41 Imperial Woman!

"You're not human! You're a fucking devil in mortal skin; Archer Ryan don't regret this!"

A loud shout resounded across the top floor of Reign Enterprises' main company building as a middle aged man with a highly disheveled appearance stormed down the hallway towards the elevator, turning back to curse and point at the 'CEO's office he had just left ever so often.

Despite the high profile act, the employees on the floor hardly showed any reaction and didn't bother to see this now ex-board executive out the building; although it was only slightly after nine in the morning, this scene had played out countless times already for them to be used to it.

It was unknown what had happened, but all morning those old fogies had been showing up to curse the boss to high heaven in extremely loud voices only to leave with a belly full of anger though not a single word of what the boss said in reply to them could be heard beyond the door.

Inside the office that everyone was now looking to with curiosity, Archer sat behind the large desk, reclined in the large leather chair with nonchalance and although there was no longer anyone there to hear, his thin yet full red lips curved up in a devious sneer that reeked of danger and arrogance.

"I highly doubt that I will."

From the time that he took over office almost a year ago, like piranhas smelling blood in the water, the members of the board could tell that Archer's heart hadn't been into running the business and most of them made the decision to band together and carve up this fatty meat called Reign Enterprises.

Archer wasn't an idiot, he had seen their actions long ago and had wanted to deal with them, but his way of doing business was completely different from the way his father and brother had done it and would certainly cause a huge mess. In their soft hearted and sentimental nature, the two had allowed the board members leeway to be unreasonable and create extra profits, but Archer wasn't like that.

Although it may seem petty but Archer believed that if he was shedding his blood and sweat to build a business then the profits that should be his should be his while others should also take what they justly deserve, but back then he was still of the mindset to preserve his brother's place so he didn't do anything and it wasn't like these small loses could even cause a dent in the Ryan family's generations old wealth anyway, so Archer let them be. But, now that he had decided to fully take on the responsibility as the Master of the Ryan family, Archer wasn't going to be lenient or courteous with these people anymore.

It would seem that he had underestimated the regard that those old childhood playmates and high school friends still had for him after all these years, because after he made those calls last night, even before the sun had risen his phone started going off like crazy with those old codgers lodging complaints about why Reign was cooperating with others to attack their businesses.

Archer didn't beat around the bush and frankly owned up to his actions then threatened them with the possible dissolution of their entire fortunes in exchange for the shares of Reign in their hands which he then temporarily put under the names of his closest relatives like Uncle Sam, Israel, Phillip, Trooper and Zac. He wasn't stupid enough to put them all under his own name and place the company in a precarious position where his death alone could cause its fall, right now he was hated by a lot of people.

In the future as he interacted with those lost acquaintances more, he would consider if their characters were trustworthy and hand over some shares to start building the board again, but until then he was now in full control of this company; those small board members who didn't even have the guts to oppose the Ryan family's might when he wasn't in charge surely wouldn't have the courage to do so now that he was, but they would soon come to learn that the cowardice they were condemned for in the past was the best decision they had ever made.

Isabel was unaware, but her actions and words last night had launched Reign's progress and growth forward by years compared to how it should have originally happened and stimulated the early awakening of the man who would come to be known as the Reigning Emperor.

As for the person herself, she was currently descending the stair case in a black sheath dress carrying a floral twist detail of plum and cherry blossoms, her dainty feet clad in a pair of black high heels that had four silver-gold hanging ornaments on the ankle strap that clinked together in crystal-like chimes every time she took a step forward.

Her wrist carried a set of golden phoenix circlets, each of the bird's nine tails carrying a small diamond that glinted with a blue light whenever the sunlight touched them, around her neck was simple yet elegant locket on a long chain and her ears were adorned with a pair of begonia flower earrings that had the edges of its petal encrusted in what looked like silver, glitter dust.

The items were all exquisite by themselves and as designs from Imperial, a single one of them showing up on any one woman would be cause for an uproar and much excitement, yet when worn by this person, they all seemed to lose their individual luster that could catch eyes miles away in a crowd and become understated accessories meant only to enhance her grandeur and they could be easily overlooked for that pair of brilliantly shining golden eyes.

As she descended the stair case, Isabel arched a brow at Phillip who was standing at the bottom, holding his cell phone that was directed at her while he stared dumbly in open mouthed surprise.

"What are you doing?"

Isabel's voice finally brought Phillip back to his senses and in his mind; he bowed to the woman before him countless times.

Phillip never believed that in this lifetime there would be a woman capable of moving that ice block of a childhood friend of his to this extent. He had actually bought her all of these top quality items!

Others may not be aware from just seeing them, but Phillip who was the manager of Reign's Imperial brand franchise was more than aware about the items Isabel was wearing.

That seemingly understated black dress with floral pattern alone costed almost seven hundred thousand dollars! The plum and cherry blossoms on the dress were in fact real flower petals that had been embalmed and preserved then carefully sewn into the fabric using a special technique that would take years to prepare before another like it could be created and there were exactly only three pieces currently in existence.

The shoes' ankle strap and the hanging ornaments attached, the locket around her neck and material used to make the circlet on her wrist was 14 carat natural white gold! But that wasn't the worst part, the nine diamonds smaller than peas in the circlet's nine phoenix tails were actually a rare Radiant Blue Diamond. In the dark or normal lighting, they looked like ordinary diamonds, but once they was exposed to direct light they would shine in blue light, it was an especially beautiful spectacle to behold under the moonlight.

The earrings on her ears were also made of natural white gold but that silver dust-like crust on the edges of the petals was actually diamond dust, as in actual diamonds that had been crushed to dust and painted on. Together, all these items came up to several millions of dollars!

Phillip felt a chill up his spine and he wondered exactly what had happened between these two last night and if the woman in question even knew that she had just quietly walked into and taken up residence in the treasure vault of a hording dragon.

Ever since they were young, Archer had always been the kind to not care about material things and even if someone were to steal from him he wouldn't make it an issue, but once he did get attached to something, taking it from him would be like trying to steal meat from the tiger's mouth; much more than a pound of flesh would have to be left behind.

"Fantastico, Bella! Imperial becomes you!"

Not being affected in the least by that charming, boyish smile that would undoubtedly make countless girls swoon, Isabel only arched her brow higher as her sight landed on the cellphone in his hands.

"Are you taking a picture of me?"

"Sage bought these for you, I think he would at least want to see how you look in them, no? Or do you oppose?"

"You're sending this to Sage?" Isabel asked and Phillip nodded. "I don't have a problem with that."

She finally reached the bottom of the stairs and smiled brightly, her eyes narrowing like a cat who just caught a mouse. She pointed at the length of the hall from the stair case to the foyer.

"I'll walk this strip and strike a pose once I reach the end, you only have one chance to take the photo, no retakes, got it."

"Yes Ma'am."

Isabel smirked. Although she couldn't discern the exact quality, she could tell that these items were shit load expensive.

She didn't know Sage's identity or how rich his family was, but she was angry that he had spent so much on her. Since they were a gift, she wouldn't give them back, they were hers, but that wouldn't stop her from nagging his ear off about it.

Phillip watched as the woman who had just been smiling mischievously a second ago instant transformed into the pinnacle of cold elegance, nobility and grace, her shoulders tall and braced and her head held high as she took even strides towards the foyer before turning abruptly, her dark hair rising like a cloud of midnight before she turned her head back to face him. She squinted her golden eyes at the camera then brought her hand up, her middle finger pressing coyly against her red lips.

Phillip froze... why a middle finger?

"Did you get it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Good. Now send it, I hope he chokes on that photo."

Seeing that previously coy and lofty expression instantly become huffy, like watching lights change on a Christmas tree, Phillip understood that she was actually pouting, as to what she was pouting about, he was single ah, how could he understand these couples problems?

Shrugging, he directly went ahead and sent the video he had been recording since he heard the room door upstairs open over to Archer then he smiled at Isabel as he put the phone away then with a sweeping gesture, invited her to sit at the table for breakfast.

Back at Reign headquarters, Archer was in the middle of reading through some documents when he heard the office door open than close.

Since taking over office, although he hadn't touched the deeper workings of the company until last night, Archer had changed many things, such as his father and brother's open door policy so there were now few people who dared to walk in here so brazenly, all of whom he could count on one hand and he knew personally.

*Pak*

An envelope landed on the table in his line of sight.

"This is what you asked for."

Glancing up at the man who was making himself comfortable in the chair on the opposite side of the desk, Archer glared for a bit thinking of how Israel had made him wait all morning for this information even though he could have pulled it up in minutes last night, then he put down what he was doing and picked up the envelope. Although his actions were easy and looked completely natural, in his chest, Archer's heart was hammering away a thousand miles a minutes.

It had only been a few hours since he asked Israel to look into it, but Archer felt as though he been waiting a lifetime for the contents of this envelope.

Opening it, he pulled out the papers and the first thing to greet him was a photo of the woman who had been on his mind all morning along with two children, a boy and girl in a park somewhere, wearing matching outfits; they should be her children that she mentioned last night.

Brushing aside the photo, the first thing that entered Archer's sight was the name at the top of the page.

"Isabel Ruby Rogers... Ruby, she actually used her middle name too."

Sitting across from him, Israel felt absolutely weirded out to see Archer smiling lightly with a gentle light rippling through his eyes as he stroked the photo like someone obsessed, he wasn't used to seeing this side of his cousin and if he didn't have some assurance about this woman's character he would have thought that Isabel had used some kind of drug or placed Archer under an enchantment.

Thinking back to the words of praise and admiration that clingy bear he left asleep at home had spouted about the woman just yesterday and the conversation he had with the person in question over the phone a few days prior, then looking at the foolish expression of his cousin across the table, Israel felt a growing interest in this woman called Isabel.

Because Archer had said he only wanted her basic information and not to do an in dept search, Israel had stayed his hand on researching her, but now he felt that he had changed his mind, however, this sudden interest wasn't without prejudice.

'A Queen amongst women', if she intended to be his cousin-in-law, he would have to see if this sentiment that his lover had towards her held any truth.