Not bothering to look at her anymore, Cristofer lowered his head and said to Vincent, “I don’t want to see her anymore. You know what to do.”
Vincent nodded politely, “Yes, sir.”
At this moment, someone brought a wheelchair over. Vincent helped Cristofer into it and whispered, “Mrs. Hans, you should head back and rest. I’ll take care of everything.”
Wincing in pain, Cristofer replied, “Handle it quickly.”
“No problem. You can trust me,” Vincent assured him.
Cristofer then made his way to a nearby car, where he was assisted by his bodyguard and driven away.
Feeling desperate, Gretchen found herself surrounded by Cristofer’s men. She stammered, “Wh-what are you going to do?”
With a disdainful look, Vincent told her, “Did you not hear what Mr. Hans just said? He instructed me to deal with you immediately. After all, as long as you’re alive, you’ll be a problem for Mrs. Hans.”
Hearing this, Gretchen panicked and kept moving backward. “I was forced into this situation to make trouble for Estelle! If you want revenge, go after Victor! Let me go!”
“Neither of you will escape justice. Gretchen, you’ve had four extra years. Don’t be too greedy,” Vincent replied.
“What do you mean? Are you going to kill me? You wouldn’t dare!” Gretchen exclaimed.
Holding Gretchen’s wrist with his other hand, Vincent shook his head and said coldly, “We’re all law-abiding citizens. We wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Then you…”
“Grab her and bring her to the police station,” Vincent ordered sternly, not willing to waste any more time on conversation with Gretchen. His black-suited bodyguards swiftly bound Gretchen’s hands behind her back and held her down on the ground.
Gretchen was terrified and screamed, “Ah! Let me go! Even if you take me to the police station, Victor will bail me out! I… Mm… Mm…” But before she could say anything more, Vincent gagged her with a piece of cloth and said, “Be quiet. You’re making too much noise.”
Gretchen was then bundled into a car by the bodyguards.
Once inside the car, Vincent instructed, “Take her to the police station.”
Someone in the car questioned, “Vincent, what she said does make sense. Bringing her to the police station might be a waste of time. Victor could pretend to be Mr. Hans and bail her out.”
Glancing out of the window, Vincent responded calmly, “That’s precisely why Mr. Hans wanted me to handle this swiftly. Don’t worry. No one will be able to help her in the future.”
****
When Estelle arrived at Bella’s magazine company, she narrowly dodged a cup that was thrown in her direction. Fortunately, Bella’s secretary, who led Estelle in, pulled her quickly, and the cup did not hit Estelle.
Hearing the heated argument from inside the meeting room, Estelle realized she might have arrived at an inconvenient time. She had emailed Bella the design drawings, asking for her input. After waiting for a while with no response and needing to send the design drawings to the production department that night, Estelle decided to visit in person. Little did she expect to walk in on Bella arguing with her husband, Mr. Jones.
The secretary, seemingly accustomed to such situations, approached the meeting room, knocked on the door, and announced, “Ms. Jaycox, Ms. Hudson is here to see you.”
The heated exchange inside the meeting room abruptly ceased. A few moments later, Mr. Jones, a middle-aged man in his fifties with a surly demeanor, emerged. Seeing him, Estelle couldn’t help but think of the stereotypical middle-aged men depicted in TV dramas indulging themselves in vices.
Mr. Jones, having dark circles under his eyes and a prominent beer belly, jangled a set of keys hanging from his belt. His gaze bore down on Estelle, and he impatiently declared, “Bella doesn’t have time to see you. We’re in the middle of something. Please leave.”
Anticipating such a response, the secretary turned to Estelle, apologetically saying, “I’m sorry, Ms. Hudson. Ms. Jaycox is currently occupied and can’t meet with you. Would you mind waiting in the reception room for a while?”
But then, Bella’s voice resonated from the meeting room, her face pale and her anger clear. She struggled to suppress her emotions and greeted Estelle in a strained tone, “Hi, Estelle.”
Estelle nodded politely and responded, “Bella, I apologize for the interruption. Can we discuss the design drawings later? I urgently need to finalize them.”
Gradually calming herself, Bella agreed, “Of course, please come in.”
However, Mr. Jones interjected unhappily, “Who is she, and why are you letting her in? You’ve been running this failing magazine for years, stubbornly persistent in the face of mounting losses. If you had just shut it down and become a housewife, our relationship wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Hearing this, Bella couldn’t contain her anger anymore. “Why should I be a housewife? I have my own career!”
“You are my wife. Is there any problem with you serving me as a housewife? You always said you have your own career. But what did your so-called career bring you? Nothing! You didn’t make much money, and now the magazine’s performance is bad. Don’t talk about female empowerment with me! Only women without men’s love believe that!”
“So you married me just because you need a free maid, right?” Bella said and burst into tears in anger.
“I never said that. But you should be mentally prepared if you have to pick between your career and me. You don’t want to take care of me, but someone else is willing to be a housewife and care for me.”
“You cheated on me! How can you talk like I’m the one at fault? Roman, you had nothing when we got married. I stuck with you through all the tough times. Now that you’re rich, you want to leave me. You’re so ungrateful! You want a divorce to marry someone else, don’t you? Unbelievable!”
“That’s enough!” Mr. Jones pushed her away, disgusted. “Stop talking nonsense. I’ve got the divorce papers. Sign them so I can remarry soon!” He then noticed Estelle still there and rolled his eyes. “Miss, find something better to do than watching us argue,” he said between gritted teeth.
“It’s actually kind of entertaining,” Estelle replied with a smile.
Mr. Jones got even angrier hearing her response. He had expected Estelle to leave when he asked, but she had no intention of going.
“Miss, I’ll overlook your rudeness. Don’t spill what you saw and heard, or you’ll regret it,” Mr. Jones warned.
Bella sneered upon hearing this and asked, “Roman, do you know who she is?”