Is this destiny?

Bryn could not believe her bad luck. She was so happy to land this job. It came with a good salary, excellent benefits, and it provided her with a glimpse of how successful ones live. Bryn dreamed of the upcoming employee party which is due in October. There they have various events where employees can compete, and some of the rewards include invitations to attend parties where clients and partners gather. That was her personal ticket to the world of rich and famous, and she only needed to snatch herself a man… and now it\'s all gone…

Bryn wiped her tears with the back of her palm and turned to Sarah. "Please, give me another chance."

Sarah\'s eyebrow arched. "For?"

"I didn\'t say that you are thieves, and I didn\'t call you names. Why am I being punished in the same way as Kaia?", Bryn pleaded while ignoring Kaia\'s glare.

Sarah smiled a little while looking at Bryn whose expression was filled with desperation. It\'s a pity that only now Bryn realized the severity of her situation and how much she lost by allowing Kaia to lead her on. Sarah was not blind, she saw that Kaia is the main character of this drama while Bryn followed Kaia\'s lead, but in Sarah\'s eyes, the bully and bully-enablers deserve the same punishment because they feed off each other\'s energy.

"From the moment we arrived in this store, you ignored me while flirting with my husband. Kaia said that we are here to steal, and your silence enabled her. I asked you to show me a piece of jewelry, and you refused with an excuse that we should wait for the manager. How I see it, those were three chances for you to show your professionalism and how you treat customers. By standards of the Blanc company, you failed and scored 0 out of 3. So, what you are asking me is the fourth chance. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me four times… Do you think that I am stupid?"

Bryn\'s chin trembled. "You can\'t do this!"

Sarah\'s smile faded. "Did you miss the point of me being the owner of Blanc? We treat our employees well, but not when they are sabotaging the company."

"How did I sabotage the company?", Bryn asked in disbelief.

Sarah hummed before answering. "I came here as a customer and I was mistreated. I want you to imagine how that makes me feel. When I go home and mingle with my rich friends, I will share my story from this afternoon. Do you think that I will remember if it\'s Kaia or Bryn or someone else who mistreated me? No… I will blame Blanc and I will make sure that my friends don\'t come here either. After all, who wants to come shopping for jewelry and be accused of stealing? And that is on top of you shamelessly staring at my husband like he is a piece of meat while ignoring my presence. Do you see where this is going? You are smearing the name of the whole company, and for that alone, I can fire you, and I am. Effective immediately, none of you three are employees of Blanc. You have ten minutes to pick up your personal things, leave behind anything that belongs to Blanc, and scram."

"You…!", Manager Qin made a step toward Sarah and he froze in the spot when Aiden grabbed his neck. He didn\'t see when Aiden moved!

"One inch closer toward my wife, and I won\'t mind breaking a few bones. It will be self-defense and everyone present will be my witness, including the security camera.", Aiden said threateningly. "You heard my wife, you have nine minutes left to get your personal belongings, or we will assume that you don\'t need them."

The three people went in silence to the room at the back of the store that is reserved for employees, and Aiden focused on Sarah. "Don\'t talk to them, love. I don\'t want you to get stressed more than necessary. Let me handle this. OK?"

…

About half an hour later…

On the parking lot of the mall, Bryn, Kaia, and manager Qin were standing next to manager Qin\'s car and contemplating what just happened. They got fired.

"How can they do this?", Kaia hissed.

"Shut up!", manager Qin raged. "I gave you that job because your mother begged me, and if I knew you will do this…", he breathed heavily while trying to contain his rage.

"Oh, please, spare me the lecture…", Kaia said while rolling her eyes. "It\'s not the first time, and you know it. And I saw you more than once using your position in order to get cozy with customers."

Bryn felt that her whole world was collapsing. "This was my chance to get out of this hellhole, yet it\'s ruined. Once they do investigations, they will see all kinds of irregularities. We will be lucky if they don\'t sue us."

Manager Qin scoffed. "They won\'t do such a thing because they care about the reputation of the company. I bet that they will prefer handling this silently and not attract any attention that can smear the perfect image of Blanc…"

The more manager Qin spoke, the more ideas popped into Bryn\'s mind.

…

Later that day, in Aiden\'s two-bedroom apartment…

"I want you to organize a promotion that will get people back in the store. Maybe like a giveaway with prizes and discounts…", Sarah spoke to Oni and Nala over video-conference.

"Are you sure we should make more investments there?", Oni asked. "That store is not making any profit, and it\'s not only because of those few employees but it\'s because of the demographics. The fact is that people living in that area can\'t afford Blanc products…"

"Think of it as a marketing strategy for improving our image.", Sarah said. "Regular people will see that we are not unreachable and by experiencing good treatment, they will give positive reviews. With Tesla University nearby, we are bound to attract a few young heirs to our store. Christmas is coming.", Sarah gave a meaningful look to Oni and Nala who shook their heads helplessly.

Oni and Nala didn\'t agree with the location of that store from the beginning, but Sarah insisted, and she is the boss so…

"We will think of a good promotion…", Nala responded.

Sarah ended that video call happily, and she went to the living room right on time to see Aiden at the door, accepting pizza from the delivery man.

"Done with work?", Aiden asked Sarah.

"For now. I want us to be there tomorrow when the new staff arrives."

"We can stop by after breakfast. Mall manager Lampart will make sure things are fine until we arrive, and the manager in charge of our stores will be on-site early in the morning.", Aiden didn\'t want Sarah to cut her morning sleep short because of this. They are on a vacation!

Sarah didn\'t respond. She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of freshly baked pizza that filled the apartment.

"Babe, come here… I have cravings that only you can satisfy…", Sarah said seductively.

Aiden halted his steps and looked at the box in his hands before observing Sarah keenly. "Are you talking about me or about the pizza satisfying you?"

Sarah giggled. "Pizza first. Feed your son, and then rock him to sleep."

Aiden grinned. He can do that. Definitely.

---

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