CHAPTER 18

Mr Dawson's face darkened when he heard the sales girl words, he saw himself smacking her with his shoes, but he managed to suppress the anger inside him. 

He didn't want to resort to violence because they were onlookers in the scene, so he would let her finish her lies and then ask Tessa to play her voice record, so everyone would hear for themselves. 

The salesgirl was happy that Mr. Dawson didn't say anything, he was probably giving her a chance to explain herself, she quickly pointed at Mrs. Penelope and Annabelle. 

"These people were there with me sir, we both saw everything with our own eyes. She is lying, she lied to you, Sir"

Since Mr Dawson gave her a chance to explain herself, it meant that he didn't fully trust Tessa, she believed with Mrs Penelope and Annabelle backing her up, Mr Dawson would have no choice but to retrace his steps. 

With one glance at Mrs. Penelope and Annabelle, one could easily tell that they were rich people, rich people wouldn't tell such a lie, what would they gain if they did so?

Mrs Penelope and Annabelle woke up from their shock state, they immediately supported the sales girl. 

"Yes, she is right... we saw her ourselves. She tried to steal one of the clothes over there. Thank goodness we were there to stop her, she could only pretend to make a call before the security men came to kick her out"

Annabelle tried as much as possible not to go outside the line because the camera saw everything, but there was no audio so they would have to forge the conversations themselves. 

Mrs Penelope nodded to Annabelle's words. 

"Mr Dawson, this girl is right. This little thief tried to steal one of your things, thankfully we were there"

Mrs Penelope smiled at Tessa, Tessa still didn't understand how the world worked, no way Mr Dawson would believe her over them, in terms of clothes, status, and wealth, they were superior to Tessa, and that was all that mattered in everybody's eyes. 

Several lines appeared on Mr Dawson's forehead, he had passed his tolerance limit already, he would've already smacked these people if they weren't in a public place. 

If only they knew who Tessa was, they wouldn't dare to cough in her presence let alone accuse her of stealing, because that would've been death for sure. 

Mr Dawson turned to face Tessa, this was Tessa's plan to attract onlookers, if not, he would've dealt with this matter severely whether they were in a public place or not.

"Lady Tessa, these people claimed you have lied to me, could you please clear your name"

Tessa's cheeks moved, finally, everybody in the store was watching, she let them blab around, and now she would hit them hard with her weapon, the voice record.

Mrs Penelope was surprised by the way Mr Dawson addressed Tessa, could it be he knew Tessa, she doubted that would be the case, but she wondered how Tessa planned to clear her name when they had the sales girl on their side. 

Annabelle frowned seeing the special treatment Mr Dawson gave Tessa, she couldn't help but voice out. 

"Stop already, the sales girl saw you, what else do you plan to say? It's over!"

Tessa didn't put her ears to Annabelle's words, she brought her phone out and played the record. 

"This is exactly what happened. You guys think you were smart, what a joke to think you can outsmart me with money, if there is one side effect of glorifying money, is that it makes you dumb"

Mrs. Penelope and Annabelle's hearts jumped violently when they heard the voice recording, they couldn't believe Tessa tricked them a while ago, it was obvious now, no wonder Tessa was repeating what she already knew just to catch them in her traps. 

She played them for a fool. 

The sales girl was quiet now, her earlier confidence instantly disappeared, she was motionless on the floor, if only she knew, she wouldn't have accepted the money, now she was in a total deep mess. 

She might even pay up to three hundred thousand dollars for breaking the rules, thinking about this made her body quiver profusely.

Tessa dropped her phone back in her pocket, she wanted to say something when the sales girl suddenly bowed her head on the floor. 

"Forgive me, Lady Tessa. I have many debts to pay, and my mother is sick too, I am desperately in need of money, so when these two persuaded me, I couldn't refuse them"

She crawled to Tessa and bowed her head on Tessa's feet. 

"Please forgive me. Please forgive me"

Tessa glared at the sale girl.

"You must be joking"

She freed her feet from the sales girl's hands, it was obvious that the sales girl was money-blinded, not because she had any critical condition, but now she wanted to take the pitiful route. 

"To hell with your shitty lies. you nobody!"

Tessa roared. Mr Dawson clapped his hands and three security men pounded on the sales girl, they dragged her out of the building, she kept screaming along the way. 

Mrs Penelope and Annabelle were the only ones left, they had heard many critical words from the onlookers, but they lacked the guts to raise their heads. 

Mrs Penelope shamelessly raised her head to face Mr Dawson. 

"Mr Dawson, please we should settle this in another way, I have been coming here for over a decade now, and I am—"

Before she could finish her words, Mr Dawson handed her a piece of paper. 

"DK luxury store would not tolerate any sort of oppression or bullying, it's against our rules and it ruins my store image"

Mrs. Penelope accepted the paper with a shaking hand and Mr Dawson continued. 

"You should find a good lawyer and a good negotiator, or else, you might be paying up to a million dollars for damages"

Mrs Penelope's heart jumped when she heard Mr Dawson's words, she didn't bother to look at the piece of paper, they were surely in deep trouble now, and it was because of Tessa, this low-life bastard.

"Thank you, Mr Dawson. I only wanted to give my girl what she wanted, and I believe this girl wouldn't be able to afford it, I mean look at what she is wearing.

"Who dresses in a cowboy outfit these days"

Annabelle joined her mom. 

"We only wanted one of the dresses but she refused, it's not like she can afford everything"

They didn't want to look all that bad, perhaps some of the onlookers would support them. 

Tessa suddenly cleared her throat, she faced Mr Dawson. 

"Mr Dawson, now that you have done your part, it's time I do mine. I hope I have your full support"

Mr Dawson nodded to Tessa's words. 

"I will make sure you get everything you demand"

Tessa's cheeks moved, she faced Mrs Penelope and Annabelle with a poker expression, their faces were ugly as they stared at her. 

Instead of continuing with her poker expression, Tessa smiled fully, which further angered Mrs Penelope and Annabelle. 

She cleared her throat again and said. 

"You have to compensate me for emotional distress, if this goes to a judge you could pay up to a hundred thousand dollars, so I would be pitiful enough to accept sixty thousand dollars now"

Mrs. Penelope and Annabelle were dumbfounded, they couldn't believe what they just heard. 

Was this a joke or something, does Tessa think they were stupid? 

Annabelle sounded smart. 

"You weren't physically harmed in any way, and in fact what record would you give the judges, you ain't suffering from any emotional breakdown"

Annabelle folded her hand on her chest like she just solved the world's greatest puzzle. 

She looked at Tessa in a disgusted manner. 

"Just quit it, Tessa. you probably don't have any money to buy these clothes, so you want to reap us out, keep dreaming if you think we would give you a penny"

Tessa only smiled at Annabelle's words. 

"Oh, yeah, I will not buy these clothes with my money, you would buy these clothes for me, and I would tell you why"

An evil smile appeared on Tessa's face, she brought her phone out and said in a considerate tone.

"I wonder how this would affect David. I heard he is starting a new project, imagine if I release this voice recording to the public. I am sure it would affect his project one way or the other"

Mrs Penelope and Annabelle's faces darkened, before they could say anything, Tessa sounded again. 

"Mr. Dawson, I would need the camera footage from earlier and now, and could you make it trend. I don't know how to publicly accuse people"

Mr. Dawson nodded to Tessa's words. 

"I would make sure it hits number one in the country"

Mrs. Penelope and Annabelle were stupefied, with Mr. Dawson helping, their pictures would be everywhere in Cherry City, they wouldn't be able to come out from their home again.

It would definitely affect David project and the company.

"Tessa, you are going too far, is it because David divorced you? Remember you agreed to the divorce, if you had issues then, you would've stated them"

Tessa responded straight away. 

"We are not talking about that, Mrs Penelope. We are talking about how you can walk away freely without me doing anything"

Tessa opened the stopwatch app on her phone. 

"Since you refused my first proposal, don't expect my second to be the same"

She set the time to five minutes. 

"I am giving you five minutes to pay for the dresses and hand them over to me, then you would kneel on the floor and apologize to me sincerely, otherwise this would go online, with Mr. Dawson helping"

Tessa's face turned serious.