The Blackmail Bride

Chapter 2

Escape

Anyna's debut party was to be held in Prestigio Hotel, right in the heart of the city.

Something that my parents commended me for. We owned that luxury hotel.

The Ruiz family chose Prestigio as venue because of my friendship with their daughter. It wasn't the only five star hotel in the area and Prestigio was probably not their first choice. But  knowing Anyna, she must've had put her foot down on the topic and chosen our hotel.

My family had always bemoaned the fact that I wasn't more sociable when all the children of their business associates went to the same school. Until I and Anyna became friends. The Ruiz name had been around for two centuries and that was enough to make them more than the blue bloods they were. My parents stopped pushing me to attend social gatherings. They focused on grooming my friendship with Anyna and her family. It was also a good thing the Ruiz family liked me. They thought I was a good influence on their rebellious daughter. How I wish that were true.

And today, on my best friend's debut, I was a guest.

But my mother insisted that I also oversee as an executive manager for Anyna's event. It was mainly making sure the event organizer's team and the hotel staff communicate effectively and ran the event as smoothly as possible.

It was to show the Ruiz family that we see this as a personal favor between our families. We already had a few minor problems but they were resolved pretty quickly.

One of the Hotel's middle staff management even gave me a Staff Pass as per my mother's orders. It was an all-access card for the hotel facilities given to managers in-charge during big events because normally, we had a line of authority to follow for every facility and just getting permission from every person in charge could take hours. It was a preventive measure.

"Miss Porter," it was three hours before the event when a pale-looking staff approached me.

He was fidgeting and I quickly realized there was a problem, I quickly pulled the man aside, "Yes?" I asked lowly.

Fifteen out the hundred and fifty bottles of our drinks were gone. One of our staff dropped a box and the bottles of wine shattered.

Four out of the five exec are busy with their own thing. The head was in last minute meetings with the event organizers. They were going to throw a fit if they found out about this.

We immediately went down to the back entrance. The scene that greeted me wasn't a good one. Three people stood at the back of a delivery truck. And the driver was already screaming at our hotel staff, gesturing angrily at the mess of glass and expensive wine on the floor.

"It's okay, sir. I'll handle it from here." The truck driver jumped at my voice nefore he whipped around and looked me over.

The young girl, about my age, trembled at the sight of me. "M-Miss Porter, I didn't—"

"What's your name?" I asked.

"L-Lucy, Ma'am."

I calmly glanced at the wine bottles on the floor before gesturing to her, "Okay Lucy, clean this up quick and keep it a secret from the other organizers. I'll handle it from here. Same with you." I looked at the guy who called me from upstairs.

Their eyes looked like those would fall out of their sockets. I understood that if this was the others, these two would be fired without another word.

The delivery person started to complain. "Miss, those are Dom Perignon Brut—"

"I know," I pulled out my credit card from my purse. "I'll pay for the damage. Can you confirm if there are still available stock?."

The man looked at me as if I was crazy so I moved the card closer to his face, "Isla Euodia Porter, at your service."