Married First, Loved Later : A Flash Marriage with My Ex’s "Uncle" - Chapter 276

Chapter 276: Waiting to Climb the Ranks
Angelica’s identity?

She was the eldest daughter of the Morris Family—darling of the Morris chairman, beloved sister of the young master.

To cross her was to cross the entire Morris Family.

Angelica put on a gentle act, but her words carried a hidden threat. “Selina, it’s rare for Mom to like something. If you give it to her, that’s just being a dutiful daughter. You can always pick out another one.”

Luke immediately flared up. So being the Morris heiress gave her the right to twist facts and bully others?

Selina casually tucked her hair behind her ear. “Sorry, I don’t do filial piety for mistresses. Luke, take the rings—we’re leaving.”

Katie’s face froze. Luke was beyond satisfied.

Exactly—filial to a mistress? What a joke. Where did that kind of shamelessness even come from?

Angelica gritted her teeth. “Selina, don’t be so stubborn—”

“What’s all the noise about?”

Before Selina could walk out, a group of people blocked the entrance. A middle-aged man, about fifty, walked down from the second floor. His eyes swept the room, then lit up.

“Why, if it isn’t Miss Angelica! Seen anything you like?”

He was the store manager of this jewelry branch. Knowing Angelica’s status, he wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to curry favor.

Angelica exchanged a look with Katie, then let out a dramatic sigh.

“Mom and I did see two rings we really liked, but Selina took them. We were just thinking of checking out another store.”

The manager, afraid of losing such a valuable sale, rushed over and started barking at his staff.

“Useless fools! How could you let someone else buy what Miss Angelica wanted?! Some people have no status, no resources—how dare they compete with Miss Angelica?!”

Even a deaf person could tell who that was aimed at.

Selina blinked and looked at Luke, silently asking: Aren’t you the president of this jewelry chain? Why doesn’t anyone recognize you?

Luke’s brows furrowed deeply.

Maybe he wasn’t obnoxious enough yet. His own employees didn’t know him, and even the store manager—who should know this store was under his name—didn’t recognize him. Was his reputation that nonexistent?

The manager glanced at Selina with disdain. A country nobody. So what if she was Mrs. Reid for now? That title wouldn’t last.

But Angelica? She was a Morris. With a marriage pact to Logan. A threat from any angle.

With that thought, he scoffed, “Miss Clark, please pick something else. I’ve decided to give those two rings to Miss Angelica.”

Katie’s smugness practically oozed off her face, just waiting for Selina to crack.

Luke was about to explode. “This is how you run a business?! The designs for those rings are still on Selina’s phone! Are you blind and deaf?! Go to the hospital already!”

Angelica spoke sweetly, “Manager, if you’re willing to sell the rings to us, I’m happy to pay double.”

The manager had run out of patience. “Selina, this is business. Miss Angelica is offering twice the price—so what if you custom-designed them? I’ll sell to whoever I want. If you don’t like it, outbid her.”

Luke was stunned.

Are these seriously my employees? Am I really that useless, I can’t even manage one jewelry store?

The manager sneered, “Nothing to say? Then hand over the rings—don’t keep Miss Angelica waiting.”

Angelica pursed her lips, pretending to be helpless. “Selina, I don’t want to escalate things. Just give them up. You won’t pay more but insist on keeping them. Honestly… I hate admitting someone like you is my sister.”

Selina held the rings in her palm and twirled them slowly before breaking into a calm smile.

“Do you even know what the design on these two rings symbolizes?”

Everyone froze for a beat, and before Angelica could respond, Selina spoke up—

“It symbolizes pure, untainted love.”

Then, one word at a time, she asked, “Which part of ‘pure’ and ‘untainted’ has anything to do with either of you?”

Silence fell over the room.

Luke chimed in with biting sarcasm, mastering the art of passive-aggressive mockery.

“Right? Everyone knows Mrs. Bryant clawed her way up from being the mistress. How does someone like that even say ‘pure and untainted’ with a straight face? You’re not just shameless—you’re seasoned.”

“Even if we backtrack and pretend these rings were meant for Angelica—has she even gotten married yet? Snatching someone else’s wedding rings before you’re even a bride? What is this, generational side-chick legacy?”

The atmosphere turned frigid. No one dared breathe too loud—staff kept their heads down, pretending not to exist.

Katie’s face turned a deep, splotchy red. “You think Mr. Reid would actually want you—”

But Luke beat her to it, stepping protectively in front of Selina with wide-eyed faux confusion.

“If Logan isn’t into Selina, you think he’d be into your daughter? No matter what, Selina is his legitimate wife—your daughter’s still waiting in line, so step aside.”

He drew out the words ‘legitimate wife’ with special emphasis and let out a dramatic sigh.

“Right, I forgot—why am I talking sense to someone who’s been the other woman for over twenty years? You probably think being a mistress is something to brag about. And not just that—now you’re training your daughter to follow in your footsteps. Damn, y’all really are out here tarnishing the family name.”

Selina: “…”

Honestly, she didn’t even need to say anything. Luke was a one-man demolition squad, wrecking people left and right with just his mouth.

Katie was fuming. “You! Who do you think you are? Somebody get them out of here!”

The store manager started to step forward—

But Luke let out a cold laugh, fully leaning into his rich-kid arrogance.

“Oh? You don’t know who I am now, huh? I’ve been gone for two days and you’ve already forgotten?”

“Taylor Store Manager. Manager Wilson. I hired you clowns to make my life easier, not give me a migraine.”

He whipped out his phone, dialing without hesitation.

“Hello? HR? Fire the branch manager at the DY location. Guy doesn’t even recognize me.”

Even Taylor Store Manager, as dense as he was, now fully realized what was happening.

He hadn’t recognized Luke at first, but he’d been in the company long enough to know exactly who the big boss was.

And now… disaster.

Selina had come to pick up her custom rings. Luke, the real owner, had accompanied her. And what had Taylor Store Manager done? He’d tried to force her to hand over the rings to Angelica.

Luke smiled coldly. “Taylor Store Manager, you still planning to ‘gift’ these rings to someone else?”

Taylor Store Manager practically dropped to his knees. “N-no, Young Master, I swear, I didn’t know it was you—I didn’t know…”

Katie nearly passed out. That man was Luke—the owner of the jewelry store! That meant the rings were going back to Selina, and she couldn’t stand it.

Angelica was just as unwilling. Rings in her hand, engagement within reach—how could she give it all up to Selina?

Lowering her eyes, she put on a pitiful act.

“Selina, I wanted to spare you the embarrassment, but I can’t stay silent anymore.”

“These two rings… Logan originally had them made for me. I was the one who turned them down, and that’s the only reason you have them now…”

…

Meanwhile, outside in a quiet corner—

Joe frowned as he watched Angelica, lost in thought.

Logan’s eyes were cool and unreadable. He turned to the Morris chairman and said casually, “Chairman Morris, that’s your third wrong guess tonight. You sure you want to keep going?”