Chapter 397

The CEO motioned to the remaining junior sales assistant. "Package this for Mrs. Hartley."

Assuming the $30,000 ivory fountain pen was the complimentary gift, the CEO flashed an obsequious smile. "Shall we wrap the other one as well?"

Vivian hesitated, thinking he referred to the Sterling pen. She picked it up again and glanced at Adrian. "This one suits you perfectly."

Adrian's gaze flickered to the price tag - $90,000, triple the ivory pen's cost.

His lips twisted in feigned disinterest. "Hardly remarkable. I've never bothered with anything this pedestrian."

Vivian arched one perfectly sculpted brow, suppressing amusement. Without comment, she handed the Sterling pen to the CEO. "Consider this your gift to us."

The CEO's practiced smile faltered. "Our... gift?" he asked cautiously, his professional composure cracking. Surely she couldn't mean...

Vivian nodded serenely, her tone laced with playful steel. "Naturally. Thirty thousand is already extravagant. Asking for a hundred-thousand-dollar gift would be downright vulgar."

The CEO gaped, momentarily speechless. In his decades of dealing with entitled clientele, this audacity was unprecedented. As a ruthless businessman, he prided himself on his cutthroat instincts, but this woman operated on another level entirely.

Desperate, the CEO turned to Adrian. "Mr. Blackwood, we secured that sapphire-limited edition you admired. Would you care to see it?"

Before Adrian could respond, Vivian smoothly interjected, "Which of your little admirers pulled strings for that?"

The CEO blanched, realizing his tactical error.

Adrian's expression remained impassive. "I own an identical piece," he said dismissively. "Half the social circuit has seen it."

Vivian seized the opening, her smile turning razor-sharp. "Since he already has one, we'll return for newer models." The unspoken message hung between them - and we won't be spending another dime here.

The CEO's ingratiating tactics had spectacularly backfired. The sales assistant's earlier rudeness, combined with the store's blatant greed, had irrevocably soured Vivian. Such predatory behavior didn't deserve her patronage.

Adrian, his patience evaporating, gestured impatiently. "Just finish the packaging."

Thoroughly defeated, the CEO instructed the assistant to hastily wrap the pens. When presented with the purchases, Vivian took both bags and offered one to Adrian.

Adrian quirked an eyebrow, his lips twitching. "Regifting freebies? How... economical of you."

Stepping onto the sunlit plaza, Vivian cast one final glance at the CEO's thunderous expression before turning to Adrian. Her teasing smile danced at the corners of her mouth. "Who said this was for you?"

Adrian's eyebrow climbed higher. "Then who exactly merits this generosity?"