Chapter 147 Shameless Efren
The air in the reception room grew thick and heavy because of Efren's suggestive remark.
Cecilia looked at his lustful face, feeling a wave of physical disgust rise from the pit of her stomach. Her fingers resting on her knees tightened slightly, nails digging into her palms, using the faint pain to suppress the urge to turn around and leave immediately.
Efren must be one of Stefan's important clients. She couldn't let her personal feelings affect the company's project.
"Mr. Britton, let me read it to you." Cecilia's voice remained calm, revealing no emotion.
She deliberately maintained her distance, picking up another copy of the document. "This proposal mainly explains our overall design concept for 'Cloud Mansion,' the new development under 'Skyline Real Estate.' We've positioned it as..."
"Don't read it, don't read it!" Efren impatiently cut her off, throwing the document in his hand onto the coffee table with a harsh sound. "What's the point of you reading to me? All those tiny words give me a headache just looking at them."
His bulky body shifted closer to her, and the sofa groaned under the strain.
"In business, what matters most is relationships." Efren smiled greasily, his blatant gaze lingering on her delicate collarbone. "Documents are dead, but people are alive. As long as Ms. Martinez is willing to have a drink with me, we can talk about any kind of cooperation."
Cecilia's expression turned completely cold.
"Mr. Britton, I'm a designer, not a prostitute here to drink with you. If you're not satisfied with the proposal, we can revise it. If you have no intention of discussing it properly, then I don't think we need to waste each other's time."
This blunt rejection made the smile freeze on Efren's face.
He was probably used to being flattered and hadn't expected to be rejected here.
"Little girl, you've got quite a temper, don't you?" Efren's expression darkened, his tone taking on a threatening edge. "Do you know who I am? Do you know how much effort Mr. Hensley put in to get me to cooperate? You're just a newcomer, and you dare act tough with me?"
He thought bringing up Stefan would intimidate her, but he didn't expect Cecilia to just look at him coldly, not even raising an eyebrow.
Her calm indifference completely enraged Efren.
He snorted coldly, then suddenly put on what he thought was a friendly face again, picking up the document once more.
"Alright, alright, my mistake, okay? Don't be angry, Ms. Martinez. Let's talk business, talk business."
Efren pretended to open the document, then beckoned to Cecilia, his tone becoming suggestive again.
"Come here and show me."
"This part here, about material costs—I really can't understand it. You need to explain it to me, right?"
Cecilia took a deep breath, forcing down her disgust as she stood up. She walked to the coffee table, bent down, deliberately keeping a safe distance from him, and extended her finger to point at a section of the document.
"Mr. Britton, look here. The stone material we've chosen is..."
Before she could finish, from the corner of her eye she caught sight of a greasy hand reaching toward her hand hovering over the document at alarming speed.
Cecilia's reaction was faster.
Almost the instant he made his move, she twisted her wrist and pulled her hand back like lightning, narrowly avoiding that disgusting hand.
Efren grabbed at empty air, and his expression instantly turned ugly.
"Why are you dodging!" he roared in embarrassment and anger.
"Mr. Britton, please show some respect!" Cecilia stepped back, her voice icy.
Efren suddenly stood up.
"Respect?" He was a head taller than Cecilia, his bulky frame carrying an oppressive presence. "How am I not showing respect? I think you're the one who's being improper! Dressing up so pretty—isn't it just to seduce men? Now you're pretending to be some innocent nun!"
His shameless twisting of the facts made Cecilia laugh in anger.
"What I wear is my freedom. But you trying to grope me—that's what's shameless."
"Fuck you! You damn bitch, who are you calling shameless!" Efren was completely enraged and raised his hand to strike Cecilia's face.
Just then, there was a sound at the reception room door as someone pushed it open from outside.
Stefan, in a sharp suit and wearing his usual smile, walked in.
When Stefan saw the tense atmosphere in the room and Efren's raised hand, the smile on his face instantly froze.
"Mr. Britton, what's going on here?"
Efren's raised hand froze in mid-air.
Seeing Stefan, his eyes darted around, and he immediately put on an expression of grievance and anger, complaining first.
"Mr. Hensley! Finally, you're here! If you hadn't come, I would've been driven crazy by your company's employee!" Efren lowered his hand and pointed at her with apparent distress. "I was kindly discussing the proposal with her, and what does she do? She's picky with me at every turn. Her terrible attitude is one thing, but she even tried to make moves on me, trying to seduce me!"
Efren grew more agitated as he spoke, as if he'd suffered a great injustice.
"I told her I'm a married man and asked her to show some respect. Not only did she not listen, she called me shameless!"
"Mr. Hensley, I came here with sincere intentions to cooperate with you. But with employees of such poor character in your company, I think I need to go back and seriously reconsider this cooperation!"
Efren threw all the blame onto Cecilia and used the cooperation to threaten Stefan.
Listening to this brazenly shameless slander, Cecilia could hardly believe a person could be this shameless.
She let out a cold laugh and was about to speak in her defense when Stefan spoke first.
"What? Really?" Stefan's gaze swept over Efren's flushed, fat face before finally landing on Cecilia, his eyes calm and unreadable, showing no emotion.
Seeing that Stefan didn't immediately get angry, Efren thought Stefan believed him. Secretly pleased, he continued to embellish: "Of course! Mr. Hensley, you need to be careful of this kind of woman who wants to trade her body for benefits! If she can seduce me today, she can seduce others tomorrow and ruin the company's reputation!"
"I didn't." Cecilia finally spoke, her voice cool and firm. "I don't know why Mr. Britton would twist the facts like this in front of Mr. Hensley. But it was Mr. Britton who tried to grope me first."
"You're lying!" Efren immediately jumped up, pointing at Cecilia's nose and cursing. "We're all men here, Mr. Hensley, you be the judge! Look at her—pretty face, great body. When she stands there, what man wouldn't take a second look? If she wasn't deliberately trying to seduce me, would I have misunderstood?"
This statement made Efren's shamelessness even more concrete.
Cecilia trembled with anger. She hadn't expected that her appearance could become a weapon Efren used to attack her.
"You're absolutely shameless!" She squeezed out these words through clenched teeth.
"See! See! She's cursing at me again!" Efren immediately seized on this, turning to Stefan with a righteous and indignant look. "Mr. Hensley, are you going to do something about an employee like this or not?"