When Her Death Couldn't Break Him (Cecilia and Nathaniel) novel Chapter 2007

When Cecilia saw the message from Eloise, she didn't respond. Meanwhile, Eloise waited anxiously, growing more uneasy the longer she heard nothing back.

“Why isn't she answering my messages? Is she at work or something?”

Left with no choice, Eloise waited in silence.

From the afternoon until nightfall, not a single word came from Cecilia. Growing desperate, Eloise kept sending more messages. Ten minutes passed, then an hour, and still no reply.

Her anxiety mounting, she finally tried calling Cecilia. When Cecilia saw the incoming call, she set her phone aside and turned to Charlotte. “Lottie, can you head over to the mall and find the store manager?”

Charlotte looked confused. “Boss, didn't you say we weren't going to help her?”

Cecilia smiled. “It's not about helping her. We just need to save face, in case this ends up reflecting on us. Tell the brand's owner that I don't have any kind of close relationship with Eloise, and that he should just handle things professionally.”

“Got it.” Charlotte understood right away and headed off to carry out the request.

Once Charlotte left, quite some time passed before Cecilia finally returned Eloise's call. When Eloise picked up, she let out a silent sigh of relief. “Ceci, you finally answered.”

“Sorry,” Cecilia replied, “I've been swamped all day. Just saw your messages and your call.”

“Is everything okay? Did you manage to sort out that favor I asked about?” Eloise asked carefully, clearly nervous.

Cecilia paused before replying. “I spoke with the store owner. But he mentioned that once those clothes are returned, they can't be resold. That would be a straight-up loss for them.”

“Huh?” Eloise felt like the ground had fallen out from beneath her. She had assumed that as long as Cecilia stepped in, it would all be handled easily. But now...

“Sorry, but these clothes just don't suit me.”

“If you'd mentioned that yesterday, we wouldn't have sold them to you. Plus, we checked the store footage. You snatched those pieces from Ms. Smith, who clearly wanted them. She let it go without a fuss, but how can you justify causing a loss to us just to save face?” The owner's tone was calm and deliberate.

Eloise had no response. She silently cursed Cecilia.

Didn't you say you'd already spoken to the boss? Weren't some of the items supposed to be returnable? Why is he still giving me a hard time?

“I'm sorry, I really am.” Eloise could only keep apologizing. Then, trying to shift things, she mentioned Cecilia. “It was my cousin, Ceci, who asked me to return these. She said she'd already talked to you.”

She was hoping to use Cecilia's name to gain some leverage. But the boss already knew from Charlotte that their relationship wasn't close at all. If they had a real bond, then why had Eloise snatched a dress Cecilia had obviously wanted?