chapter2076

Miranda spoke as though the universe had appointed her judge, jury, and executioner. Whatever left her lips became law.

Around her, the sales team bristled in silent revolt, their frustration coiling behind polite smiles they dared not let slip.

"Uh..." one assistant began, the syllable wobbling in mid-air before she swallowed the rest of the sentence.

None of them had the stomach to yank a mask off one child just to appease another spoiled brat.

Seeing their hesitation, Miranda advanced, heels clicking like a metronome of doom.

"If you're too scared, I'll do it myself."

Whatever veneer of high-society elegance she once flaunted shattered in that moment. She was about to wrestle a monkey mask from a child whose parents weren't even in sight.

Beneath the monkey mask, Jonathan's small face had turned to ice.

He readied himself. The second Miranda grabbed for him, he planned to sink his little teeth into her wrist. ? ? ? ?s, ?s? s Find1Novel.net

Just then, the junior assistant who had gone to fetch clothes for Jonathan re- emerged, arms buried under a tower of luxury garments.

"Young sir, would you mind seeing whether any of these might suit the grown-ups at home?"

Heads pivoted toward her in symphonic unison.

"Why is everyone gathered here?" She blinked, genuinely lost.

Another saleswoman sidled up, brushed the newcomer's elbow, and murmured so softly the words almost broke. "Ivy, what are you doing? Can't you see there's an issue?"

"What issue?" Ivy held the clothes like a shield, confusion still clouding her eyes.

The others, locked in cutthroat competition, decided a rookie deserved no favors and fell conspicuously silent. "Nothing."

Bewilderment mounting, Ivy simply shrugged and strode straight to Jonathan, bypassing Miranda as if the woman were a coat rack.

"Young sir, have a look. Perhaps one of these would make a fine gift for your folks?"

Miranda was caught flat-footed by the newcomer's sudden intrusion.

Ivy had been with the store barely two months and had no idea who Miranda was.

"Did your eyes fall out, or are you ignoring me on purpose?" Miranda snapped.

Ivy blinked, more puzzled than ever.

"Ma'am, please, could you speak politely and stop hurling insults?"

"Politely? Insults?" Miranda's lips curved into a frosty crescent. "You shuffle around this place in the lowest rung of retail and still expect me to show respect. How do you...

even

ver manage to say something s? absurd?"

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Color flooded Ivy's cheeks in a furious, embarrassed rush. "How can you talk to people like that?"

Miranda shoved her aside. "Out of my sight. I won't repeat myself. Test me again and I'll see you unemployed before lunch, believe it or not."

Ivy staggered back several steps, her ankles wobbling so badly she nearly crashed onto the mirror-bright marble.

Yet even as the shock rippled

through her, she drew herself upright She needed the commission, certainly but

pride-raw, stubborn pride-Would never let her be anyone's doormat.

s

“That's enough. You're completely out of line!" Ivy's protest cracked through the showroom, equal parts fury and trembling adrenaline.

Miranda responded with nothing more than a languid flick of her manicured nails, the gesture declaring Ivy too insignificant to warrant another breath.

"Listen, sweetheart," she cooed at the boy, her tone velvet over steel, "hand me that mask nicely, or I'll be forced to take it myself."

Jonathan slid off the chair, shoulders bunched. He swallowed, then pressed his childish treble into a gravelly whisper, hoping the disguise would muffle who he really was.

"I'd sooner throw it away than give it to you."

"Why, you insolent little brat!" Miranda lunged, fingers clawing for the flimsy mask on his face.

Jonathan ducked, weaving between satin displays, the carnival mask still clenched to his cheeks.

Miranda abandoned every hint of elegance, heels pounding after him. She refused to be outmaneuvered by a child barely tall enough to reach the counter.

Watching Miranda sprint after a boy over a mask struck Ivy as both absurd and shameful.

"Why is she so desperate for that kid's mask?" Ivy murmured to a nearby clerk.

The clerk bent close, voice thin as sewing thread, and spilled the entire backstory in one hushed rush.

Ivy's jaw dropped. "S-She's unbelievable," she breathed, scandalized by such petty cruelty.

"Shh, not so loud! If she hears, we're finished-the clerk hissed. Yet, kvy was already moving, sliding in front of Jonathan and sweeping him behind her like a mother wolf shielding her cub. 's