Besides Lily, Nathaniel was also in the dark about what happened. All he knew was that Melanie and Frank had left for Westwood and nothing else. Melanie had stopped talking to him ever since her affair with Frank was exposed, and Nathaniel did not attempt to find out anything further. Truth be told, he did not care to. He did not care about Melanie's fate until MN Inc.'s new products were involved. Since Nathaniel and Melanie were still together at the time, the two fragrances were released under her name. Besides, even if she cheated on him, it did not matter as long as the perfumes they made were qualified to join the perfume championship. Nathaniel had weighed his options and decided to keep her products, but this news from Alexander changed everything.“What do you mean? How is Mel a mastermind behind a kidnapping? That’s impossible!” Though he was no longer involved with Melanie, he was still confident that he knew her enough to know she would not do something like this.
“I honestly had nothing to do with it.” Faced with Lily’s wary eyes, Alexander decided to confess, “Fine, I had something to do with it, but I only a tiny part.” He emphasized while gesturing with his fingers, showing Lily how little he got involved.Lily was not that gullible, “Are you sure? Just a small part?”‘He said he had nothing to do with this just a while ago, and now he says it’s just a small part.’“It’s true. I only played a small part!” Alexander reassured Lily, both his hands on her shoulders as if this would make her trust in him grow.“All I did was provide the Westwood police force with some information. I showed them some evidence that might suggest Melanie was one of the suspects in the kidnapping case. The rest was history.“The police were responsible for the arrest, and they were also the ones that charged her with the crime. I did nothing much, seriously!” Alexander looked so sincere that Lily believed he had nothing to do with this incident.“So, ultimatel
Nathaniel had been drinking for quite a while since feeling down. He had never felt like this before, and it was like everything was over.“Hey, handsome, it’s such a bore to be drinking alone. Why don’t you join me?” An attractive woman approached Nathaniel and started to hit on him.Nathaniel raised his head to look at the woman but could not make out who she was as he was already quite wasted, “Sure, why not.”Suddenly, someone came over and shoved the lady aside, ignoring her yells of protest. Nathaniel roared intoxicatedly, “Who are you?! How dare you…” Before he could finish his sentence, someone dragged him to the bar entrance by his collar.“W-Who are you? W-What are you trying to do?” He was slightly sober now as he stood outside the bar shivering from the cold wind that blew. Although the commotion attracted some attention, it was normal at a bar, so everyone continued having fun after a while.Bang!The person shoved Nathaniel into the backseat of a car, and the door s
“Enough, it’s just the annual perfumery competition. So what if you get disqualified this year? It’s not like you don’t have the next time. What are you so worried about?” Eloise's brows furrowed in annoyance.“B-But we’re not going to make it!” How could Nathaniel not be worried? Even though the competition was only two months away, he had already completed their admission. If he could make amendments, MN Inc. needed time for research and development to create a whole new product and for it to be successful.Even if they came up with a new product to make it, Nathaniel could not guarantee it would be good enough to win the competition. Most importantly, he faced the issue of a criminal’s name attached to his two new products. It would undoubtedly affect the perfumes and MN Inc.’s reputation. Nathaniel needed damage control to save the perfumes and his company’s reputation. He also had to carefully think up an explanation for this situation for the board of directors.His most sig
“Mom! I’m sorry, I made a mistake! I thought we’d surely succeed, but this happened. I didn’t think that Mel would be dumb enough to kidnap Lily. I had no idea she would do such a thing! Plus…” Nathaniel remembered something and stole a glance at Eloise. “I didn’t know that Frank was a drug addict. He has a terrible reputation worldwide!”Nathaniel only found out everything after he did some investigation upon hearing that Melanie was in trouble. Everything made sense to him now. He knew the reason he could not get in touch with Melanie and lost contact with Frank—the cops in Westwood had captured them.“That’s enough. He lied to me, too.” Eloise rubbed her temples, her head throbbing at the mention of Frank.She was not careful enough back then. To her knowledge, Frank was smart and talented. He had also won several awards in the past. Little did she know his creations were the results of plagiarism, and his reputation was terrible!“He did it to you too…” Nathaniel gasped and sta
“You saw it?” Eloise trailed off, frowning because she found it hard to believe Nathaniel’s words. “Alexander Russell? The CEO of La Beauté Group?”Eloise would know about Alexander. In fact, the Russell family was well known, not only in Sapphine but in the entire nation of Hyderland as well. Alexander was widely regarded as the most talented heir to the family and was the source of admiration for many ladies across the country.‘Why would such a man be in a relationship with Lily?’It was not entirely impossible, though, after Eloise gave it some thought. If Lily were any other woman, Eloise might be able to convince herself that Lily was one of Alexander's flings. However, Lily was a part of the Lodge family. If Alexander and Lily got married, their union would unite the Russell and Lodge families, which would have a far-reaching impact.“Mom, I don’t think Lily has feelings for me anymore. Anything I do would be useless. What should I do now?” Nathaniel looked disappointed. He
Eloise raised her hand to knock his head, somewhat annoyed that Nathaniel was not smart enough. “You’re the company's legal representative, so your stance, in this case, is of extreme importance! You must understand that you cannot get rid of your involvement in this issue no matter what you do.“If you choose to support her, that means your morals are questionable. If you cut off all ties with her, the public won’t think that you’re fair and selfless, but they’d say that you’re heartless for leaving her alone when things got tough.”“This…” Upon hearing that, Nathaniel’s expression turned grim. “No matter what I do, I’d look like the bad guy!”“What else do you want?” The mention of this made Eloise mad. “This is all your fault! This matter could only be dealt with in a low-key manner, and you should not reveal too much because the more you say, the more problems will arise. Also, behave yourself these days. Stop visiting bars and getting drunk! Do you want to tarnish your name eve
Nathaniel moved fast and got his PR team to release a statement the following day while he apologized to the board of directors. He admitted he had failed to supervise his team.He explained to the board of directors how they would suffer more significant losses if they did not take down Melanie’s two perfumes. Nathaniel also promised to launch a new product soon to compensate for the current losses.The board of directors was unhappy with the development of the matter. However, they had no other way to deal with this case. On top of that, Nathaniel sincerely apologized, and none of them wanted to lose all their investments like this.Hence, the board of directors agreed to Nathaniel’s suggestion since they could not devise a better plan, giving him another chance to make amends.Nathaniel knew he had succeeded partially after getting the board of directors to understand and approve his plan. The PR team’s quick response, where they apologized to the citizens before discovering Mel