Chapter 1 Betrayal
Seraphina Jones woke up with a slight headache at midnight and felt her mouth as dry as a bone.
Even so, Seraphina was still happy.
Seraphina was a perfumer and had been working on a perfume for a long time. After she finally made it, she named it First Love. It would be sent to attend a perfumery competition tomorrow night. After she won the prize in the competition, she and Julian Brown, the man she loved, would start discussing their marriage plans.
It had been five years since Seraphina and Julian knew each other at college. Besides, they had been in love for three years.
Seraphina gave up a lot of things and devoted herself to the study of perfume. Her efforts finally paid off. With her help, Julian’s company grew bigger. A bright future seemingly smiled at her. For this reason, she drank a few more drinks at night.
Seraphina pinched the bridge of her nose and planned to find some water, but she heard a strange noise from the next room.
Seraphina lived alone in the small rented apartment. Julian would stay occasionally, but he would only stay in the guest room alone.
Hearing the noise, Seraphina couldn’t help worrying about if there was anything wrong with Julian.
But when Seraphina got closer to the door of that room, she heard a woman’s voice.
“Julian, will Seraphina hear us?”
“Isn’t it exciting? Don’t worry, honey. I put a drug in her drink. I’m sure she won’t wake up till tomorrow morning.” Although the man’s voice was full of short gasps, Seraphina could recognize that it was Julian’s voice.
Seraphina’s heart sank. Seraphina put so much concentration into the study and development of perfumes over the years that she often suffered from insomnia and needed sleeping pills to help her fall asleep. Therefore, she developed some resistance to drugs that helped or made one sleep.
“When I win the award with the new perfume at tomorrow’s competition, I will be a senior perfumer and have a stable position in this circle. There will be plenty of investors for you to choose from in the future. Moreover, you can recruit as many perfumers as you want, including those better than Seraphina.”
Seraphina, who was standing at the door, clenched her hands and recognized it was Vivian Garcia who was speaking inside that room.
Vivian was Seraphina’s best friend from college. However, since they were still college students, she had been keeping an improper relationship with Julian whom Seraphina took as her fiancé.
Seraphina naturally heard of some rumors. She just stubbornly chose to trust Julian and Vivian, but the reality gave her a fierce slap in the face.
“Sweetheart, I even included part of the letters of your name in my company’s name. You know how much I love you! As for Seraphina, I just take her as a springboard. If it weren’t for you, I would not have tampered with her formula in the perfumery competition that was held for beginner perfumers before,” said Julian.
“I don’t want you to mention her name. Tell me whom you love more, me or her?” Vivian’s voice was already soft. At this moment, it could dazzle Julian as Vivian deliberately spoke in a nasal sing-song voice. However, Seraphina only found it disgusting.
Seraphina gritted her teeth, widened her eyes, and glared at the door as if her gaze could go through the door and fall on the nasty man and woman inside.
“Of course… I love you!” Julian mumbled.
There then came some waves of laughter and groans that made Seraphina sick. Seraphina clenched her hands into fists, pressing her fingernails against the skin hard. The pain in her palms brought her to her reason which then suppressed her urge to rush in.
Never had Seraphina expected that what waited for her after years of dedication was a lie and betrayal from her boyfriend.
Three years ago, Seraphina became famous in a provincial perfumery competition. At that time, she received invitations from a lot of companies, including major companies like Apex Corporation. But she refused them all and focused on helping Julian as he just started his business.
In a perfumery competition two years ago, something went wrong with the perfume Seraphina developed. Seraphina was then mocked as a “noseless perfumer”. Seraphina racked her brains at that time but couldn’t find out what went wrong with her perfume. Julian had always been around and thoughtfully asked her to quit attending any competitions and focus on studying and developing perfumer behind the scenes. Vivian then replaced Seraphina and began to attend the relevant competitions and activities for publicity.
Seraphina was moved at that time, thinking that they would go through all kinds of hardships as long as Julian and she supported and accompanied each other, but now she found that she was more like a pawn in Julian’s hand.
Julian named the company “Prosperian Company” back then. He explained that the company would overcome all the difficulties and embrace prosperity through their joint efforts. Seraphina believed it. But now, it turned out Julian named it that way only because it had a part that was the same as Vivian’s and Julian’s names.
Clearly Julian and Vivian made the company a testimony to their deep love for each other in a way that was hard to be noticed by others, including Seraphina who had been in high spirits and always wanted to help Julian get his company stronger. Now Seraphina felt that she was ridiculously stupid!
Seraphina’s anger finally calmed down. She stayed up all night, and it was almost dawn when she heard that Julian and Vivian left.
Immediately, she got up and rummaged around. Finally, she found a gilded business card.
Three years ago, Dashiell Martinez, the CEO of Apex Corporation, gave Seraphina a business card in person. It had been three years, so Seraphina was not sure if Dashiell had ever changed his phone number.
Seraphina held her phone tightly. After the call was answered, she felt a little nervous as she said, “Hello, it’s Seraphina Jones. Is this Mr. Martinez?”
Seraphina paused. Seeing the phone was not hung up, she quickly continued, “We met once at the perfumery competition in the province three years ago. You gave me one of your…”
“Yes, I remember.” Dashiell only said three words. But his husky voice surprisingly relieved Seraphina’s nervousness.
“Well, here’s the thing. I have a business deal that you may be interested in.”
After a short silence, Dashiell said in a deep voice, “Come to my office at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”
Hearing that, Seraphina said in a hurry as she was worried that Dashiell would hang up, “Wait a minute… Mr. Martinez, we may not be able to make it tomorrow. Can we do it today? Besides, it is not convenient for me to talk about it in your office. Can we talk about it at another place?”
Seraphina was so anxious that she finished her words very fast. After that, she couldn’t help but feel nervous again.
Apex Corporation accounted for two-thirds of the market share of domestic cosmetics and skincare products, not to mention its wide business scope and large capital background.
As the CEO of Apex Corporation, Dashiell was a business legend. Therefore, Seraphina thought it was lucky for her that Dashiell was willing to take the time to see her. She felt she was bold as she was pushing her luck and asking Dashiell to change the time and place to meet.
But the truth was that Seraphina had to do that.
The new product launch and the Debut Scent Competition would start at night that day. If Seraphina went to talk about the business deal the next day, it would be late. Besides, if she met Dashiell at Dashiell’s company, it would attract a lot of attention, which would have a bad effect on her plans.
Seraphina held her phone and waited for Dashiell’s answer with bated breath. She knew she was taking a gamble.
However, what responded to Seraphina was a dead silence that lasted for about one minute. Just as Seraphina thought her request was going to be rejected, she heard Dashiell say, “Okay. We can meet at the café on Garden Road thirty minutes later.”
“Okay. Thank…”
Before Seraphina could finish her words, Dashiell interrupted her, “Remember to bring your driver’s license and birth certificate.”
“What?” cried Seraphina in astonishment.
Dashiell, however, hung up directly.
After a while, Seraphina still doubted if she had heard it right, but as she was pressed for time, she didn’t think too much about it.
Seraphina quickly changed her clothes and dressed herself up briefly. She then went out.
Fortunately, Garden Road was not far away. Seraphina arrived on time. When she was about to enter the café, someone stopped her.
“Ms. Seraphina Jones?”
The man called Seraphina’s name directly, but Seraphina didn’t know him.
“My boss is waiting for you. Please follow me.”
The man reached one of his hands, inviting Seraphina to go in another direction. Seraphina looked in that direction and saw a long black Lincoln car parked by the roadside.
Seraphina knew in an instant who the man’s boss was.
Without hesitation, Seraphina walked towards the car. The driver opened the door for her. It was hard for Seraphina to see the man’s face from outside. She only saw two slender legs and a pair of shining shoes on the man’s feet.
Seraphina got into the car. It was a bit cold in the car, so she unconsciously shivered before looking up at the man. “Hello, Mr. Martinez. I…”
“Get to the point.” Dashiell only threw a few words, as aloof as when they talked on the phone before. Seraphina stopped abruptly and then saw Dashiell’s face. Read More Chapter Here
