Belle smiled immediately at the man in front of her. “Hi!” she exclaimed.
“I’ll walk you back,” Eric smiled. “Who are you with?” he asked, walking alongside Belle.
“I’m with my friend!” Belle introduced Nathalie to him as soon as they reached their spot and her friend couldn’t take her eyes off of the gorgeous lad.
Eric sat with them. They were talking about random things when a woman in a skimpy outfit, looking wasted, approached Eric and snaked her arm around his neck.
“Hi babe, who are these bitches?” she asked, her words slurred.
Belle’s brow immediately flicked after hearing what she said. She suppressed the urge to talk back though she wanted to do more than that.
Eric saw her reaction. Scratching the back of his head, he smiled apologetically at Belle before removing the woman’s arm from his neck.
“Behave, Lea, they are my friends,” lightly pushing the vulgar woman away from him.
The woman called Lea snickers, “I’ve been waiting for you for hours. It was a different woman earlier, now it’s them,” she told Eric, referring to the woman he was with.
Lea glared at Belle, as she was the one she saw walking with Eric from the restroom a while ago. She wanted to grab her by the hair right there and then, but stopped herself from making a scene.
“No one told you to wait for me,” Eric scoffed. He stood up and faced Belle, “I’ll see you around,” he told her.
Eric turned and was about to leave when he heard someone gasp. Looking back, he saw Belle drenched in alcohol.
“You bitch?! How dare you?!” Nathalie exclaimed furiously.
Lea poured all the contents of her glass over Belle’s head. Belle is about to smack some sense into her when someone pulls the woman away from them.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Eric asked. He was fuming mad.
Lea was about to say something in response when Eric dragged her out. She was shouting at Belle and Nathalie while struggling against Eric, but the other two couldn’t hear her due to the loud music.
On the second floor of Eden, Tristan and Jacob saw everything. Tristan was watching Belle as soon as she arrived, while they were inside the VIP room, overlooking the dance floor. Belle and Nathalie were sitting at the bar at the side.
“Who was that?” Tristan asked the man next to him.
Jacob glanced at Tristan and noticed his clenched jaw. ‘Good riddance Lea,’ Jacob thought. However, he can’t even feel sorry for the woman after what she did to Belle.
“That’s Lea Jenkins. She’s the model we’ve chosen for the new set of jewelry we’re about to release.”
Tristan was quiet for a few seconds, thinking about something. After a while, he spoke, “Replace her with someone else. I don’t like a model with that kind of attitude to represent my brand,” he instructed his assistant.
Jacob wanted to laugh. Obviously, he’s replacing her because of what she did to Belle. ‘Why can’t he just say that he’s avenging her? What’s the excuse?’
But, of course, Jacob could only say these to himself. With Tristan’s current mood, this isn’t the right time to tease him or he will end up on the dancefloor.
When Tristan saw that Belle was about to leave with her friend, he instructed Jacob to take them home and come back for him after. Jacob smiled. ‘He’s so sweet. Too bad Belle doesn’t even know about it.’
The next night, at the Williams Villa, “When is Vernice coming back?” Esme asked her husband. They were preparing to go to the Royal Palace, the venue for the De Clarion Empire’s banquet.
Lawrence glanced at her while fixing his cufflinks. “She’s flying back next week,” he told his wife. “Don’t forget to ask the maid to clean her room. No one’s touched it since she left, it’s a mess,” he added.
Esme nodded without looking at him. She may look busy finishing her makeup, but in her mind, thoughts keep running.
‘Who’s that girl that looked like Vernice?’ Esme couldn’t help but think of the girl her husband told her about.
According to Lawrence, she saw a girl that looked exactly like Vernice and she was working for Tristan. Esme can’t help but feel anxious.
She can’t get rid of the thought that the girl from Dale might have gone to Bree. If that is the case, then she has a bigger problem to think about.
Aside from the girl his husband mentioned, other thoughts are bothering her as well. The other thing on her mind was her daughter.
‘Why is Vernice coming back all of a sudden? Why did she suddenly agree to marry Tristan again? What happened to her and Hans?’
The old woman inhaled and exhaled a few times to calm her mind. She will be lost in thoughts if this keeps going. For now, she needs to relax.
Soon she would find the girl her husband was talking about. Esme is certain the person in question will be at the banquet and she will be able to confirm everything later.
As for Vernice, she can talk to her as soon as she’s back in Bree. She just needs to wait for a few more days.
Esme already planned on picking up her daughter from the airport herself so she could buy time to discuss things with her. There are important things they have to talk about.
As soon as they were done dressing up, the couple went downstairs and headed out of the house. The driver was already waiting for them with their car ready.
“Prepare something for the old De Clarion. We need to bring him something when we visit him next week.”
Esme nods in response. Although Lawrence did not see this, he took her silence as a yes. He needed to make a good impression on Frederick De Clarion.
He heaved a long sigh before taking his phone out. He texted Francis to ask him something and his response made him feel happy and nervous at the same time.
When they reached the venue, Francis helped them out of the car and ushered them to the entrance. They were welcomed by Frederick, Tristan, and a woman who looked familiar. Lawrence can’t name her though.
After exchanging pleasantries, Francis led the couple to the table assigned to them, along with other company partners. As soon as Lawrence sat down, his eyes wandered around the venue.
“Who are you looking for?” Esme asked out of curiosity.
“Ah, there she is,” he said to no one in particular. He then turned to Esme and nodded toward the woman near the buffet table. “That’s the girl I told you about,” referring to Belle who was having a pleasant conversation with Tristan’s assistant.
Esme turned to look and her body immediately stiffened. That woman is very familiar. ‘What is she doing here? Why is she here?’
She gritted her teeth and glared at Belle. However, she averted her gaze toward the platform when the woman turned around as if she felt someone was looking at her.
Belle smiled and bowed at Lawrence when she saw him looking in their direction. The middle-aged man smiled in return, and when she saw this, her heart thumped.
She creased her forehead, confused at the alien feeling. ‘I’m not crushing on him, am I?’ He looked at the man again, he was now looking at the platform, but something else caught Belle’s attention. ‘Do we kind of look alike?’
Chuckling at her absurd thought, Belle grabbed Jacob by the wrist and dragged him to the side. She noticed that more and more people were starting to approach the buffet table.
Jacob immediately looked around for Tristan just as Belle let go of his wrist. Instantly after, he met his boss’ eyes and he paled.
He was met by Tristan’s blazing gaze. Jacob wanted to approach him, right there and then, to explain to him what was going on, but he decided to postpone his plan.
Looking at the people with him, his grandfather, and his flavor of the week, Jacob couldn’t bring himself to explain. He could only sigh and wait for the right time to approach him.