Can’t you see that I love you, Evelyn? Michael only stole you away from me; you are such a beauty…” He moved in, his head a few inches from hers.
“You are nothing but a beast Anderson! You betrayed your best friend!” Evelyn blurted out in pain.
He gritted his teeth and looked away from her.
“I can see that even after these years, you still haven’t forgotten about that bastard.” He muttered angrily.
He turned to her and hit her with his backhand.
“You ungrateful slut!” He spat out, his body seething with anger.
The woman screamed in pain and placed both hands on her left cheek, where he hit her.
Wang Ye, one his men walked into the room and bobbed. “Sir..”
“What is it?” Anderson looked up at him.
“We’ve found out the identity of the person Joel is in love with.” Wang Ye stated.
“Really?” Anderson’s grinned mischievously.
Who would have thought that ruthless, coldhearted bastard will also fall in love with someone? He thought.
“Yes Sir.” Wang Ye nodded his head affirmatively.
“Good, very good news.” Anderson giggled evilly.
“And what’s her name?” He asked.
“Emily. Her name is Emily.”
“Emily?” He furrowed his brows.
The name sounded familiar to him.
“Emily what?” He asked keenly.
“Emily Chen.” Wang Ye replied.
“What?!” He growled.
? E C S T A S Y ?
Emily wore on her jacket, carried her handbag, and walked out of her room.
It was already nightfall and she had received a message from her stepsister earlier that day, when she was having breakfast with Joel, saying they needed to meet that night.
Rachel sent the address of the hotel where they were going to meet, as an attachment to the message she sent.
Emily didn’t know why her sister had asked for them to meet but she knew it was about something important.
Joel looked up from his laptop as he watched her climb down the stairway.
“Where are you going?” He asked as simply as he could.
“I’m going out to meet with my sister,” Emily stated simply.
“You haven’t fully recovered, today is the third day since you got back from the hospital.” Joel reminded.
Emily pouted her lips, “She said it’s about something important, I will be back soon. Huh?”
He groaned as he pinched the space between his eyebrows, “okay.”
She grinned, “thank you.”
“Drive safely.” He cautioned.
“Okay, okay.” She nodded her head and walked out of the lounge.
Joel watched her retreating form and shook his head. He looked up at the wall clock and scowled. He had sent a message to Vincent, saying they needed to talk.
They both knew that they were going to talk about Emily and the kidnap.
He sighed and stood up on his feet. It was high time he taught Vincent a lesson. Nobody dares mess with his woman, NOBODY!
He climbed up the stairs, took a quick shower, got dressed, and headed out of the lounge.
As he drove, he checked the time on his wristwatch and smirked. He knew Vincent would be waiting for him.
In a short while, he drove into the hotel and put on a face mask. He stepped out of his car and walked towards the bar in the hotel. As he walked, something caught his attention and he stopped in his tracks. He turned to his left and stared at the black car that was parked among other cars in the lot; the car looked exactly like Emily’s. Since it was dark and he wasn’t seeing properly, he waved off his thought and walked into the bar.
Gallantly, he walked up the stairs to the upper floor of the bar. As soon as he got to the top of the staircase, he stopped in his tracks. He stared at the man standing at the far end of the bar and removed his mask.
Vincent licked a corner of his mouth as he watched Joel from where he stood. He was clad in a blue suit with his hands in his pockets.
He took a few steps closer to Joel and stopped.
“What did you call me here for?” He asked calmly.
“Pfft.” Joel chuckled softly and took five steps forward, his hands also in his pockets.
They were the only ones in that part of the bar. Joel’s personal assistant, Noah, called the manager of the hotel earlier on and told him that his boss was going to use that floor.
But as soon as Noah hung up, the manager of the hotel had singlehandedly locked the upper part of the bar. Even though it wasn’t yet time.
“I don’t have much to say to you. But don’t you ever try what you did to Emily again. I’m done trying to make up for whatever offense it is that I made to you but know nothing about.” He spoke out coldly.
*****
Back then in high school, after Joel advised Vincent about confessing his feeling for Danielle to her, he got in the backseat of the car and his personal chauffeur drove him back to the villa.
Not long after he arrived at the villa, he received a message from Danielle, asking him to come over to her apartment for an urgent matter.
Joel took a quick shower, dressed up, and rushed out of the villa.
Because he raced from the villa to Danielle’s apartment, he was so thirsty and asked Danielle for a glass of water immediately he walked into her apartment. He gulped down the whole glass of water. Unconsciously, he drifted off to sleep.
He woke up the following morning and Danielle told him that he fell asleep after he drank water.
He asked Danielle about the urgent matter that made her call him the previous day but she told him the problem had been solved.
“Did Vincent come here last night to tell you something?” Joel asked with concern written on his face.
“No. Only you came here,” she replied him with a sweet smile.
Joel nodded his head and walked out of Danielle’s apartment dejectedly. He was disappointed because Vincent didn’t heed his advice. He told him to confess his feelings for Danielle but he did not.
Later that day, he went to the Chois’ mansion but was not allowed to go in due to Vincent’s strict instruction.
At first, Joel hadn’t taken it seriously. But the next day, in school, he had walked up to Vincent to talk to him but was ignored and walked out on. Since then, they have never spoken to each other.
*****
Vincent scoffed and walked forward a bit.
He smirked, “you keep pretending,”
“…. to be a saint. Why? Tired of living the ‘bad guy’ life?” He asked in all seriousness.
Joel chuckled, “And what if I say yes ?”
“Anyway, I will release your dog that is my custody to you tomorrow. Don’t ever in your life try to kidnap her again, if you do…” He raised his index finger at Vincent and balled his hand in a fist.
He turned around and headed to one of the hotel rooms, there was a ministers’ party going on and he had been invited. Since Emily wasn’t around and his brother was out of the country on a trip, he decided to attend the stupid party.
He got to the room he was headed, Room 207, opened the door, and walked in.
CEO Joel was dressed in a multicolored shirt, he had a black overcoat worn on his clothes. His soft black permed hair, curled on his head.
Whispers and gushes broke out into thin air as everyone in the room had their eye on the ever-dazzling, successful man. Some of the men made to talk to him but they were ignored by the ever-cold man.
Joel ignored all the stares and settled into a couch that was a bit separated from the rest and in the shadow. He propped himself up on one hand and silently watched the activities going on around him. Bored, he brought out his phone and texted Emily.
*****
“Sis, aren’t you drinking too much?” Rachel asked as she watched Emily gulp down her third shot glass of cocktail.
She had dragged Emily into the cocktail bar and succeeded in coaxing her into drinking a cocktail with her. But unknown to Emily, Rachel was only pretending to be drinking. She had been drinking water all through.
Emily clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes. “Noooo…”
She heard her phone ding and blindly took it out of her bag. She squinted her eyes as she stared at her phone screen. Due to the amount of alcohol she took, she was finding it difficult to see anything, so she returned the phone into her bag.
“Cheers!” she grinned as she clinked her shot glass against Rachel’s.
***
Joel rolled his eyes and twitched his lips as he watched ladies strip down to their bras and pants, twisting and twirling their bodies in sensual ways to please the affluent men in the room; most especially Joel.