Love or Die: CEO’ s Daily Dose of Swoon (Cordelia)

Chapter 39

Cordelia stood frozen, her mind a whirlwind of disbelief as Rachel's seemingly rational but ultimately twisted words filled the air. "You nailed the national first place in the Galaxy Math Whiz Competition, so acing that math league and getting that scholarship is a given. Diving into the physics contest is the icing on the cake. But if Juliana breaks into the national top sixty in physics, she can snag a scholarship, too. Imagine the Delaney sisters both getting a free ride to college. It'll be the talk of the town."

Laurinda was quickly convinced. "Exactly! That way, our family can finally shake off the nouveau riche label. Cordelia, drop that physics prep class tomorrow."

Cordelia gave the three a detached glance, paused a little, and then drawled, "Top sixty all get scholarships."

It meant aside from her, there were fifty-nine other spots up for grabs.

Juliana was good at physics but wasn't anywhere near number one in the country. So Cordelia didn’t need to give up this competition at all.

Rachel cut in with a sly grin. "Isn't it true that one less competitor means a better chance? Lia, do you agree? How about I sweeten the deal with a new Hermès?"

"No need! With that kind of money, we'd better get Juliana a new dress!" Laurinda scolded. "We're family. We should help each other. It's settled! Did you hear, Cordelia?"

Cordelia responded leisurely, "Yeah." All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Laurinda managed a rare smile. "That's more like it..."

"But I don't agree."

Laurinda's smile froze. "What?"

Cordelia didn't look at her again, returned the gift box to Rachel, and headed upstairs.

Laurinda cursed, "Such an ungrateful little bitch. I knew it. She’s nothing but trouble to this family! And her mother can't even keep the books straight. Now that you're back, Rachel, you should take over the household!"

Rachel's eyes flickered. "Let's talk about that later, Laurinda."

Halfway up the stairs, Cordelia paused upon hearing that. She turned to the maid cleaning on the second floor, asking, "Where's my mom?"

"In the back garden." The maid replied.

With a thoughtful nod, Cordelia went upstairs to drop off her backpack and headed downstairs toward the back.

-

Lorna's head was pounding.

The breakfast fiasco in the kitchen had everyone pointing fingers, and in the end, they couldn't pin down the culprit. Lorna decided to dock everyone half a month's wages and promoted Fiona to the new kitchen supervisor. Any future issues would be her responsibility, a tactic she borrowed from Sanderson Management that proved equally effective.

But the house seemed to have descended into chaos throughout the day. She didn't even have time to catch her breath.

Then, she was reconciling August's financial statements with September's expenses.

The family's financial affairs were managed by Laurinda's nephew, Hank, a man in his forties who didn't think much of Lorna. He was reporting with a smug grin. "Lady Lorna, this page details the daily expenses. Eggs were at $1.8 each, with the family consuming fifty a day and the staff another fifty. For the party at the beginning of the month, we used eighty-nine for the cakes. Eggs don't keep well, and there's always some breakage in transit, a two percent loss. That's the cost for eggs, and then there's the greens, pork, beef, chicken... Lorna, are you following?"

Lorna massaged her temples. "Just give me the total."

Hank announced an outrageously inflated figure.

Lorna frowned, suspecting the household didn't need to spend so much. But Hank either itemized everything meticulously or lumped it into a total that demanded approval, utterly uncooperative!

He even threatened, "Lorna, this is how Laurinda managed things, and there were no issues for years. It's getting dark. Please approve next month's budget so I can make the arrangements. Otherwise, if we delay it, Mr. Steward would have another fit."

Tomorrow was the first of September. If she didn't approve on the spot, Hank would dare to hold back on provisions and blame her!

Lorna was fuming.

Hank smirked triumphantly. He'd been skimming from the Delaney family's expenses for years.

A newcomer like Lorna thought she could get him to reduce daily costs. Impossible!

As Lorna hesitated, his contempt grew. "Madam, please hurry up. Everyone's waiting for their money. If you can't handle it, you’d better hand the reins back to Lady Laurinda."

Her face flushed with humiliation and anger. Just as Hank was basking in his arrogance, a cold voice interjected. "The total for eggs is $5,825.71."

Hank was dumbfounded. He turned to see Cordelia walking toward them.

In her school uniform with a ponytail swaying behind her, Cordelia exuded an inexplicable sense of authority as she approached.

Cordelia stood beside Lorna like a guard and gazed at Hank. "You can continue with the greens."

Hank, skeptical, rattled off a complicated list of organic vegetable costs, each varying by day.

He went on for five minutes, expecting Cordelia to be lost. But when he finished, she delivered an exact figure.

Stunned and sweating, Hank faltered under Cordelia's relentless scrutiny. One by one, she addressed the discrepancies in his numbers.

In an hour and a half, Cordelia had recalculated the books and exposed Hank's monthly inflation of $10,000.

Lorna walked off with the ledger, leaving Hank slumped on the floor.

-

Cordelia didn't concern herself with what followed.

After finishing dinner, she faintly heard a commotion downstairs. Steward's furious voice was booming through the floorboards, followed by Laurinda's pleading tones.

The following day, Lorna told her that Hank had been let go.

Laurinda's direct influence had been stripped away, and no one in the Delaney family dared to stir trouble again.

Cordelia nodded in acknowledgment and headed off to school.

As usual, she got off the car at Midnight Scent, and after eating breakfast, she held hands with Everard for two minutes, not once meeting his gaze.

Once the tightness in her chest eased, Cordelia stood up to leave with a stoic expression, but then Calvert suddenly broke the silence. "Cordelia, that weird thing that happened to you wasn't the boss' doing!"

Hearing that, Cordelia slowly turned around. "What?"

Calvert couldn't hold back any longer.

Since Cordelia started giving Everard the cold shoulder, he's been sulking around, making Calvert’s life at Midnight Scent unbearable!

He had to set things straight no matter what. He couldn't let Cordelia continue with this misunderstanding!!

P.S. Oh, here's a humble author's plea. Your recommendations and comments would be much appreciated.