“Any news?” Vernice asked when she saw Esme busy reading a magazine in the living room.
She had been anxious to know what happened to Esme’s plan of poisoning the old De Clarion and putting the blame on Belle. She was about ready to celebrate it.
She shook her head at her daughter, “They got lucky! The old man was rushed quickly to the hospital. Maybe next time I should make a move on the butler too, so no one can save him!”
Vernice frowned at her mother’s response. She clicked her tongue in annoyance before plopping on the couch.
“I heard that bitch, Belle, got slapped though. Not sure if Tristan would sue her, but he blatantly accused her of poisoning Frederick De Clarion. I heard he also vandalized her company as soon as he found out what happened to his grandfather.”
Vernice chuckled. “I can’t imagine Tristan being that childish when taking revenge. He should have sent her to jail and let her rot there,” she smirked.
“We’ll try again. We will try again and we won’t stop until we get rid of that woman,” Esme stated with conviction.
She was actually annoyed at her daughter’s mocking stare that she wanted to convince her that they would eventually succeed in getting rid of Belle. She can’t disappoint her only daughter.
True enough, when Belle left the hospital, Tristan asked Jacob to call some of their men to cause trouble in Belle’s company. He instructed his assistant to vandalize it.
After almost two hours, he received the pictures of what they did. He felt rather satisfied. They did a good job.
His men destroyed all the furniture in the office. They broke all her computers and wrote graffiti on her wall.
Belle knew something was wrong when she stepped out of her vehicle after parking it in front of the building the next day. The door’s lock was broken, as well as the window on the right side of the entrance.
She got a full view of the mess when she finally went in. Her company’s office was turned upside down and he could only think of one person who was powerful enough to do this.
She wasn’t wrong with her guess. When Nathalie talked to Jacob, she threatened him with a breakup, and to stop her from doing so, Jacob confessed.
He admitted to following Tristan’s order to vandalize the office. He told her that it was Tristan’s way of getting back at Belle for what she did to his grandfather.
When Nathalie told Belle about it, she could only shake her head. She finds his way of revenge rather childish, but still, it was disastrous for her.
However, three days later, everything was back to how it used to be, as if nothing ever happened. As if no one touched anything.
“That kid is unbelievable!” Nathalie exclaimed when she entered the office. It looked like it was newly renovated. “I’ll call everyone and cancel everything,” she told Belle.
When the company was vandalized, they re-ordered everything to replace the broken ones. They also hired a contractor to repaint the walls.
Now, they have to cancel everything as the office has been fully restored. Everything was brand new, the company was spick and span.
Their operation was back to normal in no time. Everyone was busy again doing their tasks. Even Belle got work to do.
Some were dealing with hacking issues. Others were busy finding new clients while others are helping companies strengthen their cybersecurity.
Looking at everyone working hard, Belle was delighted. The company’s only been up for almost three months, but they have already gained a lot of big-shot companies as clients.
When they first started, Belle made sure to do a good job with their proposal. She made sure it was sent to major players in Bree’s business district.
They made sure they proposed to all big-shot companies, all except De Clarion Empire. After that, she reached out to smaller companies.
De Clarion sent requests for meetings as well as quotations, but Belle didn’t respond to any of those. All emails from said company ended up in her spam.
Jacob even personally asked to work with them, but Belle was firm in her refusal. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with Tristan’s company.
In as short as two months and a couple of days, her company became the top cybersecurity provider in Bree. Almost all companies in Bree are now contracted with them.
Of course, to not lose face, she made sure that their service was top-notch. She made sure of that by recruiting people from the White Jack organization.
“The little devil’s here,” Nathalie blurted out. She’s standing next to the file cabinet, facing the floor-to-ceiling glass window with a cup of coffee in her hand.
They had just finished eating their lunch. Nathalie is used to hanging out in Belle’s office after lunch to pass time until the break is over.
Belle chuckled after hearing what Nathalie said. “Ohhh… the devil’s wearing Gucci,” her friend continued. “I thought his fashion is from the 1800s, Gucci’s 1920s.”
Nathalie took two steps backward, she leaned on the file cabinet. She did this without taking her eyes off Tristan and Jacob.
“The devil stepped out of his car. Where is my boyfriend though? Wait, is he planning to come over? Huh! No Tristan De Clarion, don’t you dare!”
Belle starts laughing as she listens to her friend. She was like some sportscaster, announcing everything the player was doing inside the field.
“Why is he such a stalker?” Nathalie scratched her head, irritated, as she continued to watch Tristan over the window. “Look, Belle! She’s just glancing up here, pretending he is smoking. What a dumbass! Who would drive over to someone else’s company just to have a smoke? Only someone with a brain not older than five years old would do that!”
Belle ended up massaging her sides after Nathalie ended her reports on Tristan, as they cramped from laughing too much. She can’t believe Nathalie actually wasted her time on him.
“I’m telling you, Belle, you better start moving on from him.”
“I’m trying, don’t worry,” glancing at her friend, she returned her focus to the documents on her table. “I realized he’s a waste of love cells after he slapped me.”
Her own words left a bitter taste in her mouth. She’s not even sure if she can actually move on from him. Who is she trying to fool?
Shameful as it is, she is still in love with that dumbass. Despite him hurting and accusing her, her heart still beats for him. No matter how she wants to deny it, she can’t.
However, these past few days, she’s been trying to get rid of her stupid feelings for the young man. She can’t continue loving him.
For one, Tristan doesn’t trust her. And of course, she can’t continue loving someone who doubts her.
Love can’t survive without trust. Therefore, her love for him can’t survive as he obviously doesn’t trust her. Not even a bit.