The store assistant paused in her action and turned to look. Her gaze lowered in respect, and the two greeted politely. "Manager Sir!"
"What’s happening here?" he asked, looking at the two displeasingly.
The two store assistants took their turns to explain the situation to him. When the manager heard it all, his brows furrowed in a frown, but easing his expression, he politely turned to look at Emily and said, "Ma’am, we apologize, but we can’t fulfil your request."
Emily was about to wave off his apology, but she halted when she heard him refusing her. "What did you say?" she asked, her gaze narrowing at the man, sizing him from head to toe. "Do you even know who I am?"
The manager pursed his lips and nodded. "Ma’am, I know, and I just heard my store staff telling me about everything that happened here."
"Then why are you still refusing me?" she almost growled. "I am soon to be the heiress of the Quinn family, and I am standing here with the limited membership card of the mall. The Quinns hold the stakes in this mall. Do you think your store holds the authority to refuse me?"
The manager’s lips lifted in a polite smile. His gaze shifted briefly to look at Arwen and then returned to Emily again. "We hold all the authority to refuse you if you stand against this lady." His hand extended reverently to gesture towards Arwen.
Emily frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked. She turned to look at Arwen, hostility clear in her gaze.
Even Arwen was confused. She stared at the man, trying to recognize him. But she couldn’t. She had no remembrance of him. She was sure she had never met him before, then why?
She turned to look at Aiden on her side. But unlike her, he looked very calm. As if he knew exactly what was happening.
Her gaze narrowed at him, trying to discern him, but his expression remained unreadable.
"Manager, I think you haven’t seen the recent news that the Quinn family did," one of Emily’s friends said, thinking that the manager didn’t recognize Emily properly.
The other one piped in right after, "Yes. Arwen might have been a Quinn before, but now she isn’t. Mr. and Mrs. Quinn have decided to adopt Emily to be their daughter. So, you should be prioritising Emily instead of her."
The manager looked at the two and responded, keeping his expression calm and composed. "You got it wrong, Ma’am. I am not respecting the lady because of the title Quinn. But —"
"Then, what else is it?" Emily’s patience was wearing thin. "If not for the title, Quinn, what else does she have that is making you respect her over me?"
"Not just us, even the executives of this mall are bound to respect her, ma’am, the manager said, continuing, "because she is the owner of the mall."
Emily was taken aback. Arwen was the owner of the mall. How? This was the most luxurious mall in the entire state of Cralens. How could Arwen own it in her name?
"The Quinns might have stakes in the mall that gave him the limited privilege of being the top tier member in this mall, but," the manager paused only to look at Arwen with the same reverence he held earlier, "no stakes can override the authority she has here."
Was she the owner of this mall? Since when?
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