Page 213 of Pure Recklessness

‘You still haven’t told us about the revenge plot!’ Seb grumbled.

‘You haven’t chickened out, have you?’ Oscar asked.

‘Nope. We still very much intend to make her pay,’ Blake said.

‘Definitely,’ I added. ‘Originally I thought we should leave it to karma, but sometimes karma needs a helping hand, that’s why we’ve decided to⁠—’

‘What the fuck is she doing here?’ Oscar’s eyes trebled in size.

‘Who?’ Blake asked.

I frantically scanned the room, worried that somehow Pandora had got through security.

Joe and Dana were chatting with Sated authors Sarah Jeffries and D.D. Desire along with some other employees from The Romance Library that I’d invited, but I couldn’t see any sign of Pandora.

‘Madeleine Dubois, from Maison Amourielle!’ Oscar spat, his eyes fixating on a tall woman with dark hair. ‘Did you invite her?’ He glared at Blake.

‘No,’ Blake replied. ‘But I’m glad she’s here. Heath and I were going to bring this up in the meeting tomorrow, but given all the issues we have with the lingerie division right now, we need to explore our options with other brands and Maison Amourielle is at the top of our list.’

‘What?’ Oscar shouted.

Blake had told me that things hadn’t been going well with any of the lingerie manufacturers – including the new one. And negative social media posts and reviews about the quality and design of the lingerie were piling up.

‘I’m working on it,’ Oscar snapped. ‘I’m looking for another Creative Director and we’re using new suppliers.’

‘I told you. We don’t have time for that.’ Blake scanned the area to check that no one else could hear the conversation. ‘We need to either partner with an existing luxury brand with an established reputation or ideally, acquire them outright. Maison Amourielle will be perfect for that. In fact, let’s strike whilst the iron’s hot and set up a meeting right now.’

‘No!’ Oscar grabbed Blake’s arm. ‘Leave it.’

Blake ignored him and headed over to Madeleine. I followed, whilst Oscar stayed rooted to the spot.

He was acting really weird.

‘Madeleine.’ Blake stretched out his hand. ‘I’m Blake Devlin. Pleasure to meet you. I didn’t realise you’d be joining us this evening. This is my girlfriend and the brains behind SatisFya, Ellie.’

‘Nice to meet you, Ellie,’ Madeleine replied. ‘Congratulations on the launch of SatisFya. I hadn’t planned to come, but I was invited by Halle Remington. I’ve been trying to meet with her for months and this was the only opportunity she had, so… Anyway, I was just about to leave.’

‘Before you go,’ Blake continued, ‘I’d like to set up a meeting. With Oscar. To discuss⁠—’

‘No,’ she snapped before Blake finished his sentence. ‘I want absolutely nothing to do with that arsehole.’ Her nostrils flared. She was so enraged I was genuinely concerned that if she opened her mouth again, fire would shoot out.

‘Madeleine,’ Oscar gritted out as he joined us. He went to do the customary cheek kiss thing, but Madeleine stepped back and held her hands up.

‘Don’t you dare!’ she shouted.

‘Blake, Ellie, congratulations again. Bye.’ Madeleine gave Oscar a look so dirty, even if he showered for a week, he wouldn’t be able to wash it off. Then she stormed off.

‘What the fuck did you do?’ Blake turned to face Oscar, grinding his jaw.

‘Let’s just say we have history.’ Oscar dragged his hand down his face.

‘History?’ Blake barked. ‘History that will stop her from working with us?’

‘Yep,’ Oscar confirmed.

‘Is this why you’ve shut the conversation down or changed the subject every time I’ve brought up working with her?’ Blake asked. Oscar nodded.

‘You fucking idiot!’