My Four Miraculous Treasures

The other cleaning lady nudged her admonishingly. "You talk too much."noveldrama

"I'll have you know, I'm repeating Willow Nason's own words, here! Look, it was only yesterday that Willow was just another cleaning woman, the same as us! But then, at the end of her shift, Mr Hughes picked her up in his own car, the two of them went somewhere together... and then the next day, she has suddenly become his new personal aide! Imagine being promoted that high up, that quickly! Next thing you know, she'll be a major shareholder before the week is out!" These last statements were delivered with a definite tone of jealousy.

The day before, she'd honestly thought that Mr Hughes was just bringing Willow to another branch of the company to do some more cleaning.

Turns out, Willow had been performing other kinds of services for the boss.

That cleaning lady stopped, and propped her chin upon the end of her mop handle. "Mr Hughes, I'm here for you, too!" she moaned. "And I daresay, I myself am not too bad to look at!"

Her partner laughed at this, and commented, "Willow is on another level, though. She's got that sort of doe-eyed, innocent allure that drives men wild."

“And what am I, then?" Jessica asked grumpily.

"Ah... well, you're popular with other women!"

The two of them chattered away without a care in the world, neither one noticing who was standing right there, at the front desk. Edith glared daggers across the lobby at them, each word stinging her ears.

Fanny the receptionist made a little cough, just loud enough to draw attention.

The cleaning ladies glanced her way, and immediately met those fearsome eyes. With practiced skill, Edith radiated an ice-cold aura which could freeze anyone's blood solid in their veins.

Cowed, the cleaning ladies fell silent and lowered their heads to resume cleaning.

With a final look at Fanny, Edith entered the lift. Instead of the top floor, she took it to the senior management level, to see if there was any more to what that Jessica Stewart had been talking about.

Truly, nothing traveled faster than rumor. The whole office floor was abuzz already.

The entire management team had heard all about Willow's boasts. No one held any goodwill towards her. How could Jasper Hughes have chosen her, of all people?!

It was obvious that there were no bounds to the ambitions of Willow Nason. None of them dared to actually speak out against her.

"Mr Lockwell, don't you worry. I'm going to put a call through to Master Frank immediately, and make sure he knows what's going on here," Edith announced, now that she had been apprised of the situation.

Lockwell was a part of the old guard, here at Hughes Corporation. He'd been with the company since before Frank Hughes had taken power.

Even now, after Jasper had succeeded his grandfather, the man was still here.

In all that time, he'd never once

encountered a woman like Willow Nason, who seemed to have come along out of nowhere. He was

terrified that this woman might net

really be able to gain full control over the whole company, which had been built up over generations, simply because Jasper couldn't resist her charms.

Edith called Frank on her handphone. After they'd exchanged a few pleasantries, she got right to the point: "Sir, I'm at the company headquarters now," she ventured, keeping her tone mild and respectful, "It's possible that you're not aware of the state of things here..."

"What do you mean?"

Now, to strike: "Last night, Jasper was seen picking up Willow Nason in his own car, supposedly for 'overtime duties' This morning, she was suddenly appointed his personal aide. Drunk with power, Willow has been going around bragging about how she won't stop until either she's got a wedding ring on her finger, or the company's shares in her pocket!"

Only a child would fail to guess what sort of 'overtime duties' those were... What else would a man and a woman be doing together, in those circumstances?!

To think that Jasper would fall so far, because of one woman... Frank had been upset about the whole affair already-but now he was positively furious!

However, he also knew better than to go flying off the handle over nothing more than hearsay. "But how did you hear of all this?"

"Willow spoke these careless words to some of the other employees, who went on to tell everyone else. By now, the whole company has heard all about it. Mr

Lockwell, could you provide Master Frank with more details?"

Edith passed the phone to Lockwell, who took it with trepidation in his heart and solemn concern in his voice: "It's all true, director. Jasper Hughes has been flawless in his leadership for seven good years. It would be a terrible shame if he were led astray by the schemes of one woman, to the ruin of us all."

This meant that the matter had to be taken seriously. It was no longer as simple as an illicit affair behind closed doors... Jasper Hughes had a great many people counting on him; and Willow Nason had many goals to pursue, it appeared.

That woman could bring about the downfall of Hughes Corporation!