Chapter 3
I passed the phone to Theo.
Theo took my phone with a suspicious look on his face. But when he heard the voice over the phone, his expression immediately changed.
“Ms… Ms. Smith? Why… why are you…”
His posture immediately shrank as cold sweat broke on his forehead.
“Theo! Do you know who you are offending? That’s our most respectable VIP! How many times do I have to tell you that no one can touch the middle seat in the first row? Are you treating my word like it’s nothing?”
Theo’s legs started shaking.
“Ms. Smith, I… I didn’t know! I just thought he was…”
“What were you thinking? What are your eyes for? Let me tell you, if Mr. Thatcher is dissatisfied, you can kiss your career goodbye! Apologize to him now!”
The very next second, Lily promptly hung, leaving Theo to hold my phone while staring at me in fear. The people around us hadn’t even needed to hear the phone conversation to appear shocked. They could easily judge Theo’s expression and make the conclusion that I was far from being a ‘nobody’.
Henry’s smile froze on his face, and disbelief filled his eyes.
Theo returned my phone to me with shaky hands. Then, he dropped to his knees.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Thatcher! It’s my fault for not recognizing you! I should be damned! Please, I know you’re a kind person. I beg you to forgive me just for this once!”
I ignored him and kept staring at Henry coldly.
“So? Do you still think that this seat doesn’t belong to me?”
The man’s face could not grow any paler. He had not expected that such a seemingly ordinary man like me could terrify a director with just a phone call. However, because of his connections to Reid Corporation, he remained unwilling to admit his mistake.
“So what if the president saved a seat for you? Reid Corporation is the biggest sponsor of this event! Offending us put the Innovating Design Competition at risk of not running ever again!”
I was not the true target of this remark. It was Theo that Henry wanted to intimidate. It worked. Theo immediately became conflicted.
On one side, there was his superior’s orders; on the other side, there the whim of an important sponsor.
Suddenly, a haughty voice spoke.
“Hey, why is it so crowded here? Who’s bullying the Reid family?”
The crowd parted, and a young woman dressed in couture walked over with a group of bodyguards surrounding her.
It was the daughter of Reid Corporation, Sammy.
Henry saw her as his lifesaver. He rushed over to her wearing a pitiful expression and even clung to her arm to complain. “You’re finally here, Ms. Reid! Not only did this man snatch my seat, he’s also getting Mr. Anderson to bully me!”
Sammy patted his hand in comfort. Then, she looked at me.
“You’re the one?” She said mockingly. “You’re wearing such cheap clothes! How dare you come here and make a scene? Where did you find the guts to do so?”
I suppressed my anger and replied coldly, “The organizer has saved this seat for me as a judge.”
“A judge?” Sammy snorted. “You? A judge? Do you know what fashion is? Do you know where I got my dress? Do you know that Henry is wearing a limited-edition watch?”
She pointed at me and said to the crowd, “Let me tell you, Henry is definitely taking this seat today because I said so!”
Chapter 4
Her arrogance was a good match to Henry’s.
I finally understood that I was dealing with two perfect idiots that were made for each other.
“Ms. Reid, right?” I sneered. “Your mother, Jane, was not talking to me like this when she begged me to work for her brand, back then.”
I hadn’t tried to make things worse, but my words simply enraged Sammy.
“Who the hell are you?! How dare you talk about my mother?”
I answered coldly, “Not only do I know your mother, but your mother also calls me ‘mister’ when she sees me in person.”
Sammy became extremely furious. She raised her hand to initiate a humiliating slap.
“You piece of trash! How dare you scold me?!”
However, Sammy’s hand was grabbed before it could reach my face.
Lily was the one who had stopped her. She had finally made it to the show, and she was looking extremely furious.
“Sammy! You’re being unreasonable!”
As young as Lily was, she was still a very important figure in the industry. When she showed up, everyone froze in shock.
Sammy flung her hand away and still looked angry.
“What are you doing, Ms. Smith?! Why are you making an enemy out of us over a nobody?”
“He’s not a nobody!” Lily stomped her foot in anger. “He’s an extremely important figure in our industry!”
“Ha ha ha!” Sammy started laughing. “Important? In this industry, no one is more important than the Reid family!”
She turned around to throw me a taunting look.
“I don’t care what relationship you and Lily have. You’re either begging for Henry’s forgiveness today, or I make sure you disappear from the fashion world! You’ll face the consequences of offending the Reid family!” She kept on threatening while pointing a finger at my nose.
“How dare you, Sammy!” Lily almost passed out from anger.
I supported her back up and patted her back to calm her down before calmly meeting Sammy’s eyes. “You’re asking me to beg for forgiveness?” I then laughed. “You for sure do not know me, Ms. Reid. In this life, I have only ever gotten on my knees before my parents’ graves. As for making me disappear from this industry…”
I paused and took out my phone to send a voice message in front of everyone. “Hey Arnold, I’m at the Innovating Design Competition, and I’m in a little bit of a pickle right now. A small company called Reid Corporation is threatening to make me disappear from this industry. Isn’t that funny?”
A dead silence settled over the crowd once I was done sending that note. Every person who knew of the name I spoke of became pale-faced and started sweating.
Arnold was the equivalent of a fashion god.
Even though Sammy was a brat, she was not naive. She had obviously heard of this name before, and her expression changed too.
“Who are you trying to scare? Who do you think you are for Mr. Arnold to even pay attention to you?”
She had just finished her sentence when I received a reply. It was also a voice note and I wasted no time playing it.
“No one on this earth can try to make you disappear. Tell me, how exactly do you want to get rid of the Reid Corporation?”