Billionaire Lawyer's Secretary - Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Elara was stunned, but she quickly grasped what Adrian meant. He was saying she used her connections to get herself the secretary job.
She raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly. "You don't trust me, do you, Mr. Hartley?"
Adrian, feeling drowsy, lit a cigarette. He said, "Did you quit being an influencer? Is your café closed? What made you want to be my secretary?"
Adrian wanted to make it clear. He said bluntly, "Being young and pretty alone doesn't qualify you to be my secretary. Understand?"
He certainly wasn't paying her a compliment. The job was demanding and required high competence. Having a mere eye candy around might be pleasing to the eye, but it served no purpose for him.
He had tried a few new secretaries recently. They all dolled up, but couldn't even figure out how to make a simple copy.
Susan had mentioned this to Elara over the phone. At that time, with her pregnancy progressing and Elara refusing to fill in for her, she simply couldn't find anyone suitable. In the end, she agreed to get Adrian a new secretary.
After all, she had to take a leave to give birth to the baby, but Adrian couldn't function without a secretary even for a single day.
Last week, Anchor Law Firm posted a job opening for a secretary, and a flood of young women showed up, who were clearly more interested in Adrian than in actually working. None of them seemed serious about the job.
Adrian was exhausted after several days of interviews. He ordered, "Don't bring me just a pretty face. She'd better be at least as competent as you. You can only start your maternity leave once we find the right person."
Susan's maternity leave got pushed back by two weeks because of this, and she was even ready to work right up until her water broke.
Therefore, when Elara called a couple of days ago to say she was coming, Susan was almost in tears with gratitude.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Mr. Hartley." Elara replied calmly, "Sure, not everyone with skills is young and pretty, but being young and pretty doesn't mean I'm not capable, right?"
Elara knew she was beautiful, and she certainly didn't consider herself incompetent.
Adrian raised an eyebrow, thinking, 'Is she preparing to debate this with me?'
He said coolly, "Perhaps you are capable, but I don't have the time or energy to test you. I need someone who can hit the ground running right away."
"No test is needed, Mr. Hartley. Just boss me around like you do to Susan. If you don't trust my professional skills—" Elara turned back to her desk, pulled out a thick stack of certificates from her bag, and laid them out.
She continued, "I graduated from Westbridge University, where I studied finance, psychology, and law. I also taught myself several languages and passed multiple proficiency exams. Here, I also have licenses and certificates showing I can drive, race cars, make coffee, and mix drinks."
She had been crazily taking all kinds of exams over the years. Yesterday, when organizing everything, she felt deep pride in her achievements.
She even went online to see if there were any other certificates she could get, and she decided to pick up a few more once things calmed down.
"Is this enough? I could even fly you on your business trips myself," Elara said with a playful smile, placing her pilot's license on top of the pile.
Adrian looked at the certificates piled before him, both amused and exasperated. He glanced up at Elara, who was in a foul mood. "You must have had way too much free time to do this."
Elara thought bitterly, 'Pretty much, yeah. Whenever Alex wasn't around, all I could do was bury myself in those tiring things.'
Adrian suddenly remembered something and rummaged through the stack of documents on his left, finally pulling out Elara's resume from the very bottom.
Susan left it on his desk last Friday. Adrian noticed that she was close to her due date, so he didn't want to make things difficult for her. That was why he agreed without even glancing at Elara's resume.
Now, though, Adrian was genuinely curious to take a look. He looked at the name and photo on the resume, finding nothing to complain about.
Elara thought to herself, 'There's no way he'll kick me out now.'
Adrian dropped the resume onto the desk and said in a serious tone, "You can leave now. You're not who I expect."
Elara frowned and took a step closer, demanding, "Why?"
Adrian took the last drag of his cigarette, his demeanor exuding authority. "I don't think you're cut out for this job." He always felt that she was approaching him with certain motives.
"What made you feel that way?" Elara asked.
Adrian casually threw out an excuse. "You make terrible coffee."
Elara flared up. "You can list all my flaws if you want, but you can't say a café owner like me makes bad coffee. That's unacceptable."
Adrian was amused by her words, and his tone grew lighter. "Did that hurt your feelings?"
Elara was about to argue further, but then she remembered the pep talk she gave herself last night. Taking a deep breath, she suppressed her frustration and managed a smile. "Please. Just give me a chance."
"No way," said Adrian.
Elara was irritated, but still, she tried to stay cool. "With your busy schedule, you definitely need a secretary to keep things running. Susan is in the final weeks of her pregnancy. She needs rest."
"There are already plenty of assistants in this company," said Adrian.
Elara thought to herself, 'Oh please. If they were actually competent, you wouldn't be making Susan work through her pregnancy.'
She said, "Mr. Hartley, please just give me a three-day trial. If I don't meet your standards by then, I'll quit without a word."
Adrian found her amusing, and he suddenly found himself curious about how she would try to prove herself over the next three days.
He was about to agree, but he wasn't going to make it easy for her. "Why would I give you a chance? Like I said, I don't have the time to train you or see if you're a good fit."
Elara replied confidently, "No need to train me. Just treat me the way you treat Susan."
Elara's smile lit up her sly, seductive eyes, and they made Adrian forget how to breathe. He took a sip of coffee and frowned. It was cold.
Elara quickly took the cup from Adrian's hand. "Sorry about that. Let me make you a fresh one." Then she walked over to the coffee machine in her high heels and focused on making a new cup.
Adrian glanced sideways at her. Her outfit was nothing out of the ordinary—a white blouse, black skirt, and heels, but her figure brought a different kind of attention. She was all curves, making even the simplest workwear hard to ignore.
Adrian suddenly felt a wave of irritation, thinking, 'The way she dresses isn't exactly appropriate for a law firm full of single men. It could be distracting to them.'
However, that was just his personal opinion. He had no right to judge her choices in how she dressed.
She was dressed normally. Only the top button of her blouse was undone, and her skirt fell just below the knee, not too short by any standard. Yet despite this simple, modest look, Adrian couldn't shake an odd feeling whenever he looked at her.
Elara placed the freshly brewed coffee on his desk and said, "I managed to book a brunch for you from Radian Yore, and it'll be here soon. You must be exhausted after your business trip, so I think some high-protein food will help.
"I've also booked you a massage treatment at 2 p.m., and after that, you can take an hour's nap so you'll be energized for your 4 p.m. tennis match with Mr. Russell of Luminex Tech.
"For dinner, I reserved a table at the restaurant across from the courts. No further plans for the evening, so you can relax after your meal.
"Elena works at Victor's nightclub, and she's available to meet you anytime. You can have a good rest and meet her tomorrow if you prefer."
Elara wore a practiced smile throughout as she went over all the arrangements with Adrian, who leaned back in his chair with legs crossed, listening with amused interest.
Before Adrian could respond, she eagerly got out of the office and quickly returned with a takeout bag. She set the documents aside to clear a space and began unpacking the bag.
She said, "Radian Yore's brunch is literally the best I've had in Veritasiton. I got you the Eggs Benedict, lemon muffin, and a medium-rare steak."
Elara handed Adrian the knife and fork, but he ignored it.
Elara said with a teasing smile, "Mr. Hartley, you're a busy man who burns through a lot of energy every day. Skipping meals like this isn't good for your body, especially when it comes to men's health."