Emma The Red

”Its simple really, ” Emilie sighed, her face showing none of the annoyance that she felt at the couple before her, ”You pay me what you owe, and I finish my work. This is the last session before you get exactly what you want. Don pay, and everything that youve seen these last five months goes away. ”

On the other side of the posh living room, the older couple had very separate reactions. The woman, who looked to be in her mid-fifties, was fidgeting in her pearls. Her pink wool skirt and expensive white button-up couldn hide the nervous sweat collecting on her brow and messing up her perfect makeup.

Her husband seated next to her, dressed immaculately in a designer suit and perfectly coifed hair, couldn help but frown at her remark. His disdainful expression made his botoxed face appear almost like a misshapen Ken doll that was permanently in a bad mood.

”Why bother with this final session? ” He argued, ”It looks like weve already got exactly what we wanted; they
e in love and its only a matter of time before he puts a ring on it and the companies merge. ”

Emilie flicked an imaginary lint from her stylish black dress, mentally rolling her eyes at his nasally, whiny voice.

Shed been hired by Mr. and Mrs. Donovan five months ago to layer hexes on their son, Paul, and Mildred James, daughter of a rival company. The Donovans wanted the merger to appear as if the pair had fallen in love with each other, putting pressure on the James family to agree to a merger.

They were clever, never mentioning or suggesting a merger. They didn even suggest buying the company outright, preferring to keep up the belief that the rivalry helped with innovation and kept them competitive.

For five months, Emilie had been meeting individually and together with Paul and Mildred, layering them with hex after hex and slowly changing their thoughts. At the first meeting, shed whispered in their minds that they found the other attractive, making polite small talk and leaving each other with a good impression.

From there, it was putting them in a situation to see the body of the other, which came was done easily with a friends pool party at their mansion. The two were salivating for each other by the end, and phone numbers were exchanged under her watchful eye.

Then the first date. Paul was a gentleman the entire time and Mildred appreciated his sincerity. At least, that was what Emilies hexes told her to think.

Then a few more dates, a first kiss, and a first night sneaking out together like Romeo and Juliet, to a night of beautiful passion and love.

All of it was orchestrated by Emilie so that the pair believed that fairytales existed and not that the Donovan seniors and other plans.

”I see you did not take note when I explained how this all works when we first met. ” Emilie exhaled, reaching for her cup of tea on the mahogany coffee table.

”As I stated, hexes are like a chain; they
e more powerful when linked together, creating a structure that does what its supposed to do. Now, by itself, each link isn very powerful. It needs the whole chain in order to be worth anything. ”

Emilie took a dainty sip of her tea. Shed had hundreds of years to refine the elegant and dignified motion, making her look like a queen and they the gypsies in the palace.

She also did this to put the Donovans on edge, showing them that she didn feel threatened by them in the slightest.

It worked because she could see out of the corner of her eye that Mr. Donovans face was twitching with disgust at her lack of respect.

Emilie lowered her teacup before continuing, looking the two in the eye. ”Now, image what would if that chain, not tempered in fire nor completely finished was suddenly- ” without a second thought, she dropped the cup, letting her crash to the floor as it splintered into a hundred pieces and causing Mrs. Donovan to jump in surprise ”-pulled. What do you think would happen? ”

”Do you know what- ” Mr. Donovan stammered, his face red with anger but Emilie didn give him a chance to finish.

”Do you think that chain is going to survive very long with just a bit of pressure? ”

Emilie waived a finger and the pieces of the teacup came back together in her saucer as if it were never broken.

This simple act of magic seemed to quiet their protests. In her mind, Emilie chuckled at the fear and wonder in their eyes. Shed been doing that since childhood so long ago that such actions were normal in her life. Sometimes she forgot that this common thing called magic was not so common for these mortals.

As if nothing had happened, she placed her teacup and saucer on the coffee table and crossed her legs.

”Heres whats going to happen, Mr. Donovan. I receive the final payment that is owed. Paul and Mildred will go to a very fancy restaurant, and Paul pulls a ring from his pocket, gets on a knee, and Mildred cries beautifully with the love she feels overflowing for your son. After they kiss, the hex is permanent, fully part of their minds. Even if you tried to convince them otherwise, theyll want the merger to happen to bring everything under one roof.

”That is if you
e a good boy and do as you
e told. Don pay, and the hex remains incomplete. Paul and Mildred go to a very fancy restaurant, and Paul has a change of heart. Instead of asking for her to be his wife, he says that they should break up. In her shock and anger, Mildred pours her champagne over him and calls him several names while people are recording and posting on social media.

”Not only does the merger not happen, but this incident spurs Mildred into taking over the James family holdings. In a few more years, shell have taken the market from you and will be making offers to acquire your holdings, completely dissolving the Donovan family fortunes.

”Now, you might be thinking that Paul will take over when you
e too old, and you
e right. But we both know the reason you didn offer an acquisition is that it would be your company going away and not theirs. Paul doesn have the belly for this line of work and your holdings will be nearly gone three years after he takes over. This experience will leave him a hollowed man. Hell get into the bottle and lose woman, wasting his vigor away to provide you bastards but not heirs.

”In the end, its Mildred looking down on him from a leather chair, watching as her once true love now bitter enemy signs the contract turning over the Donovan holdings to the James family. She gets everything shes ever wanted, and you
e left with next to nothing as you waste away in a third-class retirement home. ”

Emilie casually glanced at Mrs.Donovan, whod been quiet this entire time but looked like she had a question burning her tongue.

”Maam, if you have to ask yourself what happens to you in that scenario, you don want to know the answer. ”

Mrs. Donovan instantly deflated, her slightly hopef