While waiting for the food to be served, Esme started talking to Joyce about Belle. She was intrigued by the scene they saw earlier and she wanted to know what exactly was going on.
“I saw you come out of her company earlier with Tristan. What happened?” she pried.
Joyce’s expression suddenly changed. She was calm before Belle’s name was mentioned. Now she looked like she was ready to murder anyone.
“That bitch!” she seethed. “I don’t know what to do so she would stop bothering Tristan! She just can’t stop herself from chasing him!”
Vernice and Esme exchanged glances. ‘I think we got the right person,’ she thought to herself. “She really is a bitch and she’s hard to get rid of. We have already tried several times,” Vernice informed her.
“Why were you unsuccessful?” Joyce asked curiously.
“It’s because of Tristan, of course! It’s because he would always protect Belle,” Esme answered immediately. She smiled to herself when she noticed the creases on Joyce’s forehead deepening. ‘I think I pushed the right button.’
“He even fought with his friend, Eric Thompson, because of her,” Vernice added.
“She’s really one tough bitch then,” Joyce spat. Clenching her fist, she was fuming mad after hearing what Vernice and Esme said. “Can’t you think of something so we can get rid of her?”
“We haven’t thought of anything lately. The last time we tried, we almost got caught by Tristan,” Esme lied.
Joyce nodded at her. “I’ll see what I can do,” reaching out for her glass of water, she felt like her throat was burning because of rage.
She really hates Belle. Ever since she came, Tristan has been distant from her. He was suddenly treating her coldly.
Whenever she would ask him to hang out, he would always have an excuse not to. Then she will see her spending time with Belle at Eden.
If it continues, Tristan will eventually lose affection for her and Joyce can’t let that happen. She has been after Tristan since she was a kid. He is her dream.
It would be a waste of several years if she would just lose him to someone like Belle. She needs to come up with a plan to quickly get rid of her.
“Give me your contact numbers. I’ll reach out to you when I come up with a plan. You guys do the same, let’s work together to eliminate the pest.”
Vernice and Esme immediately jotted down their numbers on Joyce’s phone and she did the same on theirs. They are now a team and their ultimate goal is to get rid of Belle Roberts.
“It will be a pleasure to help you. But mind you, we won’t be doing this for nothing,” Esme reminded her.
Joyce smiled wickedly. “You’ll get paid handsomely, don’t worry,” she assured them and both women cracked into a smile.
Belle, on the other hand, would always visit Frederick whenever she got some spare time. Work had been busy but that didn’t stop her from seeing the old man.
The bond between her and Frederick had gotten stronger because of that. They are now like real grandfathers and granddaughters.
Meanwhile, her treatment of Tristan remained the same. She would still ignore him and treat him like a stranger.
After Tristan’s last visit to her office, Belle starts receiving bouquets. However, the sender was always anonymous.
As she wants to know who has been sending them, she even tries to threaten the delivery men. Regardless, they were firm on not letting her know who the sender was.
However, one morning in the office, Belle received another bouquet. It’s the same one with purple roses. But instead of a delivery man, it was Joyce who threw the beautiful bouquet at her.
“Now he’s even sending you flowers?!” she yelled.
She’s been stalking Belle for weeks now to find out if Tristan will pay her another visit. Tristan never showed up anywhere near Belle, but then bouquets were being sent to her daily.
Joyce wasn’t suspicious at first, but today, she happened to see the bouquet that the delivery man was supposed to give to the woman. She asked him from whom it was, but just like Belle, she wasn’t able to know the sender.
However, she was informed that it was the same kind, the same flowers, the same wrapper, and the same arrangement. This made Joyce confirm that it was indeed Tristan who’d been sending the bouquets. For one, the purple rose had always been Tristan’s favorite flower, but she never received it from him.
As she was furious at the thought that he had been sending Belle flowers, she snatched the bouquet from the delivery man. She simply told him that she would deliver it personally to her ‘friend’.
“What’s wrong with you!?” Belle shouted back, as she was hit by the bouquet on the face. She was taken aback by Joyce’s sudden appearance in her office, that she wasn’t able to dodge it. “Weren’t you taught any manners, Miss Blake?” she sneered.
“You make me lose my manners bitch!” Joyce snapped.
Belle stood up from her seat to open the door of her office. She gestured for Joyce to leave but the woman didn’t move.
“Don’t act all high and mighty with me. You know very well that you would be nothing if it weren’t for the alimony you got from that fake marriage.”
Belle sighed. She didn’t want to get into trouble with her, but Joyce was obviously trying her patience. “What do you want?”
“I already told you… But okay, it seems that little brain of yours is incapable of understanding simple instructions,” she let out a harsh sigh. “Leave Tristan alone! Don’t talk to him, don’t go anywhere near him, don’t show up to him, or better yet, don’t breathe the same air as him.”
Belle nodded at her before smiling sweetly. “Noted! Do you want me to have it written on an A4 and notarize it?”
Joyce narrowed her eyes at her as if trying to weigh whether she was serious about what she said or not. It took her several seconds to realize that Belle was mocking her.
She lifted her hand in an attempt to slap her. “How dare you-”
However, before her hand could land on Belle’s face, the woman had already caught it. “Don’t you dare!” Belle threatened, then she was pushed hard as she let go of her wrist.
Thinking Joyce’s show was over, Belle was about ready to go back to her table. But as soon as she sat down, she heard someone shouting hysterically outside.
She rushed to her office door and quickly opened it. “What’s going on?” she asked the secretary who was standing right outside her door.
Speechless and terrified, her secretary pointed in the direction where the trouble was happening. Following the direction the woman was pointing in, Belle’s eyes widened immediately.
“Stop it!” Nathalie shouted, trying to get near Joyce.
One of the tables was wiped empty with all its contents on the floor. There’s also a broken computer monitor on the other table.
Belle was furious after seeing the scene. She quickly walked toward Joyce and as soon as she was close, she slapped some senses into the woman.
“How dare you create trouble in my company?” she sneered. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was flushed, she was in a rage. “Who do you think you are?” she asked again as she pushed Joyce by the shoulder with her finger.