Niamh felt her cheeks flush with heat.
"Quentin, why don't you take Sophia and Natalie out for some market research?"
"…Oh. Uh, sure…"
Quentin took a moment to process, but he caught on and quickly ushered Sophia and Natalie out of the office.
With everyone else gone, Niamh finally relaxed. She didn't have to worry about anyone catching on to her relationship with Jonathan—or seeing how red her face had gotten.
"Jonathan, what are you really doing here today?" she demanded.
"I already told you. Drop out of the competition."
His tone left no room for discussion. It was an order, plain and simple.
Niamh almost laughed. After all the work she'd put in for this precious opportunity, was she really supposed to just quit because Jonathan said so?
Looking up at him, she saw nothing but fierce resistance reflected in her dark eyes.
"Dropping out is for your own good," Jonathan continued. "Because you're not going to win."
The last time Jonathan had said something like this, it was when Marina had opened her own studio.
"Don't tell me Marina's entering the Nova Jewelry Design Awards too?"
"That's right."
Jonathan's answer was both expected and somehow still shocking.
"But didn't Marina already get Chairman Grant's letter of introduction? Didn't she qualify for Luminous Divas Fashion Week?"
Niamh's question was met with a low, dismissive chuckle.
Jonathan's laugh was mocking, as if he thought she was hopelessly naïve.
"Marina isn't like you. Your goal is just some little fashion week. Marina's aiming to make T&R the top jewelry brand in the world."
He painted Marina's ambitions in vibrant strokes, but to Niamh, it just sounded ridiculous. Even FY wouldn't claim they could become number one globally.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: His Housewife Had Secret Identities