“How are you?” Esme asked her daughter as soon as she opened the door and saw her standing there with her luggage.
Esme called a maid to help Vernice with her things, while she and her daughter went straight to the bedroom. She pulled her to sit down, worry written all over her face.
After what happened between her and Hans, Vernice called her mother, telling her she wouldn’t come home for some weeks. When she said some weeks, she didn’t expect her daughter would be away for almost three months.
“How are things here?” she asked Esme, not even bothering to answer her mother’s question.
“Good you ask,” Esme, who was obviously annoyed, peeked outside the door before closing it, making sure no one was there to hear them. “Belle now has her own company. She started a cybersecurity company with that friend of hers,” referring to Nathalie.
“Glad she’s living a good life,” Vernice’s voice was full of sarcasm. “What are you planning to do now?”
“Leave it to me my darling, I’ll take care of things,” tapping Vernice’s shoulder, she smiled widely and wiggled her brows at her daughter. “We’re sending someone a cake tomorrow.”
True enough, the next day, Esme called one of the helpers from the De Clarion Villa, Amy. She started befriending the woman months ago as part of her plan.
During Amy’s day-offs, Esme would treat her to expensive restaurants. She would take her shopping and even give her extra money.
She tried hard to win her so that she could easily get news from inside the villa and do whatever she planned thru her. Amy, on the other hand, turned out to be very cooperative.
As soon as she purchased the cake, she went to the De Clarion Villa. Amy met her outside to take it from her.
“Make sure the old man eats that immediately” she reminded her. The helper agreed enthusiastically and even assured her what she wanted would be done.
“Where did you get that?” John asked Amy when she entered the kitchen with a box of cake.
Amy bit her inner lip to calm her nerves. “It was delivered from the shop I guess. It’s addressed to Mr. De Clarion.”
John nodded, not suspicious of anything. Before he can take the cake from Amy, another housekeeper calls him, telling him Frederick is looking for him.
The butler quickly retreated toward the old man’s bedroom. “I heard there’s a cake,” he asked, grinning. “Get me a slice please.” He then slowly stood up to get out of bed and followed John outside.
Frederick was already in the living room when John came back from the kitchen. The butler placed the slice of cake in front of him and the old man quickly got his hands on it.
However, a few bites later, Frederick fainted. John was in a panic. He called out for help as loudly as he could while dialing the doctor’s number and called Jacob thereafter.
Tristan, who had just come back from a business trip, was also alarmed after Jacob told him of his father’s call. “Quick, to the villa!” he ordered, and his assistant immediately obeyed.
When they got to De Clarion Villa, Frederick wasn’t there anymore. According to one of their helpers, he was taken to the hospital, as he is in a serious condition.
Tristan and Jacob quickly drove to the hospital. It was there that they found out about Frederick’s health status. As per the doctor, the old man was poisoned.
“What happened?” Tristan asked John, who was seated outside the emergency room, fiddling with his fingers.
John lifted his gaze, meeting Tristan’s worried eyes. “We received a cake earlier today, mango cake to be exact. He ate a slice of it and after a few bites, he fainted.”
“Who sent the cake?” Jacob asked his father, stroking his back to calm him down.
“We don’t know, but it was addressed to Frederick. As it was a mango cake, I thought it was from Belle. But-”
Before he could finish what he was about to say, Belle showed up. She was rushing towards the emergency room, panting.
As soon as she came close, she received a resounding slap from Tristan. Both Jacob and John froze in place.
Belle, on the other hand, held her cheek and slowly turned her eyes to Tristan. She was shocked to say the least, not even knowing what she did to deserve it.
“What’s wrong with you?” obviously in rage at what he did to her. “What did I do to be gifted with a slap?”
“Why would you do that to my grandfather?” furrowing his brows at her while gripping her arm.
John, who felt sorry for Belle, tried to step in, “Tristan, calm down, the cake-” but again, before he could finish, he was cut off.
“You’re the only one who’s been sending my grandfather a mango cake. How come he got poisoned?” he roared, but Belle couldn’t answer him, as she had no idea why she was being accused of poisoning the old man.
Belle’s tears well in her eyes, but she bit her lower lip to hold them back. She pulled her arm from Tristan’s grip and stared at him for a while longer.
She wanted to give him another chance, a chance for him to take back his accusation. But Tristan only stared back at her, gritting his teeth, not saying anything.
As Belle realized there was no hope and absolutely no way for him to take back everything he said, she turned around to leave. She chose to ignore John when he called for her.
At that moment, all she wanted to do was to get out of there. She doesn’t want to see Tristan any longer or she might end up returning the slap.
“Hey man, what have you done?” Jacob asked before trailing after Belle. He even shook his head at him, sending a message that what he did was beyond wrong and mean.
Tristan plopped down on the seat next to him, cupping his face with both hands. John gave him a light squeeze on the shoulder, trying to calm him down.
“You shouldn’t have hurt her,” the butler told him. “If you were to ask me, I can assure you that Belle didn’t do it. She didn’t poison Frederick. She won’t even think of doing anything bad towards him.”
As he didn’t get any response from the young man, he slowly sat down next to him. John started uttering a silent prayer instead, for Frederick to be safe and for Belle to be able to forgive Tristan, not even now, but he hopes she can, in the future.
After Belle left the hospital, she went straight home. As soon as she closed the door of her house, her tears started flowing.
It felt like someone was squeezing her heart, hard. As she recalls the look on Tristan’s face as well as the words he spouted at her, her heart aches more.
‘At first, he thought I was a scheming bitch, now I’m a murderer. I wonder what’s next,’ she can’t help but think. As she felt her knees weaken, she headed to her bedroom.
Before lying on her bed, Belle pulled out her phone to call Nathalie, who was still in the office. She informed her friend that she wouldn’t be able to come back, as something came up.
When the call ended, she lay down on her bed. Immediately, her tears started falling again. No matter how hard she tried to hold them back, she couldn’t stop them.
‘Funny how these tears know when to fall and when to stop.’ She wanted to chuckle at her thought but couldn’t find enough strength to do so.
Tristan, John, and Jacob, on the other hand, were informed by the doctor regarding Frederick’s state. According to the expert, he is now safe and out of danger.
However, the old man needed to stay in the hospital for a couple more days for further observation. The doctor said his liver was slightly affected by the incident.
All three men went inside Frederick’s room once they were permitted to go in. Tristan went straight to his grandfather’s bed, taking his hand and lightly squeezing it.
After staying with the old De Clarion for almost an hour, Tristan and Jacob decided to go back to the company. They left Frederick under John’s watch.
“How was she?” Jacob looked at him through the rearview mirror, brows furrowed. “Belle.”
“What do you think? Do you expect her to jump happily after what you did?” Jacob answered Tristan’s question, full of sarcasm.
Tristan could only heave a sigh. “Pass by her house,” he ordered him, and although Jacob was hesitant, he could only follow.
As soon as they reach Belle’s bungalow, a car stops at the same time. They then saw Eric come out of the vehicle.
“I guess she’ll be fine soon,” he mumbled to himself, but Jacob heard him and chuckled. Tristan glared at him but Jacob wasn’t scared, not this time when he was mad at him after what he did to Belle.
“According to Nathalie, Eric and Belle have been going out quite frequently,” trying to rub salt into his boss’ wound. “I’d be very happy for Belle if they ended up in a relationship. She really deserves someone who will care for her, love her, and never hurt her,” he added.
“Do you like Belle?” Tristan asked. It’s because he noticed how Jacob was so concerned about the woman, hence the question.
“Yes!” Jacob blurted out. “I like her, so much! I would steal her from Eric if I had the chance. Just kidding!”
Jacob wanted to stand by his words. As childish as it may sound, he wanted to somehow get back at him for slapping Belle.
However, no matter how he wanted to avenge her, he feared for his life as well. He quickly retracted his statement as he saw Tristan take out a Swiss knife from his pocket.
“I was just trying to play jokes because your question was rather weird. I swear I was just kidding, cross my heart and hope to die.”
Tristan put the Swiss knife back in his pocket and Jacob was able to let go of the breath he’d been holding in. “Go to the company,” he ordered.
Jacob quickly drove off after wiping the puddle of sweat on his forehead. ‘I think I need to learn more phrases like that, for future use.’