After what happened between her and Tristan, Belle tried her best to get in touch with Lawrence. It took her a few more days to find out that he was already back from Dale.
With the help of Jacob, Belle managed to secure an appointment with Lawrence at Williams Corporation. As soon as she gave her name to the front desk, she was led to the elevator up to the CEO’s office.
“What can I do for you, Miss Roberts?” Lawrence asked as soon as he saw her walk into his office. “Have a seat,” smiling at Belle, he pointed toward the couch.
As she sat down, she placed a copy of the marriage license she got from Jacob on the table. Lawrence took it and his eyes widened immediately.
“Who submitted Tristan and Vernice’s marriage license to the City Hall?”
Lawrence put the paper down and leaned on the backrest. “It was Esme,” he answered truthfully.
“As you can see, Mr. Williams, the name signed on that license was mine and I must admit, that it is my handwriting too. This is a copy of the original license, the one submitted to the City Hall,” she glanced at Lawrence to see if he was paying attention to her, and was relieved when she saw that he was all ears. “Three weeks ago, I was kidnapped and taken to an abandoned warehouse, south of Bree. My kidnapper didn’t ask anything from me, no ransom whatsoever. All he asked me to do is to sign a document for him and I think it is right to assume that this is the exact document I signed.”
Lawrence nodded at her, he agreed with her assumption. “What do you want from me then?”
“I want to ask you if you know, that when Mr. Frederick De Clarion and Tristan talked to Vernice and Mrs. Williams about this license, your wife explicitly told them that the kidnapping and the submission of this document were all my idea.”
Lawrence was dumbstruck. He tried replaying what Belle said several times inside his mind before he was able to process it. “You mean… You mean my wife and daughter set you up?”
“I want to think that’s not the case,” Belle sighed. “But I really can’t understand the reason why they would tell the De Clarions that it was I who asked you, the Williams, to submit this document. I have nothing to do with you, with anyone of you. Why would I even ask you to do such a thing?”
The middle-aged man couldn’t come up with anything either. At the moment, the only thing he could think of was to talk to his wife and daughter. However, he intended to talk to them with Belle.
Lawrence stood up, walked to his chair, and grabbed his coat from the backrest. “Let’s go!”
“Where to?” Belle asked, confused.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” gesturing for Belle to walk ahead of him.
As he walked out of the office, he immediately closed the door behind him and headed for the elevator. While inside, he can’t help but watch Belle with keen eyes.
She noticed that Belle’s been fiddling with her fingers and tugging at her earlobe alternately. She suddenly thought of her dead wife, Rose.
His deceased wife has the same mannerisms. Whenever she feels nervous, she does the same thing. Lawrence found the coincidence a little weird.
When they reached his car, Lawrence ordered his driver to take them to Williams Villa. However, as soon as they reached the main road, a delivery truck bumped into them, sending the car spinning several times before sliding and hitting a tree.
The impact was quite strong and all three of them sustained injuries. Fortunately, the ambulance was quick to arrive and all their injuries were minor, with no surgery or confinement necessary.
While at the hospital, Lawrence secretly talked to a doctor and asked him to conduct DNA testing for him and Belle. The doctor followed his order in exchange for a few bills. Lawrence was told that the results would be available after a week.
When the alternate vehicle arrived, they were driven to the villa immediately. Esme was worried after seeing her husband’s face. However, her worry quickly flew out of the window when she saw Belle enter the villa.
“What’s going on honey? Who is she?” Esme asked, trying to play innocent.
Lawrence went straight to the living room and asked Belle to sit down. As soon as she did, he asked her for the marriage license they were talking about earlier and showed it to Esme.
“This is what’s going on,” he told her.
Esme tried her best to pretend that she was surprised. She then started shedding tears, “I’m really sorry Lawrence, I didn’t mean to do this, Tristan forced me! He said he’ll back out of his wedding with Vernice if I don’t make Belle sign the marriage license. I know she won’t agree, all I can do is kidnap her and force her to sign it,” she explained.
Lawrence narrowed his eyes at his wife. He was a little doubtful about her story. Belle, on the other hand, believed her right away.
Furious, she snatched the paper from Esme’s hand and stormed out of the villa without excusing herself or bidding them goodbye. She can’t believe Tristan would set her up like that.
Although she doesn’t know what Tristan will get out of it, she’s still mad at him for plotting against her. ‘That man is really full of lies’ she thought to herself.
At the De Clarion Empire, Tristan receives a call from the hospital. He was informed that Joyce was confined as she tried to take her life by overdosing on sleeping pills. Tristan was in a panic after hearing the nurse.
He ended the call and ran outside. “Where are we going?” Jacob asked, trailing behind his boss.
“To the hospital,” he told him, running nonstop. He didn’t even bother riding the elevator.
When they reached the hospital, Joyce was already conscious. As soon as Tristan entered her room, she started crying.
“What happened to you?” he asked, holding her hand and tucking a stray hair behind her ear.
“How are you married to Belle?” she managed to ask in between sniffs.
Tristan let out a sigh. ‘It’s because of my marriage again,’ he thought to himself. He suddenly felt guilty. He couldn’t imagine his savior losing her life because of him.
“Don’t worry about that, I’ll ask Jacob to rush the divorce process,” he told her while trying to calm her down and stop her from crying.
Joyce’s tears immediately stop flowing after hearing what Tristan said. It’s as if they had stopped using a remote control.
Jacob, who’d been watching from the side, almost laughed at Joyce’s antics. ‘She really knows how to get a hold of him,’ he muttered to himself.
When he noticed that Tristan was looking at him, he cleared his throat to not get caught. “I’ll go ahead Sir, I’ll process the divorce right away.”
“Wait for me,” he ordered before turning to Joyce. “I’ll just talk to him about some things, I’ll be right back.” Tristan immediately pushed Jacob out the door as soon as Joyce nodded.
“What is it?”
“Make sure to give Belle a billion dollars after the divorce is finalized.”
Jacob’s eyes widened. He suddenly thought of submitting a marriage certificate for him and Tristan, but he dismissed the idea immediately.
“Also, make sure to talk to Grandpa before you go to City Hall. Let him know of my plan. He might have something for Belle as well.”
As soon as his boss was done with his instructions, Jacob left for the De Clarion Villa. Tristan, on the other hand, turned around and went back to Joyce’s room.