A week after the kidnapping incident, Belle was back to work. Tristan and Jacob didn’t ask her more about the incident. All that mattered to them was that she was safe.
On her first day back at work, as soon as she stepped inside the building, she came across Jacob, who bought coffee for their boss. “Sorry, I should be the one doing that,” she told him apologetically. Jacob was about to respond when someone caught their attention.
“Hey!” the woman called. “Hey you!” she called again when they first ignored her.
Belle and Jacob stopped in their tracks to face the woman. Jacob was surprised, but Belle was confused as she was not familiar with her.
Vernice eyed Belle from head to toe before rolling her eyes and smirking at her. ‘We really look alike, it feels weird,’ Vernice whispered in her head.
“Excuse me? Is there a problem? Is there anything I can help you with?” Belle inquired.
Vernice cleared her throat, looked around, then stretched her hand to offer a handshake to Belle. She took the woman’s hand with furrowed brows.
“I’m the real Mrs. De Clarion, by the way,” she told her smugly. “It’s nice to finally meet my doppelganger and my husband’s mistress!”
Vernice spoke in a really loud voice, causing the people around to look at them. The onlookers started whispering after hearing what she said.
“Isn’t she the CEO’s executive secretary? She’s his mistress too?”
“She’s a mistress? What a waste of beauty!”
“Mistresses are disgusting, she deserves to be shamed!”
These are just some of the words spouted by those around them. Belle looked at them before facing Vernice again, crossing her hands over her chest.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. De Clarion, I don’t think I’m getting what you’re trying to say.” She smiled at her but inside her mind, she was already wringing the neck of the woman in front of her.
“Huh! Trying to play innocent here? Let me make it clear to you then,” she looked around again as if trying to see how many more people were watching them. “You applied at my husband’s company before we got married and pretended to be me in my absence after that. You slept with him the other night, didn’t you? You even left this in our room!” She then tossed Belle’s wallet at her.
That was when Belle realized that she hadn’t seen her wallet in her bag earlier. Thinking she must have left it in her drawer at home, she ignored it. But now that Vernice threw it at her, she couldn’t help but wonder, ‘How did she get a hold of my wallet?’
“What? You’re speechless ’cause you’re caught red-handed, aren’t you?” Vernice continued, tapping her feet on the tiled floor.
“Caught red-handed with what? I’m not sure if you’re dreaming or you’re drunk, but for your information, Mrs. De Clarion, I’m nobody’s mistress!” she said through gritted teeth.
The spectators continued whispering at each other. As if they know the whole story very well. As if they know Belle very well.
Vernice immediately got angry after Belle mocked her. She stepped forward to slap her but Jacob was quick to step in. He grabbed Vernice’s arm and didn’t let go until Vernice pulled it away.
“Mrs. De Clarion, I know you and I know Belle as well, and I’m telling you right here, right now, that all your accusations are false. Belle’s wallet went missing when she was kidnapped. Seeing as it is with you, were you the one who kidnapped her?” Jacob was stern with his words.
Vernice’s face paled while Belle’s brows furrowed. They were both looking at Jacob’s face with totally different reactions. One was scared while the other one was shocked.
The woman in front of them let out an awkward chuckle. “That’s preposterous!” she exclaimed. “I could get you fired for talking like that to me, you know?” she warned.
Jacob smiled sweetly at her. It was rather obvious that she was threatening him. However, he wasn’t threatened at all.
“I’d like to see you try,” he answered simply, before pulling Belle away and heading for the elevator.
Vernice was fuming mad after what happened. She even startled the onlookers after shouting at them for looking at her.
Inside the elevator, Belle’s face and neck were red with anger as well. She kept letting out sighs as she still couldn’t wrap her mind around Vernice’s accusations.
“Are you okay?” Jacob asked, though he knew she was not.
Belle just shook her head at him. She didn’t utter a single word even after they reached the CEO’s floor. She just went straight to the executive office.
Jacob, on the other hand, went straight to the CEO’s office. As soon as he got inside, he let Tristan in on what happened downstairs.
Tristan was furious at Vernice as well. He can’t believe his wife has the guts to do something as scandalous as that in his company.
He was about to step out of his office to check on Belle when his phone rang. It was an important call, so he couldn’t leave. He only sat back, let out a frustrated sigh, and continued talking to the person on the phone.
At lunch, Belle decided to eat at the cafeteria instead of going out. This is the first time she has eaten there since she joined the company.
However, she realized it wasn’t a good idea as soon as she stepped in. When her co-workers saw her, they started whispering to each other, probably gossiping about what happened earlier.
Belle planned to ignore them. She went straight to the counter to get her food, but after doing so, someone tripped her. She toppled to the ground and her plate went flying across the room.
A group of girls, one of which was the culprit, started laughing as soon as she fell. She wanted to strangle at least one of them, but since she was in her workplace, she could only clench her fist.
She stood up slowly, turned around to look sharply at the girls, then stormed out. She didn’t even pay attention to the person she bumped into near the door. She can’t be bothered to apologize.
Tristan, on the other hand, wasn’t looking for an apology, as she knew how furious Belle was at the moment. He watched her retreating figure before turning his attention back to the group of girls who targeted Belle.
“Make sure they’re all fired before the end of the day,” he instructed Jacob, who immediately nodded at him.
The girls were all feeling happy about what they had done. They were confident that no one saw their misbehavior. However, when they reached their department, they were called into their Supervisor’s office. All three of them were confused, with no idea what exactly was happening.
“You three, pack your stuff right away,” Doris stated as she eyed the girls who were shocked by what she said. “Process all your papers online so that you’ll get your pay. You don’t have to come to the company ever again,” she finished.
“It’s that mistress!” Perry exclaimed as soon as they stepped out of the office. “She must have tattled everything to Mr. De Clarion.”
“I’m pretty sure she did,” Lia seconded.
Mary, who’d been quiet since earlier, suddenly stopped on her track. “If she tattled on us with Mr. De Clarion, then we should tell Mrs. De Clarion about this as well.”
The two other girls looked at her in disbelief. They can’t believe she even thought of that in the middle of them losing their jobs.
Both Lia and Perry shook their heads and walked ahead of her. Mary, on the other hand, was determined on doing what she thought they were supposed to do.
She quickly finished packing and went out of their office without waiting for her co-workers. As soon as she reached the ground floor, she went through the logbook sitting in the reception area.
Looking through the long list of visitors, she tried recalling the name she was looking for. After a few minutes more, she finally found it.
While walking out, she started dialing Vernice’s number. Mary told her everything that had happened and Vernice suggested that they meet each other at a nearby restaurant.
“I will make sure you pay for what you did, you mistress!” Mary muttered to herself as she hailed a cab.
When she reached the restaurant, she immediately spotted Vernice. She walked toward her table and introduced herself.
“I want to get rid of Belle,” Vernice told her straight out. “How can you help?”
Mary stared at the woman in front of her, ‘She’s so beautiful, how can she be so vicious?’ she thought to herself. “Tell me what I can do to help,” she answered, as she didn’t know anything about Vernice’s plans.
However, after what Belle did to them, she was more than willing to obey whatever Vernice orders her to do. As long as she can, she will do it to avenge herself.
“Hmm…” Vernice narrowed her eyes at Mary as if assessing how she could actually help their plans. “What do you know about Belle and Tristan’s after-office activities?” she asked.
Mary placed both elbows on the table, she looked around them before leaning forward, “Both of them usually go out for lunch and dinner with Jacob,” she told her, almost in a whisper. “Every Thursday, Mr. De Clarion would hang out at Eden Bar with Jacob to meet his friend, Eric Thompson.”
Vernice listened attentively as Mary told her more without knowing that most of the information passed on to her was all made-up stories. Mary’s simply adding fuel to the fire.
However, out of all the things Mary told her, Vernice only picked up on Tristan’s Thursday activity. Out of everything, that’s the only information she found useful.
After meeting Mary, she immediately called Esme and asked her to go to their villa, the one she was supposed to share with Tristan. Her mother immediately agreed and minutes after Vernice arrived home, Esme came as well. “What is this about?” she asked as she sat down on the couch.
Vernice crossed her legs and poured juice for her mother and herself. After sipping from her glass, she passed on to her the information she got from Mary.
“We can try this Thursday then,” Esme told her, smiling wickedly.