Lana stand in his way just as he was about to get up. She leaned toward him unabashedly. “I like your scent, Mr. Waldburg. It might just be love at first sight.”
Kendrick warned without sparing Lana a glance. “Please respect yourself, Miss Johnson. I have a wife.”
“That’s even better. I like stealing other people’s things. Plus, there has never been a time when I didn’t get what I want.” Lana curled her red lips and stared at Kendrick’s frosty side profile, her desire clear as day. “Would you like to try dating me, Mr. Waldburg? You’ll find that I love you more than your wife does.”
Lana’s straightforwardness made Kendrick uncomfortable. Seeing as Niamh had hung up and was about to turn around, Kendrick decided to bypass Lana to get to Niamh. What he had not expected was for Lana to suddenly pull his arm back and get on her tiptoes to kiss him.
Kendrick was no stranger to being admired, but it was his first time meeting someone as open with her affections as Lana.
Not to mention that her going on her tiptoes to kiss him was evidently done for Niamh to see.
However, Kendrick had not let Lana touch him. Pushing her away, he stated coldly, “Leave me alone.”
He warned before turning to walk toward Niamh.
Niamh seemed to have knocked into a friend, so she did not see Lana trying to kiss Kendrick.
Kendrick let out a breath of relief.
He did not want Niamh to misunderstand anything.
Niamh’s conversation came to an end, and she turned around to see Kendrick approaching her with her purse and a warm smile. “I’m suddenly craving Spanish food, Nia. Let’s eat somewhere else.”
Niamh found his sudden change in decision weird.
Peering subtly at Lana who was not too far away, she reached out to link her arm with Kendrick’s. “Let’s go.”
After leaving the restaurant, Niamh asked Kendrick, “Did Lana say something? You couldn’t possibly have a sudden craving for Spanish food, could you?”
Not wanting to upset Niamh, Kendrick gave a reasonable excuse. “She says that her business is legal, but she’s still Yorick Johnson’s sister. I’d rather we try to reduce our contact with the Stygian Johnsons to as little as possible.”
Kendrick’s words made sense, so Niamh left it at that.
That night, Niamh suddenly received a call from Lana while she was doing crafts with the children.
Lana spoke of her desire to partner with Niamh in perfume manufacturing but was rejected softly by Niamh as she remembered the things Kendrick had said to her in the day.
Lana did not say much and hung up the phone.
Soon after, Kendrick’s phone rang.
Seeing as the man was cutting fruits in the kitchen, Niamh answered the call for him. “Hello, who’s this?” she asked, but the other party seemed to have hung up the moment they heard her voice.
With the phone in her hand, Niamh looked at it and saw that the unknown number was the one Lana had used to call her.
Kendrick came over with a platter of fruits, and Niamh told him, “Lana called you just now.”
Kendrick’s hands shook slightly. “Maybe it’s about the partnership. I’ll call back and reject her.”
“Okay.” Niamh handed him his phone.
The call was connected and she heard Kendrick rejecting Lana coldly and firmly.
Niamh thought that it was the last of it, but Lana came to look for them at the company a few days later.
“I really want to partner with you, Mrs. Waldburg.” Lana’s tone was friendly while her smile was kind.
“I wouldn’t mind referencing you to a suitable brand, Miss Johnson, but we will not partner with you.” Kendrick rejected coldly before leaving for the office with Niamh’s hand in his.
Lana quirked her red lips as she admired Kendrick’s retreating figure. The desire to dominate grew in her eyes.
After the morning meeting, Niamh went to the scent room to dabble with the perfume while Kendrick returned to work in the office.
A short moment later, the receptionist knocked on the office’s glass door and relayed that someone had sent a pot of flowers for him.
Kendrick looked up to realize that it was a pot of Queen of the Night.
Kendrick was wondering who had gifted him the flowers when his phone rang.
He picked up the phone and heard Lana’s pretentious voice. “Did you receive the Queen of the Night, Mr. Waldburg? I’m sure you understand why I sent them.”
“For the last time, Lana Johnson, do not disturb me again. I have no interest, nor will I have any in the future, for women like you.”
Lana merely scoffed as her tone grew more smitten. “You’ll never know if you’re interested until you try. I hear that your wife’s four months pregnant, Mr. Waldburg.”
This woman’s actions and speech were too unbridled. It was sickening.
Not wanting to waste his saliva on this woman, he hung up and blocked Lana’s number before he went to prepare for Niamh’s perfume testing that weekend.
However, he had not expected Lana to appear again.
Dressed seductively, Lana gave off a unique scent—one that Niamh could smell the moment she approached her.
The smell itself was good, yet Niamh felt it muddling her mind inexplicably.
Although she did not know how Lana got her hands on an invitation, Niamh had no other option but to let her stay.
Lana tried on a few of Niamh’s new perfume scents and sighed disappointingly. “It’s a shame I can’t work with Mr. and Mrs. Waldburg because of my relationship with my brother. I really want to partner with you, but I’m sure you wouldn’t want me around too much.
“Sometimes I just wish I could sever my ties with my brother. I know his trades are illegal, but I can’t seem to convince him to stop.” Lana raised her hopeless and innocent eyes. “Do you think we’ll ever get the chance to work together, Mrs. Waldburg?”
Hearing Lana’s question, Kendrick, who had been by Niamh’s side the entire night, was well aware that her intentions had never been for a partnership at all. Her target was him.
“My wife and I have been very clear, Miss Johnson. We do not wish to partner with you.” Kendrick’s attitude was aloof.
Lana raised her wine glass and poked the tip of her tongue out to lick her red lips. Staring at the alluring man, her desire grew.
Niamh’s head throbbed, so she walked to the corridor for a breather. Kendrick followed.
“Are you feeling better, Nia?”
Niamh looked at her watch. “It’s time for my medicine.”
Kendrick had Niamh’s medicine on him the entire time. Watching Niamh take her medication, he gave a silent sigh of relief.
“I’ll get you a cup of warm water, Eveline.” Kendrick took off his jacket and placed it over Niamh’s shoulders before returning to the ballroom.
He had just turned a corner when Lana appeared before him again.
The warmth in Kendrick’s gaze vanished. “Don’t even think about trying anything with me, Lana Johnson. And don’t you dare think of excuses to bother my wife.”
Lana swirled the wine in her glass and approached Kendrick with an enchanting smile. “What’s this? Do you love your wife so much? But I heard that you never loved Eveline Montgomery before this. You detested her so much that you forced her to divorce you.”
Kendrick frowned at the mention of their unhappy past.
“That’s between me and my wife. As an outsider, you have no right to comment.”
However, Lana continued to stare mirthfully at Kendrick’s features. “You look so charismatic even when you’re angry, Mr. Waldburg. How could you possibly expect me not to fall for you? How could I live to my title as Queen of Philately if I don’t make you mine?”
Hearing her, Kendrick understood.
What this woman was interested in was capturing men for herself. As long as she got her eyes on a man, she would do everything in her power to make him hers.
With Yorick backing her up, Lana had no qualms about being shameless.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.