On their bed and while lying on Tristan’s arm, Belle recalled the invitation she got earlier. She forgot to mention it to the man over dinner and even after.“Love, I got a cruise invitation,” she started. “I’m sure you have one too. Are you going?”Although sleepy, Tristan forced himself to respond. “I am, I know the organizer. He’s a good friend of mine. You should go too.”“Can we go together?”“I have a meeting that day and I don’t know what time it will end. The cruise will leave at eight but you have to be there by six for the program. You can go first. I’ll ask Marco to drive you there.”“Alright then. You look very tired love, go ahead and sleep.”Belle planted a kiss on the man’s forehead before squeezing closer to him. Minutes later, they were both taken to dreamland.A few more days later and the day of the cruise came. Just like what they talked about, Belle went ahead. He’ll meet Tristan there.Surprisingly, when she boarded the yacht docked at the Bree Port, no one was t
"Find her right now!" Tristan De Clarion roared, his voice echoing in the entire office. This gorgeous man is red from face to neck, as he can't wrap his head around the embarrassment he experienced. His assistant and childhood friend, Jacob Brown, standing next to his table trembled in fear. He can easily tell that his Boss is fuming mad. It was supposed to be Tristan's wedding, but his bride decided not to show up. The De Clarion family waited at the venue for almost two hours, but even the shadows of the bride's parents are nowhere to be seen. It was an arranged marriage. A deal between Frederick De Clarion – Tristan's grandfather and Philip Williams – Vernice's grandfather. Although Philip already passed away almost 18 years ago, Frederick still wanted to pursue the deal. According to the old De Clarion, 'I owe Philip that much'. When he was nine years old, Tristan got hospitalized for aplastic anemia. He was confined inside a private room for almost two years in the pediatri
Pak!A loud, slapping sound was heard in the living room of the Williams Villa in Dale.“What do you think you’re doing?!” Lawrence shouted, glaring at his daughter with his bloodshot eyes.Vernice trembled in pain as she held her cheek, starting to feel the burning sensation from the slap. Vernice gave her father a steely look before dropping her bag to the floor, "Do you want me to get stuck into that marriage? I don't even know that man! I haven't even seen him except the pictures you sent me! Are you out of your mind?" she lashed out.Her father grabbed her by the wrist. “The De Clarions already gave you money, a ring, a villa, what more do you want? Do you have to know the guy?” Lawrence asked, tightening his grip on his daughter. "You don't need to see him, do you? Tristan had already told you, it was also clear to him that this was all a setup. You won't be obliged to play the role of his wife. Why did you still run away? You could have gotten more from this! You could have sav
“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
Tristan goes straight to his office on the twentieth floor of the building. Jacob, on the other hand, takes some documents from his desk and brings them to the President's office.While waiting for Tristan to go through the documents, he goes back to the executive office to check on the applicants’ files. There were a total of thirty-two applicants but none of them says Vernice Williams.He tried looking again but he really couldn’t find it. He decided to call HR, but he was told that there was no one applying with the name Vernice Williams.Left without a choice, Jacob asked for the HR head to bring him all the applications for the IT position instead. A few minutes later, Sandra came with the files and Jacob looked into them right away.Trying to recall the face of the woman earlier, he checks the files one by one until he finds what he is looking for. Confused, he creases his forehead as he stares at the resumé.The picture on the file was indeed Vernice. However, the name written
Belle’s eyes widen in shock and her jaw drops open as soon as Jacob broke the news to her. She immediately falls into a state of confusion.“That’s weird… I was sure I applied as IT personnel,” she mutters, pouting her lips.Amused, Jacob let out a chuckle. "Our boss, Mr. De Clarion, thinks you're more suitable for the position of executive secretary, so you'll be working with me," he tells her, pointing to himself. “This will be our office.” he starts explaining before sitting on his chair. “The white phone is your direct line to the President’s office, while the black phone is for the front desk.”He glances at Belle, who looks like she is listening to him, but that is not the case. Without Jacob's knowledge, the girl was still going through the news in her mind.‘How do I qualify as a secretary? I don’t even know anything about its work scope.’ Jacob cleared his throat to get her attention. Belle then smiles awkwardly, clearly caught that she isn’t paying attention and something e
Back at De Clarion Empire, Belle receives a text message from Nathalie. Her friend is asking her to drop by the club tonight. Belle automatically smiled after reading the message, putting her phone back inside her bag. Jacob does not have any tasks for her at the moment, and she is starting to feel bored. She is about to stand up and go to the restroom when the white phone rings, "Get me coffee downstairs," Tristan orders. Belle was about to answer when the call ended. She sticks her tongue out before rolling her eyes. "Make sure he doesn't see you doing that…" Jacob warned her. Belle's face turns tomato red. She feels embarrassed after Jacob saw what she did. She can only go out of the office with her head bowed down. Jacob, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh as soon as their office door closed. He can't believe that this is the same girl who ran away from her marriage with Tristan. His laugh grows louder when he starts imagining Tristan's reaction if he sees Belle doing
The door opens and her savior-slash-childhood friend-slash-ex-girlfriend, Joyce, comes in. She is smiling sweetly as she walks toward the man seated, like a king, on his chair. “Why are you in a bad mood?” she asks, still smiling, before giving him a peck on the cheek. Tristan just shakes his head, letting out a sigh to calm his nerves. "Nothing," he replies in a flat tone while rearranging the documents on his table. "Why are you here?" “I’ve no one to go with for lunch. Could you join me?” Tristan looks at Joyce and smiles. He nods in agreement, then he suddenly remembers Belle and what she did earlier. This woman, who looks exactly like Vernice, is already giving him a headache during her first month at the company. He can’t help but grit his teeth. He feels like he has to teach her a lesson, but he can’t think of a way to do it. Of course, this lesson should be one that will not make him petty in any way. Before he can go on thinking of an evil punishment for his secretary,
On their bed and while lying on Tristan’s arm, Belle recalled the invitation she got earlier. She forgot to mention it to the man over dinner and even after.“Love, I got a cruise invitation,” she started. “I’m sure you have one too. Are you going?”Although sleepy, Tristan forced himself to respond. “I am, I know the organizer. He’s a good friend of mine. You should go too.”“Can we go together?”“I have a meeting that day and I don’t know what time it will end. The cruise will leave at eight but you have to be there by six for the program. You can go first. I’ll ask Marco to drive you there.”“Alright then. You look very tired love, go ahead and sleep.”Belle planted a kiss on the man’s forehead before squeezing closer to him. Minutes later, they were both taken to dreamland.A few more days later and the day of the cruise came. Just like what they talked about, Belle went ahead. He’ll meet Tristan there.Surprisingly, when she boarded the yacht docked at the Bree Port, no one was t
When Tristan and Jacob arrived at the hospital, Belle’s attending physician told them that the woman had been moved to a hospital in Dale. This was the request of the patient, according to him.Upon hearing that, Tristan instructed Jacob to call the company’s pilot and prepare the private jet. They have to reach Dale as soon as possible.Fortunately, they didn’t take that long to reach the hospital where Belle’s confined. Jacob did the honor of approaching the nurse’s station to ask where the woman’s room was.When Tristan found out that Belle was staying in a ward, he ordered Jacob to move her to a private room. And there he spent all his time taking care of her.“What happened to her?” Lydia asked.Tristan was a bit startled as he didn’t hear anyone opening the door. He stopped wiping Belle’s arm and placed the towel back in the basin.He sat on the chair next to Belle’s bed, and let out a sigh, before facing Belle’s adopted parents. “I’m really sorry about this,” he started.The yo
Tristan dropped Belle off at her company. She was about to enter after greeting the guard when someone called her. She immediately turned around and, to her horror, it was Esme and she was holding a gun.“Finally, we’ve met! I’ve been trying to see you for days!” Esme sneered.“Put the gun down Madam!” the guard shouted, walking over in front of Belle to protect her.However, instead of following the guard’s order, she shoots him. The guard immediately dropped right in front of Belle and it freaked her out.“What are you doing?” she screamed, but Esme just smiled at her. The crazy woman gestured for her to go in and Belle quickly followed.When they reached her office, Esme locked the door and pushed Belle to her table. “I still can’t believe that you’re alive…” she whispered.Belle wanted to say something but no voice would come out of her. She’s been inhaling and exhaling since they got in, but it won’t calm her nerves.Esme made her sit on her swivel chair, while she was pacing bac
It was already bright and shiny when the police finished their investigation. Belle feels like her head is not attached to her neck. Everyone else looked like they were floating."According to the investigation, the guard said that a woman in her late 40s entered the village saying she was a visitor to Luisa Villa," the investigator stated.“Why did he let her in? He didn’t even ask for identification?” Frederick asked irritatedly.“Actually Mr. De Clarion, he did, but what’s weird is that he received a call from someone claiming that the woman should be allowed in. The person who called introduced himself as the butler of the family, John.”Frederick looked at John and so was the rest of the people in the living room. The man raised both hands and spoke, “I have nothing to do with that call.”The police nodded at him, “We believe that Sir, we checked your background and we found out that you’ve been serving the De Clarions for almost four decades already. In addition, you do not have
The past days and weeks have been peaceful for everyone. Joyce was locked up and there was no news about Esme either.Seeing that it’s safe to go back to work, Belle and Tristan decide to resume their posts, Him as CEO of De Clarion Empire and her as CEO of Sweet Sue.All is well for them or that was what they thought.Little did they know, someone was watching all their moves. Someone was hoping to take revenge on them, all of them.A week after Belle came back to the company, she received a package with a dead rat inside. It also came with a note that says ‘You’re next.’Instead of taking it seriously, she decided to just have it thrown away. She also ordered the guard not to receive any packages, unless he knew who they came from.After one more week and three more packages with warning notes, it stopped. To not cause any worry, Belle decided not to tell Tristan about it.However, on her way home one night, as soon as she turned left to the next street, she saw one of the homes in
Everyone was surprised to see Lawrence Williams. No one expected him to show up at the De Clarion Villa.“Dad!” Belle exclaimed before rushing to her father. “How are you?”Ignoring his daughter, Lawrence turned to Frederick first. “I apologize for coming without notice. I just wanted to check on my daughter,” he explained.“That’s not a problem,” the old De Clarion responded. “Please sit down.”As soon as they had settled down, Lawrence turned to his daughter. “What were you saying earlier? What did Esme do last night?”Belle, Tristan, and Jacob repeated the story for Lawrence to hear. After learning everything, the man started bawling and no one stopped him.Everyone in the living room let him pour out his emotions. They understood what he was going through, they understood his pain.When Lawrence calmed down, he apologized again for the scene he had just caused. Then again, he was forgiven right away.“I don’t understand why she keeps doing things she’s not supposed to do. I try my
As the news was about to start, Lawrence grabbed a plate and placed some food there. He leaned back and started eating, while the maid placed his coffee on the end table.A female newscaster was then shown on the screen and behind her was a villa with a beautiful landscape. Lawrence can’t help but be impressed.‘News Flash! Just this morning, a cleaner called the police station to report a murder case. According to the informant, she arrived at this villa as part of her daily schedule. She has the key and has access to the main door and all the other rooms. As she was used to no one being home early in the morning, she proceeded to open the master’s bedroom and was horrified by what she saw.On the bed, a man was lying down, looking wasted, and next to her was a woman bathing in her blood. According to the police, the woman sustained 18 stab wounds on her neck, chest, and stomach. The man with her was taken to police custody for further investigation.The police cannot give any inform
Belle nervously opened the door to the villa. She was quietly praying that when she got home, Tristan would be there waiting for her.When she got in, it was only Frederick and John talking in the living room. Still hopeful, she quickened her pace and sat next to the old man.“Is Tristan home? What about Jacob?”The old De Clarion exchanged looks with the butler. “They’re not here, what happened?” John asked, worried and confused.Belle started narrating what happened. Fiddling with her fingers, she couldn’t stop worrying although John had already told her that he was coming with her to look for them.Meanwhile, outside the villa gifted to Vernice, Esme’s car was parked in a dark spot. Waiting for who knows who, she took out her phone and started dialing.“Where are you?”“We’re on our way. We got the girl.”A smile broke on Esme’s face, she was already feeling triumphant.Minutes later, a car parked next to Esme’s car. “Go right in. Tristan’s already there. CCTVs are everywhere in th
Days passed and Thursday arrived. Belle’s going to meet Vernice at Eden. She was nervous initially, but after she told Tristan about it the last time they met, he assured her that he'd be there too and that dissipated her worries.When the clock strikes 6 in the evening, Belle starts preparing. Since it was just a casual meet-up, she decided to dress casually as well.After taking a shower, she dried her hair and applied a thin layer of face powder on her face. Then she grabbed a red cardigan, black jeans, and a red slip-on. She just tied her hair in a high ponytail and set off.Belle arrived past 7 and the bar was already packed. As soon as she stepped in, she looked up to check the VIP room that was assigned to Tristan. She secretly smiled and sighed in relief when she saw that the lights were on.After confirming Tristan’s presence, she proceeds to walk in, looking around. She then saw Vernice waving at her, so she approached her table and sat in front of her.“I thought you were n