Chapter 3

“Bye Dad!” Belle waves frantically at her father before she checks in. She is on her way to Bree to find the perfect job opportunity for her to support her family.

Belle finished at the top of her class. She was a student of Computer Engineering at a small university in Dale.

As soon as she got into college, she also joined an organization of white hat hackers, White Jacks, and she is deemed as one of the best in the group.

However, for the past five years, she still hasn’t found the right job for her. She has applied to most of the companies in Dale and worked for two of them, but he only lasted for a year.

After two or three months at the company, she would lose all desire to work. She often ends up resigning, either out of boredom or lack of work growth.

In her past companies, she only ended up monitoring CCTVs inside the security office. It was very unchallenging for her and she always got into trouble with her supervisor, often caught dozing off on her desk.

His father felt sorry for her and knew that his daughter was good in her field. So when she found out that Bree was the best city for her to find an opportunity, he supported her.

Raymond helped Belle convince her mom, Lydia, to allow her to move to Bree and find a job there. It took months for them to finally convince her to let their daughter go.

Belle Roberts is the only daughter of the family. Her father is a fisherman and her mother owns a stall at the supermarket where they sell the fish her father catches. That is how the family gets by.

Although it was hard for them to send Belle to college, they managed to do so. Because of that, they can’t just let her pass on the opportunities available to her, especially Raymond.

“Beeeeeeelle!” an ear-piercing welcome can be heard from across the street. She turned around to see Nathalie running towards her.

Belle hugged her friend tightly as soon as she reached her. “You’re still very pretty!” she squealed, eyeing Belle from head to toe.

Nathalie is Belle’s childhood friend. When the woman’s parents died in a car accident, she moved with her Aunt to Bree and Belle hadn’t seen her for years.

“Of course! I took after you!” she laughed, letting go of her friend.

“Where are you staying?” Nathalie asks as she helps Belle with her luggage.

She looks around for a cab and hails the first one she saw. “I booked a hotel before leaving Dale. I’ll stay there while looking for a job. You help me find an apartment close to the company where I’ll be hired,” laying out her plans to her friend as they put her luggage in the trunk.

Nathalie nods enthusiastically. “How I wish you could just stay with me!” she pouts.

“Hmph! As if your scary Aunt would let me! You know she hates seeing pretty girls. What more if there’s two of us?” then they both laughed.

With Nathalie’s help, Belle didn’t have a hard time finding the hotel she booked. When they got inside her room, Nathalie helped her get settled while catching up.

“So, where do you plan to apply?”

“De Clarion Empire!” Belle answers with a smug. “Well, that’s my first choice, since the owner is my role model! But if I don’t get lucky, I’ll just check out the other companies.”

She is confident in her skills and, based on her research, De Clarion got the best IT department in Bree. That is exactly what she is looking for.

Nathalie's phone rings before she can ask Belle about her other plans. After the call, she bid Belle farewell. Nathalie had to leave because the club she was working for needed a reliever and she was the only one who could go.

“Call me when you’re free, okay? I’ll treat you to lunch!” she tells Belle, planting a kiss on her cheek before leaving.

As soon as the door closed, Belle plopped down on the bed. She pulled out her phone and double-checked the information she researched about the Empire.

Getting hired would be a dream come true for her and she is already feeling ecstatic at the thought of going for an interview. ‘I need to do well!’ she mutters.

As it was already past seven in the evening, Belle called for room service to have her dinner. Afterward, she called her parents to let them know that she had arrived safely.

It took her two more hours to review all the important information she needed to score the position. After that, she decided to head to bed.

---

“We’re hiring a new Executive Secretary for you today. We’re also getting a few new additions to our IT department,” Jacob reported while driving to the company.

“Hmm…” Tristan replied lazily.

If he was to decide, Jacob’s enough as his assistant and secretary. However, senior De Clarion insists on getting an executive secretary.

According to his grandfather, Jacob will end up being a grumpy, unmarried man if he continues to do everything for Tristan. He should have someone to help him out.

“Do you prefer a male or a female secretary?” he asked again of his President before eyeing him from the rearview mirror.

Tristan looked at him as well, taking his eyes off his phone. “We should get a female secretary this time, so you can finally get a girlfriend,” he chuckled. Jacob averted his eyes. He still can’t understand why Tristan is so worked up about finding a girl for her.

“I already told you, I don’t need one,” he answered casually.

Tristan couldn’t hold his laughter anymore. He tapped Jacob’s shoulder, “You should tell your father that. Besides, you can only say that because you haven’t found the right one yet,” he added, shaking his head.

Jacob could only roll his eyes. He was fully aware of the fact that his father had been asking Tristan for help in finding her a girlfriend, but he never thought Tristan would take that seriously. He thought his friend only agreed just so his father would stop bugging him.

Tristan and Jacob were more like brothers. As Jacob’s father started young with the De Clarions, he also helped Frederick raise Tristan together with Jacob. In some way, they are also indebted to this father-and-son duo.

“Let’s eat breakfast first,” Tristan told his assistant before stepping out of the car. They walked towards the entrance of the company and headed for the ground floor café in the building.

They were already a few steps in when Tristan stopped and bowed down. Although he looked disgusted, he still picked up the used tissue paper on the floor.

“Change the cleaning company,” he instructs, and Jacob nods, immediately pulling out his phone and calling the person in charge.

If there is one thing Jacob knows very well about Tristan, it’s that he wants everything done immediately, right there and then. He doesn’t want things stalled and Jacob understands that perfectly.

Walking again and only a few steps away from the café’s entrance, Tristan stopped again. He was looking at the entrance of the company building with a puzzled expression. When Jacob followed his line of sight, his jaw almost dropped.

From the building’s entrance, a gorgeous woman enters. As Jacob stares at her, he realizes that the woman is none other than Vernice, Tristan’s fiancé, the one who ran away on the day of their wedding.

He glances at his boss and notices that he is clenching his fist. He then turns around and enters the café, and Jacob follows.

They chose the table close to the café’s entrance. Tristan sat on the chair facing outside, still looking at the mysterious woman.

“That’s the line of applicants for the IT department,” Jacob informed him. “I’ll be handling the applicants for the executive secretary position.”

Tristan did not bother to respond, as he lost sight of the woman. He is now busy looking for her again.

Just as he was about to lose his patience, he found her. She’s standing right at the end of the line of applicants Jacob mentioned.

"Those are applicants, you say?" Jacob nods and looks in the direction Tristan is looking. "Then what is Vernice lining up there for? Is she applying to work for me?” he chuckles.

Jacob creases his brow. That was exactly what he'd been thinking since he saw her enter the building. ‘After running away, why would she even dare to come back? Worst, she is even applying for a position at the De Clarion Empire.’

“Maybe she’s out of her mind!” Jacob utters. It was supposed to be an inner thought, but he accidentally said it out loud. Tristan suddenly looks at him, brows knitted. “Sorry,” he quickly says.

“Well, I must admit she’s really brave but insane!” Tristan shook his head while adding sugar to his coffee. “Why don’t we hire her as my executive secretary?” a playful smile appeared on his lips.

Jacob feels the drop in temperature to a few degrees, it is bone-chilling. He glances at Tristan but remains quiet. He knows he’s serious about the suggestion.

Jacob again pulls his phone from his pocket to call the head of Human Resources. He informs them that Vernice Williams’ resumé should be sent to his desk before he gets to his office.

‘This girl is dead, so dead.’