Her Revenge Contract

Katherine's

POV

I sat at my office desk, holding a golden envelope in my hands.

Sarah handed the envelope to me earlier in the day with a broad smile, and she looked excited.

I was hesitant, not sure what this was all about.

I carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a white invitation card with golden writing on it.

"Oh, Goddess!" I gasped, "This is surely a surprise."

My eyes widened at the words, and a smile played at the corners of my lips.

The small card was an invitation to a Celebration Dinner in honor of the contract we had signed with Xavier's group at the Swiss Frensher Hotel.

I checked the time and date and put the card back in the envelope.

"Did you read it, Ms. Kate?" Sarah asked at the door.

"Yes, I did," I answered.

"It's really a big achievement," she said, "especially if the board of Directors wants to celebrate it."

I nodded, unsure how to respond.

I sighed, and my mind returned to all the other times Erika tried to ruin such functions for me.

Will she try something again? And if she did, what would she try to do?

I called Xavier, and by the second ring, he answered.

"Did you receive an invitation?" I asked, not playing around the bush.

"I did," he answered. "Why do you sound a bit worried about the celebration? It's a good thing."

"I know, I know," I said, "it's not that. I am fine with the function."

"Then what is wrong?" He asked.

"It's just that Erika has been very creative at these functions," I said, and I sighed, frustrated. "But we always had a comeback," Xavier said, and some excitement sounded in his voice. "Yes, but..."

"Kate," Xavier stopped me, "I promise you, everything will go as planned."

There was a promise in Xavier's voice that I couldn't ignore.

"Okay, okay," I said, "you are right, and I trust you."

On the day of the celebration dinner, we were expecting more than 1,000 people to attend. All the employees of the two groups were invited, as were the suppliers who were involved in the projects and some reporters following the story. The number of people gradually increased, and before the celebration began, the whole hall was crowded with people, and the atmosphere was electrifying.

Xavier and I stood on stage behind the curtain, waiting to announce our arrival.

I was a bit nervous, and I excused myself to go and powder my nose.

"Let Kelly go with you," Xavier said, smiling.

He was dressed in a black penguin suit, and I had secretly lusted after him from the second he came out of his room.

"Okay," I said.

I didn't want to argue tonight; the feeling that something horrible had happened was still in the back of my head. I had had nightmares about the function since the first day I received the invitation. "Come on, Luna," Kelly said, hooking her arm in with mine, "this way..."

I gave Xavier a quick smile, nodded, and left with Kelly by my side.

"Luna, is something wrong?" Kelly asked as we entered the ladies room. Her eyes widened, and she suddenly looked worried.

Did I look that bad?

"I think it's just nerves," I answered, and I quickly rushed to a stall, emptying my stomach's contents into the toilet.

Kelly pushed the door open and handed me a towel, then helped me up.

"Luna," she asked, eyeing me, "when did these nerves start?"

"A couple of days ago," I said, and I walked to the washbasin. "Don't worry about it. Its nothing."

Kelly nodded, pulled her purse closer, and handed me some makeup.

She smiled at me when I was done, yet her smile didn't erase the worry in her eyes.

On our way back to Xavier, I saw Erika and her parents standing, each with a glass of wine in their hands, waiting for the proceedings to start.

I gestured to Kelly to keep quiet, and she narrowed her eyes at me.

"You can rest assured, Dad," Erika sneered, "this time it is absolutely foolproof and nothing will go wrong."

"Don't mess around!" John said seriously, "All the people present are prominent figures. If we are exposed, we will never recover and get Kate out of our lives!"

When Erika looked at John's face, she knew he knew all the important guests by name, and if whatever they were planning failed, they would never be able to show their faces again.

"Erika," Rose said, turning toward her daughter, as soon as John left to talk to someone else. "Have you arranged everything?"

Erika waved her hand confidently.

"Don't worry, Mom, I'm going to make sure Kate doesn't show her face again!"

Rose glanced at the crowd and lowered her voice.

"I have invited a lot of reporters and people from the media this time," Rose said. "Will they be able to see that you have manipulated the photos and changed the girl's face to Kate's? And by the way, who is the woman in the photo having sex with Andrew? Will she be here?"

Erika snorted coldly and with confidence.

"Mother," Erika said. "You will have to wait and see the show; either Kate will lose or I will."

Rose widened her eyes, yet she didn't comment.

Erika looked into the crowd, searching, and then turned her wrist and looked at the time.

"What's taking so long? Did they decide not to come? Will this be all for nothing?" She growled, frustrated.

"No," Rose said, "your father confirmed that this banquet is mainly to celebrate the smooth cooperation between the two groups. If the two of them don't show up, the banquet will be meaningless. They will be here; I am certain about that." Rose moaned and rolled her eyes.

"These days, my own father doesn't have a say about anything in the company anymore. He is useless! And all the old guys are sucking up to Kate and kissing her ass!"

Two people passed Erika and Rose, and they gave her a wary look.

"What are you looking at?" Erika yelled, "Have you never seen a beautiful woman before?"

Rose quickly put her hand over Erika's mouth and gestured for her to behave.

"They are only low-class employees, mom," Erika said, moving Rose's hand. "No senior employees are around. I am a manager at least, and they have no right to look at me like that. If I wasn't in such a good mood today, I would have fired them immediately!" I turned back to Kelly, nodded, and we quietly went back to the stage and informed Xavier of what we had heard.

What happened next was unexpected and out of my control.