Jessie's Chase

Jessica Belle Lavigne stood up to her full 5ft 10 inches height, her beautiful face contorting in anger after reading through the email sent to her by the owner of Tasty, the famous magazine company in London where she worked as the executive editor.

Jessie let out a frustrated sigh, wondering what Ms. Lenore Bernard, the CEO of Tasty meant by rejecting her request for promotion.

Jessie had been working in the company for four years and although she was one of the most respected journalists in the company because of Whispers, the column which she had been writing for two years after getting promoted from a regular journalist to the executive editor, she still didn't think she was where she wanted to be.

Despite the very fat paycheck which she received two days earlier than others did, Jessie wanted more, she deserved more.

When the former Editor-in-chief of Tasty, Bianca Banks had a miscarriage and resigned, blaming her loss on the stress of the job, Jessie saw it as an opportunity to take her place and applied for a promotion.

It never crossed her mind that her request was going to get declined. Becoming the chief editor would finally give her the sense of achievement she had been searching for and also shut the mouth of her unsatisfied mother.

Shutting all thoughts of her rather annoying mother out of her mind, Jessie tried to come up with reasons why Lenore would reject her request.

Whispers was the major reason why everyone loved Tasty. At the time when she started working at Tasty, it had only been at an average level of success and everyone could attest to the fact that after the introduction of Whispers, the magazine was finally able to get the most sales than what they had ever recorded in Europe.

Whispers was a segment of Tasty which featured six pages of juicy celebrity news and gossip, relationship reports, matchmaking, scandals as well as fashion tips.

Jessie alone knew how hard it was for her to continue writing the column. It wasn't easy to get the latest scoops and gossip that would interest readers and ensure that every bit of it was fresh and interesting.

Jessie picked the office phone on her desk and called Lenore's secretary as well as Jessie's best friend, Chanel.

Chanel answered the phone after two rings and Jessie quickly fired her question, "Is Lenore in?"

"Good morning Ms. Lavigne, I'm having a nice morning, thanks for asking. What can I help you with Miss?" Chanel asked sarcastically.

Realising her lack of telephone manners, Jessie answered, "I'm really sorry Chanel. It's just, I need to talk to Lenore. Let her know that I want to meet with her."

"Okay Jessie, I'll let her know. I hope everything is alright, though?" Chanel queried.

"Thanks, I'll let you know later," Jessie replied before ending the call and pressing her hand to her throbbing forehead.

Chanel and Jessie had been best friends ever since Jessie started working at Tasty Magazine.

Though quite different in their ambitions, with Jessie having big dreams of becoming a famous columnist and Chanel being satisfied with her job as the assistant to the CEO of Tasty Magazine.

Picking up the annual sales report for the year, Jessie sashayed out of her office.

She smiled at Chanel while passing by her desk and confidently made her way to Lenore's office.

After knocking twice, she heard a chirpy "come in," from Lenore and walked into the large office.

"My beautiful Jessica, there must be a special reason for you to visit my office today, not so?" Lenore asked in her smooth, but slightly French-accented voice.

"I was here yesterday to discuss next week's publication of Whispers and with all due respect Lee, I believe you know why I'm here this time," Jessie answered addressing her with the nickname only she was allowed to.

"Why don't you have a seat and tell me about it, Jessie, because I simply don't know why you're here," Lenore signaled for Jessie to sit with a mischievous smile.

"Why did you refuse my request for a promotion, Lee? After all the sacrifices and hard work I've put into this company, I deserve the title of Editor-in-chief! Bianca's gone, why don't you take a look at our sales report for this month since I've been handling her work?" Jessie complained, before passing Lenore the sales report.

Lenore simply ignored her shouting and smiled in a scheming manner before replying, "I know, you're the key reason why people love our magazine so much, but I'm doing this because I have a task for you."

"A task? What could that be? You know that was the same thing you told me last month and even after getting the scoop on Ivan Parker's cheating scandal, just like you requested, I wasn't promoted," Jessie frowned, before taking a seat on the couch in the office.

"Oh Jessie, don't ruin your beautiful face with that frown, you'll be needing to smile more often from now on."

"What do you mean?"

"Now let me explain this. I want you to get me an even bigger scoop than Ivan Parker's, but first have this," Lenore replied before handing her a wedding invitation card.

It was no secret that the gorgeous thirty-five year old, French brunette, Lenore Marie Bernard, famous for being one of the youngest females to establish her own magazine company at age twenty-three was finally getting married that weekend to Cesare Cavelli, a wealthy, Italian businessman with a long chain of hotels to his name.

Though all the employees at Tasty Magazine already knew about Lenore's wedding, they were yet to receive an invitation to the wedding, so Jessie was a bit surprised to receive an invitation from Lenore.

"I don't understand Lee, why are you giving me this? What happened to 'None of you workers are worthy enough to attend my wedding if I'm ever going to have one.' Wasn't that what you always said?" Jessie teased.

Lenore laughed out loud before explaining in her chirpy voice, "I want you to attend my wedding this Saturday, not because you are an important guest, but because it would be the first step to completing the task I have for you."

"What? I'm not really following from here, Lee," Jessie frowned in confusion.

"I want you to get a scoop on the former playboy musician, turned businessman, Chase Reed. He'll attend my wedding ceremony tomorrow because he and my darling Cesare were classmates in boarding school."

"Pardon? Where do I come in then? What does this have to do with me?" Jessie asked, confusedly.

Lenore might have been beautiful, elegant and intelligent, but sometimes she struck Jessie as a tad bit too obsessed with gossips and scoops on celebrities.

Over the four years Jessie had been working with her, Lenore had become more than just her boss. She considered Lenore as a friend, well that's probably what she should, given that she insisted on Jessie addressing her with a nickname and also the special treatments she got from her.

Inviting Jessie to her awesome wedding party which was going to feature influential guests from the top class of society, as well as celebrities was just one of the evidences of Lenore's special care for Jessie.

In her second year of working at Tasty Magazine, there was a rumour surrounding the office that Jessie was the illegitimate daughter of Lenore's wealthy and womanising father, Alfred Bernard. As much as that rumour was never proved true, none of the staff was able to comprehend why Jessie enjoyed such favours from their CEO.

"Chase Reed, the wealthy restauranteur? How could I possibly get a scoop on him? No one has ever been able to figure out why he changed his playboy lifestyle and quit music to continue his family business," Jessie said.

"Oh please, Jessie. Don't act like you don't know your worth. The reason why I'm giving this job to you is because I know how capable you are. With your beauty and intelligence, I'm sure you'd be able to get an exclusive interview of Chase."

Noting that Jessie was now more interested in what she had to say, Lenore continued.

"As I was saying, Chase Reed is going to attend my wedding party. He promised my darling Cesare after he made a super large donation for the charity foundation that Chase's mother established."

"Okay, but how come Chase agreed to attend your wedding party? What sort of donation could that be? As far as I know, he hasn't been attending any public events. He's been very scarce from the eye of the press," Jessie asked.

"You might not know this, but that foundation means a lot to Chase, especially after his mother passed away. I asked Cesare to make that donation so that Chase would have to attend in a way to show his gratefulness and you know my darling Cesare, he'd do whatever I ask. It was a lot of money he donated, you know? Cesare is such a darling, not so?" Lenore asked with dreamy eyes.

Having no time to listen to Lenore's constant praises for Cesare Cavelli, Jessie said, "Please continue. I'm not interested in learning how awesome Cesare is."

"Of course you're not, he's exclusively mine. So what you're going to do tomorrow is to try as much as possible to get close to Chase. Introduce yourself as the younger sister of my wedding planner, Susanne Dubois. Your name would be Jessie Dubois."

"I don't like this plan, I can't do that," Jessie stood angrily.

"Come on Jessie, you're a natural beauty. Just flirt a little with Chase, he might have shied away from the public eye and stopped being a womanising musician, but that doesn't mean he'd be immune to your charm. You've had someone like Jacques Bernard under your spell before."

Jessie frowned at the mention of the name of the famous and handsome novelist whom Jessie was dating four years earlier. Things ended very badly between them and Jessie still got irritated whenever their relationship was brought up.

"I'm sorry, Jessie. I know you're still not ready to talk about Jacques. I was just trying to express how much charm you have on the male species," Lenore apologized.

"It's fine, it doesn't bother me anymore. We live in different countries. I don't care about him," Jessie lied.

"Okay, so will you consider this, my darling Jessie?" Lenore asked with pleading eyes.

"You must really want this scoop, don't you?"

"Of course, I do. I live for news. Our magazine has to be the first to expose Mr Reed's big dirty secrets."

"Okay, I don't like this idea. I mean you're asking me to seduce someone just to get enough gossip to write about, Lee. That's not right, I don't think I can do that," Jessie stood up in protest, pushing her raven-black hair back and placing her hands akimbo on her well-rounded hips, with her grey gaze fixed on the scheming Lenore who had a mischievous smirk on.

"Oh come on, Jessie, it's not like I'm asking you to sleep with him. I simply want you to get close to him, entice him with your beauty. He'll surely fall for it and when he does, he'll give you details about why he gave up on his career as a top musician," Lenore said with her chocolate-brown eyes flashing with determination.

"You've really got a thorough plan, haven't you? Let me know just why you must get a scoop on Chase Hunter. Maybe if you gave me a credible reason, I'd consider this whole thing."

"I'll give you a million dollars, plus the promotion you so much want if you're able to get this done. Think of how much your life would change when that happens."

"I want to understand why this is so important to you Lenore. What if we publish the secrets and the sales are not even worth this whole thing?"

"Leave that for me to worry about. What you should know is that a certain someone has offered me a lot of money to expose Chase Reed by doing this. Now are you in?"

Thinking about how she would finally get the approval from her family which she had always wanted and how much money was involved, Jessie replied after a minute, "Your wedding is this Saturday, that's four days from now, right?"

"Yes," Lenore replied in French.

"It's in Paris. You of all people should know that I don't want to go to my hometown yet."

"No one said you have to go to your hometown. Sure, my wedding is happening in Paris, but that doesn't mean that you have to meet your parents, if that's what you're so afraid of."

"Don't bring them up, please," Jessie hissed.

"Fine, there's no way that you guys will ever meet there. The wedding is happening at the best hotel in Paris. Trust me with your mother's lowly status, she can never meet you there."

"I hope you're right, Lee. I'm in then," Jessie finally agreed.

I walked into Cavelli Hotel where my former high school classmate, Cesare Cavelli was getting married with his fiance Lenore Bernard.

"Mr, Reed I'm so sorry, Sir," Bianca, my personal secretary said.

I stopped in my steps and looked at her before asking, "What's the matter, Bianca?"

"I just got a text from my daughter's nanny. She said Blanca is burning up with a fever. I would have left her with her dad back in London, but my husband is also on a business trip and I had to be here with you, so I just had to bring her along. I need to rush back to the hotel to check on her, Sir," Bianca replied looking terrified.

"Of course you can go right away, send her to the hospital if possible, I'll cover the medical expenses. Your daughter is only five, she needs you right now. You're free to go Bianca," I replied.

If not anyone else, I knew how hard it was to take care of little children, especially when they were sick. I made a mental note to check on the kids I left with a nanny in London.

"How are you going to communicate here, Sir? The main reason you took me with you was because of my ability to speak French. You can't speak it so how would you manage?"

"Don't worry, I have Google Translate at least. Now run along, Blanca needs you," I said and watched her run out of the hotel lobby.

Scrolling to the contact of Octavia, the nanny of my twins, I dialled her number and waited for her to answer.

"Hello Mr. Reed. How are you, Sir? Are you in Paris already?" Octavia asked with her native Brazilian accent.

"Yes, I am. I wanted to know how Chris and Crystal are doing," I replied while noticing how the atmosphere in the lobby changed with the entrance of a raven-haired beauty of about 5ft 10 inches.

The lady seemed quite young and elegant, probably twenty-seven years old. She seemed quite oblivious to the men checking her out and the women envious of her looks, but rather fixed on her phone.

She appeared to be searching for someone and kept looking from side to side, until our eyes locked together and she looked like she had found whatever she had been looking for, because she kept staring at me.

"Oh, I'll pass the phone to Chris, Sir," I heard Octavia said which forced me to tear my gaze away from the lady.

"Hello Daddy! When will you be back?" I heard the tender voice of Chris, the older twin by ten minutes.

"In two days, son. How's everything going? I hope you're not fighting with your sister again?" I teased.

"Yes, he is Dad," Crystal replied over the phone.

"She's lying Dad. I hope you come back with all those wonderful eclairs that I heard is sold in Paris!" Came Chris.

"Don't forget the Barbie dolls, don't get Chris anything. He doesn't deserve it, Dad!" Crystal yelled.

"Don't worry kids, I'll be back in two days time. I'll also get you all the goodies that you asked for, you both deserve it. Is that alright?" I asked smiling almost completely forgetting the beautiful lady who kept staring at me.

It felt almost like she was eavesdropping and so I quickly rushed the conversation to an end and cut the call before making my way to where she stood.

As if noticing my intentions of coming her way, she lifted her phone to her ear as though on a call.

"Hello Miss. Do you need any help?" I asked when I stopped in front of her.

Taking a closer look at her, she was even more stunning than I thought with large grey eyes, sensuous lips and a nice nose. She had a very nice facial structure like that of an elegant French princess.

I tried to remember if she was an actress or a celebrity I might have known, but couldn't quite place a finger on it. She had a very nice figure too, one you couldn't possibly forget, so I couldn't have met her before. If I did, I'd have remembered.

She had on a velvet-red dress which enhanced her well-rounded figure. Diamond jewelleries adorned her neck and wrists. If not anything, this lady came from a wealthy family. There was no ring on her finger, though. I wondered why that observation made me feel more relaxed.

The lady all of a sudden ended her call and walked past me and all I could do was stare at her back as she walked away.

How could a woman ignore me? She was the one who looked lost and I only wanted to help. Deciding to follow closely behind her, I noticed she doubled up her steps before pressing the elevator button and quickly getting in.

It seemed like she wanted to get away as quick as possible and so, I stuck my hand in between the elevator doors and made my way in with a smile.

The lady simply clicked the button for the top floor, which made me realize that she was probably here for the wedding as well, given her dressing.

"It seems you're also here for Cesare and Lenore's wedding, aren't you?"

She turned to look at me, which caused her long, wavy black hair to whip my face, giving me a smell of her strawberry-scented perfume.

"I'm sorry what did you say?" The lady asked in French.

'Of course, I forgot that I was in a French-speaking country, but does it mean she doesn't speak English?' I thought to myself.

"Don't you speak English, Miss?" I asked before all of a sudden the elevator stopped moving with a loud sound.

"What's going on?" I asked, not sure if I was directing the question to myself, her or even the elevator.

"I think something's wrong with the elevator," the lady gasped, holding her hand to her chest as though she was about to have a panic attack.

"Just relax, everything will be fine. Take a deep breath, try to think of something else while I contact the technicians," I informed her.

"No, we're going to die. I've seen this in the movies, this elevator box is going to crash!" She screamed, her husky voice rising a pitch higher than I thought possible.

"No, we're not. You...," I was saying before the elevator made another sound with a jerk that caused the lady to fall into my arms.

She held onto me tightly and kept mumbling, "We're going to die. Oh my God, I haven't even got married yet. I haven't bought a house yet, I can't die."

Patting her creamy white back which was on display dues to the style of her dress, I explained, "It will be fine, you have my word."

The doors of the elevator opened to reveal all the wedding guests at the top floor and paparazzi taking pictures of us.

'Oh my God' I thought to myself after realising that I and the lady were just caught in what seemed like a passionate embrace.

"I still don't know how I feel about this whole seducing and deceiving thing. I don't even like dresses, can't I wear my regular slacks and chiffon shirt? I'd feel more comfortable in those, this is just too revealing, Lee," I complained to Chanel over the phone while eyeing the outfit that Lenore sent to me this morning for her wedding.

"I also don't think it's a good idea. A friend of my elder sister's was fortunate to win a date with Chase when he was still a musician. She said he was so easy-going and lovable. He's a total gentleman, what if you fall in love with him, just like it happens in the movies?"

"Oh come on Chanel, you're watching too many romantic movies. No such thing would happen, my relationship with Jacques was enough to put me off romance."

"What about Chase's feelings, he's innocent, you know? You'll be deceiving him, that's not good."

"But this promotion means a lot to me, Chanel. I've already told Lenore I'd do it," I said.

"Here's what you'd do, just go with the flow. You don't have to get into a relationship with Chase. Just get as close as a friend with him . Friends tell each other secrets, don't they? Sorry I have to go now, there's a lot of work with Lenore away in Paris," Chanel said.

"Okay, dear."

"Make sure you catch the flower, who knows you might just find love soon. I'll hang up before you reply sarcastically. Bye darling enjoy Paris, just don't meet your parents," Chanel hung up, laughing.

I laughed and thought of how Lenore was getting ready for her perfect wedding ceremony with the famous fashion designer, Cesare Cavelli.

Lenore who swore never to fall in love with anyone was now head over heels for Cesare Cavelli.

I dialled Lenore's number and she answered after three rings, "Relax darling, I should be the one nervous here. I'm getting married to the love of my life, I can't afford any mistakes in the order of ceremony. Now if you won't dress up and go out there to seduce that handsome Chase, you can as well say goodbye to your promotion as well as the one million dollars," Lenore said before terminating the call.

Typical Lenore, she ends the call, despite the fact that she wasn't the one who called.

Clicking my tongue, I opened the Google App and browsed for some recent photos of Chase Reed, who was once a famous musician known for his numerous love songs with an equal number of love interests.

Though he wasn't all that famous here in Paris, where I resided five years earlier, I had seen a couple of photos of him, but I figured he must have gone through a lot to change his look in order to avoid the public eye.

His recent photos came up and though they were captured at far distances, I could see that he hadn't changed so much after disappearing from the world of music for about seven and a half years now.

He had opted his long hair for a shorter one and he looked more muscular than before. Overall, he was dashingly handsome. Looking at the picture, I felt kind of bad for what I was going to do to him.

Driving away all those thoughts I picked the velvet-red dress, while taking a glance at the clock in my hotel room. Lenore had insisted on me staying at the Cavelli Hotel, which Cesare owned and where Chase Reed was lodged, it was also where her wedding was taking place.

The time for the ceremony was 9:00am, which meant that I had roughly an hour to get ready for the wedding ceremony which was to hold at the top floor of the hotel.

I had already showered, so I quickly applied some make-up, slipped the dress on and paired it with matching 4-inches high stilettos. I gave my raven-black hair which was the only thing I got from my mother, a wavy look and sprayed on a strawberry-scented fragrance, known for its lingering smell.

Under about 40mins, I was ready to go. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I wanted my mother to know how hardworking and successful I've become. 'If she saw me now, would she finally acknowledge me as her daughter?' I wondered before pushing those thoughts away.

Placing my phone and wallet in my silver clutch, I made my way out of the room.

It didn't take long for me to reach the hotel lobby before I spotted Chase Reed and a blonde lady walking into the hotel lobby.

'Could that be his girlfriend? If she is then how do I succeed in my plan?" I wondered.

They stopped abruptly and seemed be discussing something. The woman looked tensed and quickly ran towards the entrance after their discussion ended. Chase continued standing there before bringing out his phone and calling someone.

I kept watching him from across the room and after some time, he seemed to have noticed my stare on him. He then ended his call and started making his way towards me.

I finally came to terms with the fact that, Chase Reed the handsome former musician, turned business tycoon was coming towards me and that my plan to seduce him had just begun.

How was I supposed to seduce a handsome and experienced man in the field of relationships like him. He'll probably see through my acting.

Getting nervous, I placed my phone close to my ear as though I was on a call to prevent him from talking to me.

"Hello Miss. Do you need any help?" Came his baritone voice.

I looked up at him, but decided to ignore him by walking away. If he was still attracted to the female species like he used to be, then he'd follow after me.

I caught him checking me out earlier, so I was pretty confident that he'd follow me. When he didn't for a few seconds, I almost felt disappointed until he finally did.

Getting into the elevator before him, I hoped that he'd be able to get in before the doors closed, which he eventually did.

I pressed the button for the top floor, which he noticed before asking, "It seems you are also here for Cesare and Lenore's wedding, aren't you?"

I turned to look at him and the motion caused my long, wavy, black hair to whip his face before asking in French, "I'm sorry what did you say?"

"Don't you speak English, Miss?" He asked before all of a sudden the elevator stopped moving with a loud sound, just as Lenore planned.

'It's time to get into character,' I said in my mind.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"I think something's wrong with the elevator," I gasped, holding my hand to my chest as though I was about to have a panic attack.

I've experienced an elevator crisis before and it has never frightened me, but according to Lenore, a distressed woman wouldn't be ignored by Chase Reed. He was surely going to try to comfort me and we'll use that to our advantage.

"Just relax, everything will be fine. Take a deep breath, try to think of something else while I contact the technicians," he whispered.

Just as he was about to click the button for help, I interrupted with, "No, we're going to die. I've seen this in the movies, this elevator box is going to crash!"

My naturally husky voice rose a pitch higher than I thought possible.

"No, we're not. You...," He was saying before the elevator made another sound with a jerk.

I used the opportunity to fall into his arms and held on tightly, before mumbling, "We're going to die. Oh my God, I haven't even got married yet. I haven't bought a house yet. I can't die now, I haven't even had kids yet."

Chase seemed a bit shocked at my move and started patting my bare back which was on display due to the style of my dress.

He said, "It will all be fine, you have my word."

'No, it wouldn't. This is just the beginning,' I thought to myself and immediately the elevator doors opened to reveal the top floor of the hotel filled with the wedding guests and paparazzi taking photos of us locked in an embrace.

'Task one has been completed,' I thought to myself with a smile and held on to Chase tightly as though I hadn't seen the paparazzi yet.