At the De Clarion Villa, John helped Frederick out of the car. After more than a week of staying in the hospital, he was finally released.
“How is Belle?” the old man immediately asked, as soon as he settled on his bed.
John frowned after hearing him ask about their little girl. He then narrated everything to his old buddy.
“He’s really that stupid, huh?” Frederick was referring to none other than his very own grandson. John nodded in agreement.
Frederick let out a sigh, leaned back, and tapped his friend’s shoulder. “Please call Belle for me, tell her I’m out and I want to see her.”
John followed immediately. Belle agreed to visit the old man, but she told them that she could only drop by after lunch, as she still had meetings to attend.
When Belle’s finally done with her work, she gathers her stuff to prepare for her leave. She let Nathalie know that she was stepping out to visit Frederick.
Her friend simply nodded at her and smiled. Belle was a little suspicious but she didn’t pay much attention to her friend’s reaction.
Belle reached the villa in less than half an hour. However, when she got there, Frederick had just fallen asleep.
“John, can I go out to see the garden?”
The butler quickly nodded, he even gestured to the door in the living room, as it is the closest access to the villa’s garden. As soon as Belle stepped out, she was mesmerized.
The garden’s filled with different varieties of orchids. It also has her favorite lavender, lining up the fences. Walking towards her right, something else caught her eye.
As she faced the pond, images suddenly flashed before her eyes. But before she could analyze them, her eyes suddenly hurt.
She tried closing her eyes tightly, but when she opened them, all she could see was darkness. As she forced herself to see clearly, she fainted.
When Frederick woke up, he immediately looked for Belle. He didn’t even wait for John to help him out of his bed and room. He went out on his own.
“She’s in the garden Fred,” John told him, and the old man went straight out to find his little girl.
“Belle!” he exclaimed. He saw the little girl lying close to the pond, unconscious.
John quickly attended to her. Feeling her pulse, he let out a sigh when he confirmed that the woman was fine.
The butler called for the guards to help them carry Belle to the guest room. Frederick also took the initiative to call a doctor to check on her.
As per the doctor, Belle’s a little fatigued, but overall she is fine. Both men sighed in relief after hearing the news.
When the doctor left, John called his son to let him know what happened at the villa. He was told that they would head over as soon as they could.
“What happened to her?” Tristan asked as he barged into the guest room, panting and drenched in sweat.
“She went out to the garden while waiting for your grandfather to wake up. When we went out to look for her, we found her unconscious. We don’t even know how long it has been since she fainted.”
Tristan held Belle’s hand, fixed her stray hair, and caressed her cheek. He is somewhat happy that she’s unconscious, as he can come close to her like this.
All of a sudden, Jacob’s phone rang. To not disturb Belle’s rest, he stepped out of the room only to come back within seconds due to an emergency.
He whispered something to Tristan and they both went out, down to the living room. “What’s going on?” his boss asked.
“We’re being hacked. We already lost ten million dollars on their first try.”
Frederick followed both men out and heard what they were talking about. “Get my laptop, quick” he ordered John, who rushed to the old man’s bedroom to fetch what he asked for.
They settled down in the living room to see what was going on. When they checked, the hackers had already taken thirty million dollars from the company’s account.
Belle twitched, she was having a dream. In her dream, she was arguing with Tristan. They were at each other’s throats. In the middle of their argument, she slapped him.
‘Even in my dream, I’m slapping him,’ she thought to herself. Suddenly, she felt like she was still hearing Tristan’s voice.
A few minutes later, she realized that she was no longer dreaming. She was really hearing Tristan’s voice and he sounded agitated.
She stood up immediately, took her belongings, and went out of the room. She headed downstairs and found all four men huddled up in front of a laptop.
“What’s going on?” she asked and they all turned to look at her.
Frederick pointed at the screen, “We’re being hacked again,” he told her, pouting.
Belle walked closer to him to look at the screen. It was a banking Trojan. Frederick stood up to give way to Belle though she didn’t say anything about helping them against the attack.
But since the old man was already up, Belle sat down and immediately worked on the server to stop the hacking. She was done in minutes and Frederick couldn’t help but praise her again.
“What happened to you little girl?” John asked, curious as to why she fainted in the garden.
Belle rubbed her palm against her forehead, trying to recall what happened exactly. “I’m not sure…” she trailed. “I was just looking at the pond then random images flashed before me, then everything went black.”
All four men furrowed their brows, confused as to what images she saw. But aside from the reason Belle fainted, Tristan is also interested in knowing why she is not even looking at him.
Ever since she came downstairs, she hadn’t even thrown a glance at Tristan. The young man feels dejected.
Whenever he spoke, Belle would only bow down or look somewhere else. It was as if whatever it was he was saying wasn’t interesting at all for her to listen to.
“I remember, when I talked to my father, Lawrence Williams,” Belle suddenly spoke after everyone had been quiet for almost ten minutes. However, she was only looking at Frederick. “He told me that I grew up in Bree. He also told me that Grandpa Philip is your grandson’s donor. I was just wondering, have you ever seen me come here before?” moving her eyes between Frederick and John. However, both men just shook their heads. Belle frowned after seeing their responses. “When I looked at the pond earlier, I felt like I’d seen it before. The Grotto, the purple water lilies, everything about it seemed so familiar.”
Frederick and John exchanged glances. They also looked at both Tristan and Jacob. However, not one of them can tell Belle anything.
After another long pause, Belle bade them farewell. “I really need to go. I have another meeting to attend in an hour.”
“Sure little girl, go ahead,” Frederick urged her. “Make sure to drop by again some other time.”
Belle smiled at him. She bowed down to kiss the old man’s hand and cheek, winked at John, and nodded at Jacob before she finally left.
When Belle was gone, Frederick suddenly let out a hearty laugh. “Someone was ignored~” he teased.
Both John and Jacob understood who and what he was referring to. The father and son duo turned their heads toward Tristan, whose brows were now tied in a knot, lips pouted.
“Why did you do that to her anyway?” Frederick asked his grandson, as he was really curious about his behavior towards Belle. Instead of answering, Tristan just frowned at him. “John already told me everything.”
Tristan glared at the butler, who quickly looked away. He was about to say something when his phone rang.
“Where are you?” he asked the person on the other line. It was Joyce. After ending the call, he quickly stood up and bade his grandfather goodbye.
“Where are you headed to?” Frederick asked.
“I’m picking up Joyce at the airport.”
Frederick wanted to stop his grandson from leaving, but he knew he couldn’t be stopped. He looked at his departing figure, feeling disappointed.
“That young man is helpless,” he stated, and John could only nod in agreement.