Chapter 21 Luck with Men
Mary was gearing up to give Juniper a piece of her mind when a knock at the door interrupted her.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Joseph's voice followed: "Miss Sinclair, Mr. Blackwood needs to see you. He's waiting in his car outside the hotel."
Mary instantly retracted her hand, crossed her arms, and with a haughty gaze, she told Juniper, "Mr. Blackwood is asking for me; I'll have to excuse myself."
After Mary left, the suite door remained ajar.
Joseph stood in the doorway and said, "Miss Beaumont, Mr. Blackwood bought these clothes for you while he was out. You can get changed into them."
"Okay, thank you."
Joseph set down the paper bag at the doorstep and left.
Wrapped in a bathrobe, Juniper went to pick up the bag of clothes.
Last night, all her clothes had been torn, rendered unwearable.
As she got out of bed, her legs buckled, nearly collapsing under her.
Her face flushed at the memory of last night.
After a hot shower and opening the bag, she found a set of clean disposable underwear.
The underwear fit perfectly – he even remembered her size.
Magnus wasn't the tender type; in public, he was aloof and celibate, but alone, he was nothing short of the perfect boyfriend.
He would make ginger tea during her period, buy her sanitary pads, and cook delicious meals... whatever she wanted, he provided. But that was six years ago, when she was still his girlfriend.
...
Inside the black Maybach.
Magnus sat in the back seat, a cigarette between his slender fingers.
The window was cracked open.
As Mary got into the car, the smoke hit her hard. She stifled a cough, not daring to be loud, her face turning beet red as she struggled to adjust to the smoky interior.
Blackwood showed no intent of being a gentleman, nor of putting out his cigarette.
He simply asked with cold indifference, "Did she take her medicine?"
Mary nodded, "She did, swallowed it down without hesitation. Mr. Blackwood, you can be assured, if Juniper tries any tricks, she won't get past me!"
His fingers, which were holding the cigarette, paused.
Hot ash fell, and a shadow of discontent flickered in his eyes.
"You can leave now."
Mary, taken aback, didn't catch on at first.
Not until Blackwood's voice turned even icier, "Get out of the car."
She'd traveled all the way to X City and had seamlessly handled the task Mr. Blackwood had given her, and now she couldn't even catch a ride back with him?
With a forced smile, she suggested, "Mr. Blackwood, you're heading back to the capital, aren't you? Me too. How about we head back together?"
"Not on my way."
Silence hung in the air.
Clearly, Mary wasn't the brightest. She failed to grasp the workings of Magnus's mind.
Dejectedly, she stepped out of the car.
Magnus rolled down his window halfway and said coolly, "Whoever disclosed my whereabouts to you, I expect that you don't make uninvited appearances again."
Mary didn't dare utter another word and hurriedly took off.
But her envy of Juniper deepened.
She'd been circling Magnus for a year, without so much as touching a finger. Before Juniper entered the picture, she had believed Magnus wasn't interested in women.
Yet, somehow, Juniper had charmed Magnus not once, but twice in a single week.
...
Inside the car, Magnus had smoked most of his cigarette.
His phone rang. The caller ID showed David.
Magnus's brow furrowed as he answered.
"Yesterday, Mr. Blackwood, you took my fiancée right under my nose. Don't you think that was a bit out of line?"
Magnus cut straight to the chase, "What do you want?"
David paused, surprised, "Are you saying, Mr. Blackwood, that you're willing to make a trade for Juniper? I didn't expect that—a woman could be worth so much."
Magnus let out a cold laugh, "The women I've been with aren't for others to covet."
"Ah, how generous of you, Mr. Blackwood! Even after Juniper betrayed you, you still..."
Magnus's eyes were a dark storm of malice, but his words dripped with sugary deception, "If Juniper becomes one of the Clarks, how can I torment her with abandon?"
Chuckling heartily, his associate cut to the chase. "Since Mr. Blackwood's being upfront, I’ll skip the niceties. I heard the Sycamore Group just acquired a large barren tract south of Imperial Capital, eyeing it for luxury housing development. That southern sector, if well-developed, could be a gold mine. The Clarks, though kings of X City, yearn for a slice of Imperial Capital's prosperity. What do you say, Mr. Blackwood, to passing that land to us at a friendly price?"
David had toyed with the idea of asking for the land as a gift.
But he quickly reconsidered. The Sycamore Group had snagged it for a steep three billion. Juniper? Surely, she wasn't worth that much!
Magnus hadn't taken a kick to the head!
"Half price, if you..."
Before Blackwood could finish, David, smelling a bargain, interjected, "Done deal! You've got yourself a sale!"
At 1.5 dollars, he'd outsmart Juniper's suitors and leave the competition green with envy.
This wasn't just a compromise—it was a steal.
Juniper had her charms, but she was used goods, nothing unique. He could find a dozen like her without breaking a sweat.
Was Magnus bewitched by her?
Stepping out of the hotel, Juniper's gaze landed on a sleek black Maybach, its model one of limited release.
Joseph stood by the open car door, beckoning. "Miss Beaumont, please, get in."
A touch confused, she complied.
Inside, the lingering scent of smoke made her cough.
The man's dark gaze flicked her way, his brow creased slightly in annoyance. "Dramatic," he muttered.
Though he chided her, his long fingers, holding the offending cigarette, still flicked it out the window. The partially lowered glass slid down completely.
Fresh air rushed in, purifying the space in no time.
However, after the gesture, Magnus seemed caught off guard by his own actions.
While working on his PhD, Magnus pulled numerous all-nighters for his mentor's projects and inevitably turned to smoking as a stress reliever.
Back then, whenever Juniper visited his dorm and caught a whiff of smoke, she would toss out his ashtray.
She couldn't stand the smell of secondhand smoke.
So, for a while, Magnus quit smoking entirely. Juniper would use kisses to check whether he had been smoking in secret.
But later… during those three years in prison, the habit he had fought to kick came back fiercer than ever.
If Juniper hated it, then he was determined to do exactly that.
"Mr. Blackwood... did you need something?" Juniper inquired.
"Last night…"
She cut him off immediately, "Last night was an accident, Mr. Blackwood. Rest assured, I won't exploit that incident to morally bind you or ruin your engagement to Miss Sinclair."
A hint of sarcasm flickered in Magnus's eyes.
He leaned in, his presence engulfing her, his dark eyes piercing into hers: "An accident?"
Suddenly, he played a video on his phone.
It showed Juniper initiating an embrace…
She unbuttoned his shirt, undid his belt, kissed his Adam's apple…
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