Chosen as the Cursed Alpha's Seventh Bride

Chapter 276: Chapter 276 The Earrings

Emilia’s POV

"Where’s Scott?" I asked, sliding up beside Lily.

"Off charming Genevieve’s assistant. She doesn’t take private meetings easily, so he has to work an angle. Otherwise we’ll never get a chance to show what we can do."

A while later Scott finally came back.

"How’d it go?"

He shook his head. "She said she’s not been well lately, so she’s declining all private meetings with guests."

This woman is impossible to reach, I thought. And I need her for my job.

I went back to Sebastian, tugged him aside, and softened my voice. "Darling, remember that favor I mentioned?"

"Go on."

"Could you arrange for me to meet your mentor?"

He glanced around. "You want to meet her?"

"Yes."

"I’m afraid I can’t help with that."

"Why?" I pressed, anxious now.

"She’s unwell. She doesn’t want to be disturbed by anyone."

"But if we really need to see her, couldn’t you pull some strings?"

"It genuinely won’t work. Do you have any idea how many people here are dying for a private word with her? If I make an exception for you, she’ll have no grounds to refuse the rest."

"Then why not meet her in secret?"

"You think these people are idiots? Fynn already told me, you’re here to see her about company business. Do you have any clue how many others walked in with the exact same plan? The moment you vanish, they’ll know precisely where you’ve gone."

"So what if they know? They don’t happen to have a husband like you."

His brow arched. "Oh? So now you’re treating me like an actual husband?"

"Hey, forget how I treat you. Can’t you just help me this once? Darling..."

The second I put on the sweet, coaxing act, something in Sebastian softened. He pulled out his phone. "Fine. I’ll try. But I can’t promise she’ll agree to see you."

"That’s all I ask."

He dialed. I held my breath and listened.

"Hello, is this Mr. George?... Yes, this is Sebastian Simons... That gift was nothing compared to Genevieve’s guidance over the years... Right... Actually, I’ve a few friends hoping to meet her. I was wondering if she might be available... Oh, she’s unwell. I see. Then I certainly won’t let them trouble her..."

My heart sank straight to the floor. So much for counting on my husband.

The moment Sebastian gave up on that phone call, I gave up on him too.

I was already halfway across the hall, hunting down Genevieve’s assistant. If my husband couldn’t get me through that door, I’d carve my own way in.

"Please. Let me see Genevieve. I need to speak with her. It’s important."

The assistant, a stiff man in a gray suit, shook his head. "I’m sorry, miss. Genevieve isn’t receiving anyone."

"There’s something I have to confirm with her."

"Everyone here has a reason to see her. I’m afraid I can’t help you. Forgive me."

"Can’t you make one exception?"

"Miss, please don’t put me in a difficult position. I’m only the woman who looks after her. I don’t have the authority to bend her rules."

I let out a long breath and glared at the floor.

And then it hit me. The one card I had that no one else in this room could play.

I reached up and slid the earrings from my ears. I pressed them into the assistant’s palm.

"Take these to her. Tell her the woman who owns them wants to see her. She’ll understand the moment she sees them."

The assistant studied me for a long moment, weighing my nerve.

Finally he sighed. "All right. I’ll try. But don’t get your hopes up."

"That’s all I’m asking. Thank you."

He tucked the earrings away and disappeared through a side door.

I stood there counting my own heartbeat, arms crossed, telling myself this would work. It had to.

Ten minutes crawled by like ten years. Then the door opened, and the assistant returned.

"Congratulations," he said. "Genevieve has agreed to see you. Please, follow me."

I nearly jumped out of my heels.

As I trailed him out of the dining hall, I caught Scott and Lily gaping at me. And there, off to the side, was Sebastian.

He looked genuinely stunned, like he couldn’t believe the woman he’d just declared impossible to reach had done it in under fifteen minutes.

I lifted my chin, gave him a small, smug little smile, and walked right past him.

That’s for underestimating me, darling.

The assistant led me through a maze of corridors, one turn after another, until I was thoroughly lost. At last we stopped before a heavy wooden door. He knocked lightly.

"Genevieve. The young lady is here."

"Send her in."

I heard a cough behind the door, dry and hollow and weak.

The sound scraped at something in my chest.

Until this moment I’d written Genevieve off as arrogant, another rich elder too proud to make time for anyone beneath her. But that cough told a different story. She really was ill.

That was why she’d joked about not recognizing anyone ten years from now. She hadn’t been being witty. She’d been being honest.

The assistant pushed the door open. I drew a breath and stepped inside.

The study stretched out before me, walls lined floor to ceiling with books. And there, sunk deep in that ocean of leather spines, sat the old woman herself.

I stopped short, my mind refusing to line things up. This learned, respected, powerful woman and the ragged stranger I’d met on that beach months ago simply would not fit into the same person.

"Sit," Genevieve said.

She rose and guided me toward a sofa on the left side of the room. Then she poured me a cup of green tea with steady hands and smiled.

"I imagine you’re rather confused right now."

"That’s putting it mildly." I didn’t bother hiding it. "Forgive me if this is blunt, but I have to ask. Are you the same rogue I met on the beach that night?"

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