Chapter 222: Slept by a Man
Lark rubbed her temples irritably, "Let her come up."
The bodyguard soon brought the person in. When Lark saw who it was, she frowned, "It's you."
Elowen smiled, "Don't tell me Ms. Brown doesn't remember me?"
"How could I not remember? Harriet's cousin Elowen." Lark glanced at York, "You can leave now."
"Yes."
Only the two of them remained in the room. Lark leaned back lazily on the sofa and asked, "What do you want? Speak."
"Nothing major." Elowen said, "I just heard that Ms. Brown has transformed into a young lady of the Romanov family, so I came specially to congratulate you."
Lark laughed lightly, "I like people who speak directly."
"Ms. Brown is straightforward, so I won't beat around the bush. I'm short on cash lately and want to borrow some money from Ms. Brown."
Lark looked at her with contempt, "What makes you think you're qualified to borrow money from me?"
"Has Ms. Brown forgotten that we once had a deal?" Elowen calmly sipped her coffee. "Back then, you dreamed of becoming Tristan's woman and were jealous of Harriet. You insisted I steal Harriet's personal items for your fantasies."
"When you wore the nightgown Harriet liked, you must have fantasized plenty about Tristan making love to you, right? I stole everything Harriet liked for you."
Lark didn't feel embarrassed at all, "Elowen, are you threatening me?"
"I wouldn't dare. How could I threaten Ms. Brown?" Elowen raised an eyebrow. "Because I was caught stealing things for you, Harriet completely cut ties with me. Otherwise, with Harriet's current wealth, why would I need to borrow money from you?"
"Ms. Brown, considering we were once allies, shouldn't we help each other out?"
Lark sneered, "For those worthless things you stole, I paid you. Now you're coming here asking for money—aren't you afraid you'll have the life to ask but not the life to spend it?"
"Elowen, I'm now the precious daughter of the Romanov family. Killing you would be easier than squashing an ant."
Elowen's face instantly paled.
Lark laughed lightly, "I did wear the nightgown you stole from Harriet. So what? If you think you can use this to blackmail me, you're dreaming."
"Ms. Brown, you misunderstand. How could I possibly blackmail you?"
Lark glared at her, "You dare!"
Elowen trembled in fear, "Ms. Brown, I misspoke. Please don't be angry!"
"Look at you—you're not even one-tenth of Harriet." Lark said contemptuously, "I'm in a good mood today, so I won't stoop to your level. You want money? I'll give it to you."
"How about this—get on your knees and bark like a dog a few times, then lick my shoes clean, and I'll give you two hundred thousand dollars. How's that?"
Elowen's expression changed immediately. She resisted, "Ms. Brown, we've known each other for a while. This is too humiliating!"
"Is it?" Lark played with her nails, "Then leave."
Elowen suddenly stood up but didn't leave.
Lark waited for a while. When she still hadn't left, she said impatiently, "You're still not leaving? Want the bodyguards to throw you out?"
Elowen spoke with determination, "Three hundred thousand dollars! Not a penny less!"
Lark didn't react at first. When she understood what she was saying, she couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Elowen, are you here to amuse me?"
"My God, Harriet's cousin—you?"
"She's her, I'm me. Don't compare me to her!" Elowen said unhappily, "She only got where she is today by sleeping with Tristan. I have way more backbone than her!"
"Fine, you have backbone. You're indeed earning money through your own abilities." Lark said with a smile, "Three hundred thousand dollars. Deal."
Elowen knelt down without hesitation and crawled to Lark's feet, barking like a dog.
Lark laughed out loud, feeling very pleased.
She casually picked up a cut orange from the fruit plate nearby and held it to Elowen's mouth, "Eat it."
Just as Elowen was about to reach for it, Lark stopped her, "How would a dog use its hands? Of course it eats directly with its mouth, and dogs don't spit out the peel."
Elowen bit into the orange reluctantly, eating both the peel and the flesh.
"Good girl." Lark patted her head, "Lick my shoes clean."
Elowen crawled on the ground, stuck out her tongue, and licked her high heels until they were spotless.
"Master, they're clean now."
"You're really getting into character." Lark said haughtily, "Good doggy, you haven't licked the soles yet."
Elowen had no choice but to continue, licking the soles clean too.
"Master, please inspect them."
Lark sneered, "These shoes are dirty. Take them and throw them away."
Elowen's expression couldn't have been worse, but she didn't dare show her dissatisfaction.
She bit the high heel and put it in the trash can nearby.
"What an obedient dog." Lark was in a very good mood. "Don't worry, it's only three hundred thousand dollars. You'll get it. Go collect your reward from my butler."
"Thank you, Master."
The three hundred thousand dollars arrived quickly.
Elowen couldn't have been happier.
As long as there was money, what did humiliation matter?
In just a few minutes, she had earned three hundred thousand dollars.
If Lark needed it, she'd be willing to kneel at Lark's feet as a dog 24 hours a day!
Elowen rinsed her mouth in the bathroom and left happily.
Just as she walked out of the bathroom, she bumped into someone.
Elowen lost her balance and fell to the ground.
She was about to curse when she looked up and saw the man in front of her looked familiar.
Wasn't this the bodyguard who had just led her to see Lark?
"I'm sorry, are you okay?" The bodyguard quickly apologized.
Elowen got up, put on a bright smile, and said graciously, "I'm fine. I lost my balance myself. You don't need to apologize."
She could feel that after she said this, there was a hint of surprise and appreciation in the young, shy bodyguard's eyes.
Elowen smiled and extended her hand, "Hello, I'm Elowen Getty."
Cruz shook her hand, "Hello, Cruz Hall, bodyguard for the Romanov family."
Elowen's voice was sweet, "I know. You were the one who led me up earlier."
Cruz smiled, "Are you Ms. Brown's friend?"
Elowen didn't deny it, "Yes, we've known each other for a long time. I knew she was back in the country, so I came to visit."
"I see."
"We've met twice today—what fate! Let's add each other on WhatsApp."
"You're Ms. Brown's friend. How am I worthy of adding you on WhatsApp?"
"It doesn't matter. I don't care about such things. Come on, let me add you..."
Within two days, Elowen had become familiar with Cruz. On Sunday, she invited him to dinner.
After the two met at the restaurant, Elowen thoughtfully poured him water, "I know you can handle spicy food, so I'm treating you to Mexican food."
"Thanks, I really do like Mexican food."
The two chatted while eating, "Is your work busy?"
"Not busy." Cruz said, "Ms. Brown hasn't gone out the past couple of days, so I just need to stay at the hotel."
"I never would have thought that Ms. Brown would transform into a young lady of the Romanov family. She's really lucky."
"Yes, Mr. Romanov searched for her for over twenty years and finally found her."
Elowen asked casually, "How did Mr. Romanov find her? I never heard before that she was adopted by the Brown family."
"I think it was because of an amulet."
"Amulet?" Elowen frowned, "What amulet?"
Cruz took a bite of food and explained, "It's a family heirloom amulet of the Romanov family. It was placed on Ms. Brown at birth. Later, Ms. Brown was taken away by the Romanov family's enemy."
"For the past twenty-plus years, Mr. Romanov has secretly spent a lot of effort tracking down this amulet. Finding the amulet meant finding Ms. Brown."
Elowen quickly asked, "What does that amulet look like?"
"It's a family treasure of the Romanov family. How could I have possibly seen it?"
Elowen thought for a moment and continued asking, "But how can just an amulet prove that Ms. Brown is the young lady of the Romanov family?"
"Of course it's not just because of the amulet." Cruz looked around and lowered his voice, "I'll tell you a secret, but you absolutely can't leak it."
"Don't worry, I would never betray a friend."
The bodyguard said, "Ms. Brown has rare Rh-negative type O blood. The amulet plus Rh-negative type O blood is enough to prove her identity. Plus, the Romanov family did a paternity test. There's no mistake."
"Rh-negative type O blood..." Elowen looked thoughtful, then quickly laughed, "Amulet, Rh-negative type O blood—how interesting!"
"What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing." Elowen raised her glass, "I just think I'm so lucky to have met you. Cheers!"