“Stop flirting with my fiancé!” Joyce shouted at Belle.
For the second time, Belle slapped her. “The first slap was to calm you down. This one is to knock some sense into your dead brain.
Now don’t wait for the third one, I’ll make sure it won’t just be a slap,” she warned her.
Joyce was scared but instead of retreating, she forced out a laugh. “Your threat won’t work. I won’t be causing trouble here if you’re not trying to break my relationship with Tristan. Actually, you should be thankful this is all I did. I could’ve killed you!”
Belle trembled, not expecting Joyce would say something like that, but she chose not to show it. She doesn’t want the woman to simply intimidate her, knowing that all her accusations are false.
“Leave!” she ordered Joyce. “Leave before I call the police. Or I think it would be much better to call Tristan instead. So he can personally see what kind of person the love of his life is,” she chuckled.
Joyce’s face paled as if Belle said the magic word. Without saying anything else, she turned on her heel and left.
Belle sighed and Nathalie was quick to approach her. “Are you okay?” she nodded at her friend before turning around to go back to her office.
As soon as the door to Belle’s office closed, Nathalie went back to her table. She grabbed her phone and started dialing Jacob’s number.
“Your boss’ ‘fiancé’ came here and caused trouble, she even messed up our office.” She then continued to tell her boyfriend everything.
Jacob, standing next to Tristan who was talking to the Head of Finance, excused himself to go out. After Nathalie told him everything, she ended the call, but Jacob didn’t go back in immediately.
Standing right outside the door, Jacob ponders whether he should tell his boss about what happened or not. He’s a little worried that Tristan might end up hurting Joyce this time because of Belle.
When the employee talking to Tristan left his office, Jacob went to the executive office too. Minutes after he sat down, the phone on his table rang.
It was Tristan calling and asking him to come to his office. Jacob was a little hesitant but he had no other choice.
“Where did you go?” his boss asked.
Clearing his throat, Jacob tried his best to avoid Tristan’s eyes. “I went back to the office to check on something,” he lied.
Tristan narrowed his eyes at his assistant, who looked rather uneasy when he stepped inside the office. “Something’s up, what is it?” Tristan asked knowingly.
Jacob loosened his tie. He’s sometimes annoyed that Tristan knew him too well. “Yeah, something’s up,” he responded. He didn’t want to get into the details of it, but Tristan glared at him.
When Jacob still didn’t talk, Tristan opened the drawer where he was keeping his gun. After seeing it, Jacob quickly narrated everything in full detail.
The young De Clarion stood up and ran out, even before Jacob could stop him. He went straight to the elevator and down to the parking lot. “To Belle,” he simply ordered, and Jacob quickly drove off.
When they got there, Tristan headed straight for Belle’s office. He even ignored the receptionist and even Nathalie, who greeted him.
“Belle?” he called as soon as he was in.
The woman was inside the restroom when Tristan got there. But as soon as she stepped out, she was shocked to receive a bone-squeezing hug from someone.
She leaned her head far back and realized it was Tristan. She lightly pushed him away and creased his forehead at him. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Are you okay?” Belle nodded at him before walking toward her table. As she sits down, she starts to realize the purpose of his visit.
‘He’s probably worried I hurt Joyce,’ she thought to herself. “Are you hurt anywhere?” Tristan asked again.
“I’m fine. Why are you here?”
“I’m worried about you.”
Belle slowly lifted her gaze. “I’m fine. You should ask Joyce instead. I slapped her twice.” She deliberately told him that she hurt Joyce to see his reaction.
However, Tristan reacted in a way she wasn’t expecting. She thought he would go ballistic once he found out that Joyce was hurt.
Instead, he walked towards Belle, pulled her up, and again, hugged her. He ran his hand up and down her back, then put pressure on her waist to tighten the hug.
“I’m glad you’re okay. I’m glad she didn’t hurt you,” he whispered. Belle’s body stiffened as she almost hugged him back after hearing his words.
She stopped herself hard from returning his affection. She knows in her heart, deep down inside, she loves Tristan, no doubt about that.
However, with his current situation with Joyce, as well as everything he’s done to her, the anger inside her has also started eating that love up. Her anger had grown bigger, almost as big as her love for him.
After Belle’s office, Tristan asked Jacob to take her to Joyce’s apartment. “What did you do to Belle? How dare you create trouble in her company?” he roared as soon as the woman opened her door.
Joyce was startled at the volume of his voice. Her face paled as she was terrified. It was the first time Tristan acted this way toward her.
Even when they fight back then, it’s always Tristan who backs down first. But now, just because of Belle, he’s scolding her, even raising his voice at her.
Joyce gritted her teeth. She tried reasoning with Tristan but he wouldn’t listen. “If you ever do this again, I’ll urge Belle to sue you!” Then Tristan strode out.
In fury, Joyce punched her coffee table, breaking the glass on top of it and injuring her hand. She plopped down on the couch, ignoring the blood gushing from her knuckles.
After several minutes, she decided to take a bath. Joyce dressed her wound and then dressed up to go out. She decided to go to Eden to grab some drinks.
As soon as she sat down, Vernice approached her. “Drinking your sorrow away?” she teased as she pulled a chair to sit down.
Joyce suddenly felt like a comrade coming to save her. She started crying while telling Vernice everything that had happened.
“Now she’s starting to cause trouble between you and Tristan,” Vernice sneered.
Joyce believed that Vernice was on her side, but the woman had her agenda, of course. She’s trying to throw wood into the fire.
“Stop crying,” passing a tissue to Joyce, she ran her hand up and down her back to calm her down. “Imagine how Belle would celebrate if she saw you like that.”
Joyce shushed, grabbed her glass, and emptied it. “I’d kill that bitch,” she muttered.
“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to my mom and ask her to come up with something. We should get rid of that gold digger once and for all.”