The Rebirth of a Scorned Heiress

As Lily’s car came to a stop in front of her studio, another car parked right behind her and waited until she came down before turning off the light.

Frederick stepped out of his car and looked around before approaching her with an obvious forced smile.

“What a coincidence, I wasn’t expecting to run into you here again, Miss Lily. How have you been?” he greeted, his voice sounding calm yet arrogant.

“I wouldn’t call it a coincidence, Mr. Frederick,” Lily replied with a smile of her own. “You’ve been following me since I left Starlite Cooperation after all.”

“Makes me wonder if there is something you want from me,” she added with a little edge to her tone, silently sending him a warning.

“You don’t have to be on edge around me; I was just curious about the woman who caught my cousin’s attention,” he replied. “You look beautiful but nothing special, so how did you get his attention?” He asked with a smirk making Lily duke in annoyance.

“Do you perhaps have a collaboration with Starlite?” He probed, and Lily scoffed silently.

“I’m not sure I want to discuss my business with you, Mr. Frederick. We are not friends, nor are we business partners. Asking me those questions is rather rude and inappropriate,” she hissed out, finally unable to pretend to be polite to him.

Frederick pursed his lips into a thin line as his brows furrowed in anger. Never had anyone else apart from Mark treated him like a bother. Seeing how Lily wasn’t playing according to the rules made him want to put her in her place.

He took a step closer, trying to intimidate her into submission, but instead of backing down like he had expected, Lily stepped up to him, maintaining her confidence as she looked into his eyes.

“You are a feisty one aren’t you?” He chuckled darkly. Moving his face closer to hers, he smirked as he noticed how uncomfortable it made her feel. “Does Mark know he’s dating a two-face like you?”

Lily clenched her fist, seriously holding back from hitting him, she looked straight into his eyes, making sure she matched his arrogance, “I’m not sure what you were expecting by following me, but I’m too busy to entertain you. Now leave if you don’t have anything reasonable to say to me,” she gritted out.

Frederick’s eyes narrowed at Lily’s audacious response. He took a step back, creating a distance between them so he could get a good look at her.

His jaw clenched, and for a moment, it seemed as though he might lash out in anger. But instead, he regained his composure, his face relaxing into a mask of indifference.

“Very well, Miss Lily,” he said, his tone deceptively calm. “I can see that you’re not in the mood for conversation. However, keep in mind that you may not always have the luxury of choice when it comes to our interactions.”

Lily tutted and raised a challenging eyebrow. “I’ll take my chances,” she retorted coolly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

He brought out a cigarette, placing it in between his fingers; however, he never attempted to light it as he glared down at Lily. “Do you think Mark will always protect you?” He asked with a smirk, and Lily returned his glare.

“You must think you are on top of the world now that you’ve found a gold tigh to latch on. I’m looking forward to seeing the look on your face when you find out that he’s about to get engaged to his childhood sweetheart, oops I let the cat out of the bag” he chuckled mischievously.

Lily’s eyes narrowed at Frederick’s words, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her falter. “Do you think I would believe the words you say?” She scoffed. “And even if it’s true, it’s none of your business.” She replied and turned to leave.

Annoyed by her blatant disrespect, Frederick pulled her arms, only for him to feel another holding his own. “It’s good to see you again, cousin,” Celina hissed as she glared at Frederick, her eyes filled with hatred and rage.

“I didn’t know you had so much time on your hands to go around harassing a lady. I should probably tell Mark to give you some more work, don’t you think?” She taunted.

Hearing her words, Frederick’s composed appearance fell, and he glared at her, matching the hatred in her eyes. “Should I not say the same about you? As the heir of Lam fashion, I wasn’t expecting to see you lurking around such a small business,” he retorted, and Celina snickered.

“Unlike you, I’m here for business,” she replied as she waved a brown envelope in his face. “Besides, she’s my friend, and I don’t need permission to go visit my friend.” She added and turned to Lily with a worried expression. “Are you alright? He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

“I’m fine. I was just a little on edge at being followed,” she explained calmly, and Celina nodded. “Let’s go in; I also have some things to discuss with you,” she urged, pulling Celina along.

As she got to the entrance of the building, she turned back to see Frederick still standing there, stunned and annoyed. As their eyes met, she gave him a pointed look followed by a taunting smirk.

{Why are you pulling his hatred towards you on purpose?} The system asked in bewilderment, already aware of Lily’s plans. {I asked you to get rid of him, not draw his attention to yourself, you troublemaker!}

“Having him keep an eye on me won’t hurt,” Lily replied. “Besides, I need him to take his eyes off Mark for a while for my next plans,” she explained.

{Having his eyes on you will defeat your aim of keeping a low profile; are you okay with that?}

“After going out as Mark’s date, that plan has been eradicated. I can no longer keep a low profile, even if I want to.” She replied.

“Besides, it’s time for me to actively go up against The Hamilton; I can’t keep it low if I want to win against them,” she added.

{Whatever you do, be careful.}

“I have you; what’s there to be careful about?”

Upon arrival at her office, Celina collapsed on her couch as she hurriedly removed her heels. “I’m so tired. Can I give up training to take over Lam?” She grumbled, and Lily giggled.

“You should ask your mom, not me. You do look stressed, I must say,” she pointed out.

“Of course, I am stressed,” Celina replied. “In the past week, I’ve only had seven hours of sleep in total! It’s always paperwork and more paperwork; they never finish!” She complained.

“And now I’m going to have more work when mom goes on vacation next month. Can’t I be a model and leave it at that?”

“You’ll be fine. After you get used to it, you’ll realise it’s nothing much,” Lily encouraged while trying to hold back her laugh.

Finally settling down, Celina went straight to the reason she had visited. “Mark wants us to collaborate with you in creating the merchandise for the game,” she explained, her aura switching back to her professional mode.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

“The game hasn’t been released yet; how come it’s getting merchandise?”

“It’s a cover,” Celina replied. “He needs to be involved in your business as his date, you know? He needs to make sure you don’t get asked some annoying questions, or people like Frederick following you about,”

Lily nodded; she had thought of coming up with a plan, something that could be a cover for her always going to Starlite in case it gets spread by those with evil intentions. Who would have thought Mark had the same thoughts as she did?

“Alrighty then. What part of the merch do you guys need me to work on?” She asked.

Celina handed her the envelope containing all the lists of merchandise, and they both discussed how they would divide it to fit their line of work the best.

Once that was done, Lily invited Celina to stay over for dinner while getting some rest, to which the other agreed without skipping a beat.

“Are you really okay about being confronted by Frederick like that? He was a little too close for comfort and he’d have gotten handsy if I did not arrive in time,” Celina asked over dinner, and Lily shrugged.

“I know the risks of pretending to be Mark’s girlfriend,” she replied. “I’m going to be seen as his weakness, so of course they’d approach me to get to him.”

“Do you need extra bodyguards then? I can talk to Mark to get you some,” Celina offered, and Lily shook her head.

“I don’t need any; I’ll be fine. I’m not some damsel in distress that needs saving, you know?” Lily replied calmly. “If I need help, I’ll definitely ask, but for now, I’m okay as I am,” she added.

“What will Mark do about his childhood sweetheart, though?”

“You mean Rose?” Celina asked and Lily nodded.

“Yes, her”

“I’m not entirely sure, but the engagement will not be holding.”