Night of Destiny

It was around 10.00AM when Hayley was browsing through the Louis Vuitton store at the premium mall. Just as she was glancing at the bags on display, her phone rang. She answered the call brusquely, “Hey, Mom.”

“Hayley, you don’t happen to have some money to spare, do you? Your brother needs to fork out payment for school, so we were wondering if you could help tide us over for a bit.”

“Where would | get the money, Mom? | don’t even have enough to keep myself afloat at the moment, so no, | can’t help you guys out,” Hayley replied, swiftly turning her mother down.

The next moment, her mother’s shrill voice filled the other line. “Just what the hell have you been up to these days? You're probably just lazing around, aren’t you? | raised you only to have you become so worthless that you can’t even fork out 2,000 to help us out! Consider yourself my greatest failure!”

Hayley was indifferent as she took her mother’s harsh words in stride. When the older woman had dealt every single insult she could come up with in the short span of time, she hung up. It was only then that Hayley turned to look at the retail assistant, and in a tone that sounded as if she needed an emotional outlet, she snapped and said, “Ring up every bag on this shelf right now.”

The assistant stared at her in bewilderment. She had heard everything Hayley said on the phone earlier, so she could hardly believe that the girl had money to pay for these bags.

Alas, with a deft swipe of her unlimited black card, Hayley paid for the bags and left the store in a huff.

That afternoon, May was sitting on the edge of her chair across from Hayley as she glanced around the high-end restaurant. “This is the first time I've been to somewhere as fancy as this, Hayley! This is unbelievable!”

Hayley brought her cup to her lips as elegantly as she could and took a sip. “Tell me about Anastasia’s recent developments, May.

“You know that jewelry design competition that’s been recently organized? Apparently, Anastasia’s design has made it to the finals, and the winner will be — declared next week. If she wins, she will receive a million in prize money!” May

informed the woman as jealousy gleamed in her eyes. Even Hayley was astonished when she heard this. “What? A million?”

“That’s right! A competition like this typically caps the prize money at around 100,000, but | heard that President Presgrave is really going all out this year and racked up the prize to a million. It’s groundbreaking.”

Hayley tightened her grip around her cup. If she were to clasp it any tighter, the cup might break. So Elliot was the one who hiked up the prize money?

“President Presgrave is so generous,” May mused with a wistful sigh.

Hayley immediately thought of this as one of Elliot's ways to repay Anastasia’s mother’s deeds, which meant that Anastasia was set to win the competition and walk away with a million in cash prize.

Elliot wielded power in various industries under the conglomerate, and it was only child’s play for him to manipulate the results of a jewelry design competition. As things were, it would not be the least bit surprising if Anastasia won first place.

No, I can’t let Anastasia walk away with that money so easily. | can’t let her win the competition without even breaking a sweat! Hayley was filled with spite and rage that she wanted to throw Anastasia out of Bourgeois and have her removed permanently from the design industry. | want her reputation to be fed to the dogs!

The jewelry design competition this time was the best opportunity for Hayley to get rid of Anastasia. Let's see how you'll fare when you fall hard from grace.

After lunch, Anastasia returned to the office with 100,000 in cash on hand. She took the satchel of money and walked up to the president's office, whereupon she knocked on the door. It was Rey who opened it from within, and at the sight of him, she asked, “Is President Presgrave in at the moment?”

“Yes, he is,” Rey answered courteously. She nodded. “I have some things to discuss with him.” With that, she marched through the doorway and saw that Elliot was seated on the couch, looking preoccupied as he went through a mountainous pile of documents.

Upon sensing her entry, Elliot merely looked up at her once, then turned his attention to the documents before him as he asked absentmindedly, “Is there something | can help you with?”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Without another word, Anastasia put the stack of cash in front of him and said, “I’m here to pay you back the 100,000 | owe you.”

Elliot's pen paused on the page for a moment, but he recovered and signed off on the document before closing the folder. Having done so, he looked up at her and said coldly, “Stop right there, Anastasia. Take your money back.”

For all her love of money, Anastasia did not want to keep something that she did not deserve. She turned on her heels and said, “Donate your money to charity if you truly have nothing else to spend it on. There are others in this world who would appreciate your generosity.”

Hearing this made Rey speak up on his boss’ behalf from where he stood at the sidelines. “Miss Tillman, President Presgrave already has a charitable foundation under his name, and he donates billions every year into said foundation,” he said.

When Anastasia heard this, she faltered and let out an awkward dry cough. “Well then, pretend | said nothing.” With that, she flushed sheepishly and left.