Days after the incident, Jacob received a call from his father, John. He was told that the old De Clarion wanted to see Tristan.
He was also asked to bring with them a copy of Tristan’s marriage license. Jacob informed Tristan, who just nodded at him in understanding.
They left an hour before lunchtime to drop by the City Hall and get their copy, before driving to the villa. Tristan plopped down on the couch when they got there.
“What do you need it for?” Tristan asked his grandfather, handing the old man an envelope.
“I need it to transfer some properties under your name,” he then sipped on his tea.
John placed a couple of documents on the table. As Jacob arranged them for Frederick, he also opened the envelope to take out the copy of the marriage license.
Placing it right in front of the old man, Frederick glanced at the license and did a double-take. He leaned closer to look at it, but he wasn’t content.
He picked it from the table and looked at it closely as if checking its contents, word for word. However, he wasn’t wrong. No matter how he looks at it, he’s seeing the same thing.
“What’s going on here?” he asked, before looking at Tristan and Jacob.
Tristan, who was confused, took the marriage license from his grandfather to look at it. After doing so, he ended up having the same reaction as Frederick.
“What’s wrong?” Jacob asked, but instead of getting an answer, Tristan just passed to him the confusing piece of paper.
On the marriage license, it was true that Tristan’s name was written. What was wrong was the name of the spouse. Instead of Vernice Williams, it was Belle Roberts’ name.
All three men now have furrowed brows, all displaying confused looks. Not one of them knows who to ask among them, as they are sure that not one of them can give a definite answer.
“Call the Williams! Ask them to come over right now!” Tristan instructed Jacob, clenching his jaw, as he tried to suppress his anger. Clicking his tongue, Frederick tossed the paper he took from Jacob back to the table. “This family’s really something.”
While waiting for the Williams to arrive, Tristan stood at the door that leads to the garden. Watching the water in the pond ripple as the wind blows, he let out an exasperated sigh, thinking of the best way to deal with the Williams.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait for a long time. After almost an hour, Vernice and Esme showed up.
“Where’s Lawrence?” Frederick asked, even before they sat down.
Both mother and daughter exchanged glances before smiling awkwardly at the old man. “He’s in Dale, he left two weeks ago,” Esme informed him.
Before they could ask what was going on, Jacob laid down the marriage license in front of them. Esme felt her heart in her throat. Her hand was shaking but she managed to control them.
“Can you explain this to us?” the old De Clarion pointed at the license with deep creases on his forehead. “What happened and why was Belle’s name written there instead of Vernice’s?”
“A-Ah…” Esme stuttered. She needed to come up with something quickly; otherwise, they would both be in trouble. Luckily for her, a bulb lit up and she suddenly remembered something. “It was Belle’s idea,” she spouted.
Tristan turned around quickly, disbelief written all over his face as he stared at Esme. “What are you saying?”
“Belle was kidnapped a few weeks ago” she started. “That was all part of her plan. She found out about Vernice’s problem. You see, Vernice has a boyfriend. We thought she had already broken up with him, but after we had a meeting with you, we found out that they’re still together. Lawrence was furious and we wanted to back out, but Belle insisted on going through with the plan. She knew the mother of Vernice’s boyfriend wouldn’t let them get married if she became a divorcee, so Belle suggested that she’d sign the marriage license instead of her sister. She insisted on not breaking the deal because she thinks it would be a waste to let go of such an opportunity. The money, the property that we could get from marrying into your family, she doesn’t want to let go of all those.”
After telling all those lies, Esme glanced at Frederick and Tristan to check on their reaction. Seeing how Tristan clenched his fist and jaw, Esme smiled at herself. She knew they believed her.
Tristan snatched the paper from the table and stormed out of the villa. “To the office,” he ordered Jacob, who quickly followed.
He ignored everyone who greeted him. When he reached his floor, he kicked the executive office’s door open. Belle was startled that she literally jumped off of her seat.
“How dare you do this?” he asked as he pulled Belle by the arm. “How dare you play this trick on us?” he roared.
Confused, Belle glanced at Jacob with furrowed brows. Seeing that the assistant wouldn’t say anything, she returned her attention to Tristan.
Looking at his face, Belle could tell he was furious. He was red from his face down to his neck. His grip on her arm was so tight that she was already feeling pain from it.
“Let go of me and tell me what exactly is going on,” she asked him calmly. Her hands were shaking out of fear, but her voice didn’t tremble.
Tristan let go of her, pushing her back to her chair. He then slapped the paper on her desk before forcing her to bow down and look at it. ” That is what’s going on!”
Belle looked at the marriage license in front of her. Jacob, who was watching the two, could tell that Belle, too, was surprised after looking at the paper.
Jacob can’t believe all of Tristan’s actions since earlier. He can’t believe that Tristan’s actually convinced that Belle could do something like that.
“I-I don’t know anything about this. This is the first time I’ve seen this marriage license,” she told him without taking her eyes off the paper, still calm.
However, Tristan refused to believe her. “Don’t you dare lie to me, Belle! You made us believe you were kidnapped! I should have known something was wrong as soon as we saved you. You weren’t even hurt! Now I know why, it’s because it was your plan after all!”
Belle clenched her fist. ‘Why would he still ask me if he already has something on his mind?’ She inhaled and exhaled a few times before slowly standing up and facing Tristan.
“Don’t bother asking, you won’t believe me anyway. I don’t know anything about that license. I didn’t do anything about that and I didn’t plot my kidnapping incident. Besides, why would I want to get married to you when I knew all along how much of an asshole you are?”
Tristan grabbed her by the jaw. Belle could feel his fingers tightening on her throat. “Really?” he asked, and she forced herself to nod. They were looking into each other straight in their eyes. “Then leave and don’t ever show up in front of me again.”
Tristan left the room as soon as he let go of her. Belle touched her jaw, rubbing it lightly to ease the pain. Without a second to waste, she started packing her stuff.
“Belle, are you okay?” Jacob asked when he approached her. She nodded at him and smiled faintly.
Double-checking everything and confirming she didn’t leave anything important, she headed out of their office and rode the elevator. Belle went straight out of the building, she couldn’t even be bothered to look back. As soon as she was out, she hailed a cab and went straight home.
Plopping down on the couch, Belle started bawling. Her arm and jaw were aching, but on top of that, her heart was aching twice as much.
In the past few days, Tristan’s been extra sweet to her. While having dinner just the other night, he even told her he loved her and that he wouldn’t break her heart.
But now, Tristan didn’t just break her heart, he shattered it. Belle couldn’t help but cry after recalling his words. ‘They were all lies…’ she whispered to herself as her tears flowed nonstop.
When Belle left, Jacob went to see Tristan to check on him. “Where is she?” his boss asked as soon as he stepped inside his office.
Jacob creased his forehead at him, unable to ask what he wanted to ask. “She had already left,” he told him, walking to his side, standing there bowed down.
He was startled though, as Tristan punched the filing cabinet next to his table. He then swept everything on top of his table. Jacob could only dodge the flying objects.
Tristan knew that in his heart and mind, he believed Belle. He knew everything she said was the truth. However, his mouth and his actions said otherwise.
He then faced Jacob, “Look after her as much as you can. Assign a bodyguard to her if possible without her knowing.”
“Why?” Jacob couldn’t help but ask. He, too, found his actions weird.
“I feel like something’s not right. I believe Belle, I trust her. Something is going on here and we need to find out more about that. In the meantime, I can only protect her.”
“Why?”
“Because I love her, Jacob,” he sighed. “I love Belle and I need to protect her against the people scheming against her. I can’t let them hurt her because of me, because of my money. She’s worth more than that. So please, please do everything on my behalf to protect her.”
“Why?”
“Enough with your why’s!” he snapped. “One more why and you’ll end up on the ground floor right now.”
Jacob quickly turned on his heel and left the CEO’s office.