"You understood what I want from you?" Daniel sat before his team, which was good at spying and finding out dirt on people.
The men looked at the vague description their boss had given them, then looked up.
"You mentioned a palace as big as yours, which means this person is influential. The fact that the Frosts couldn’t do anything or find anything about him supports that too. There shouldn’t be many Arnolds like this," the leader of the team said.
Daniel nodded. His team was quick to catch on to the subject.
"And what about after we find him? What are we supposed to do?" The leader asked.
Daniel’s eyes darkened just at the flashback of the fear in Elara’s eyes.
"You bring him to me. I want to treat this one personally."
"And what if there are casualties?" The leader asked before raising his head to look at his boss as he read the few lines written on top of the file.
"There’s a reason I am trusting you with this case," Daniel said.
It had been three hours since he had Alen leave Elara at her apartment when she expressed her need to get ready for the public appearance after a couple of days.
He wanted to leave with her, but having his men find out who that bastard was who traumatized his woman to that level was more important.
At the same time, in Lloyd’s house, Williams was finally discharged from the hospital and walked inside, looking even weaker and paler than before.
Beatrice, who had come to comfort Carla with her uncle, looked up, almost freezing, when her gaze met the steel-hard gaze of the old man.
"It’s your obsession with this woman that drove Elara away." Williams shook his head and left, jerking Andrew’s hand away in anger as he signaled a servant to help him to his room.
Andrew exhaled sharply. There was no point arguing with the old man, in whose eyes Elara was the best woman alive for him.
"I am sorry about that. What brings you here?" Andrew sat on the couch beside Beatrice, who smiled.
"Carla called me. She seems quite upset about how things turned out. Fortunately, my uncle is a good friend of Director Han. If you guys agree, he can coax the man into taking Carla as the lead singer," Beatrice said.
Andrew raised his brows at the suggestion. He had never thought that his friend, who always acted reasonably, would suggest something like that.
"But everything was decided live. Won’t that be a hindrance?" He asked.
"Just say you don’t want that bitch to be removed from the drama, brother," Carla said from the first floor, and Andrew’s gaze darkened.
He has neglected to address Carla’s disrespect towards others for quite some time, and now it is becoming a habit. Elara wasn’t even here. There was no need to call her like that.
"Her name is Elara," Andrew said.
"And I don’t give two—"
"Elara," Andrew repeated, his dark eyes daring Carla to say otherwise, and the girl looked at her brother in disbelief.
At the same time, Beatrice’s uncle sat there observing everything, his gaze shifting to Beatrice, who moved in her seat uneasily.
"Let’s not argue about that. What’s more important is that you would indeed need to talk to Elara to drop out of the drama. If she releases an official statement, things will be easier," Beatrice said.
Andrew looked at his friend and shook his head.
"I won’t do that. She worked as hard as everyone else, and we all heard her. She is talented. After divorcing me, she will have nothing. This will only be seen as a pity move if I do that," Andrew narrowed his eyes and nodded at the maid to bring some snacks for the guest.
His mother, who had been out, walked inside the house with a frustrated expression.
"I can’t believe it," Sophia slammed her purse on the table before her gaze fell on the chest.
"What’s wrong, Aunt Sophia?" Beatrice asked, trying to appear cozy with the woman.
"You wouldn’t understand. It’s all because of— " Sophia took a deep breath before gulping down the water.
"I boasted to everyone that my daughter would be the lead singer, but now they got the chance to humiliate me and laugh at my face because she isn’t. I can’t believe this," Sophia groaned.
As soon as they heard her words, Beatrice looked at Andrew, who thinned his lips.
"You are quite influential, Andrew. You can always arrange for another drama. A little investment won’t hurt. Elara loved you beyond obsession. She will do it if you ask her," Beatrice said, twisting the words.
Andrew didn’t react immediately.
That was the problem.
He didn’t feel like Elara loved him anymore, not with the obsession she used to have. Her eyes... they were starting to gleam for others, to trust others, to sparkle for others, to smile for others, and more than that, even her tears didn’t belong to them.
It was almost as if she had thrown him out of her life, and that part made his heart ache whenever he thought about it.
"I’ll see what I can do," Andrew said.
He stood from his place and was about to leave when he paused.
"By the way, did you hear from Sean?" Andrew asked.
Beatrice froze in her place at the mention of the name. The images of the hot, passionate night she shared with the man to release her frustration flashed before her eyes, and she swallowed hard.
"N-no. What’s the matter?" She asked cautiously.
"Haven’t you seen it?" Andrew asked.
He pulled out his phone and sent her a video.
Beatrice furrowed her brows and opened it, her gaze widening when she saw the content.
"What the hell is this? Who could do it?" Beatrice asked.
Sophia leaned towards her and looked at the video with wide eyes.
"No wonder Mrs. Turner didn’t appear in the meeting. I didn’t know something like this was circulating," Sophia said.
Andrew sighed.
"His phone has been unreachable ever since this video went viral. I am worried about him. Let me know if he contacts you," he asked before leaving to go straight to his room and freshen up.
Beatrice watched the video and bit her lip. He had said something about this incident when they shared those hot moments. However, she hadn’t known it was that serious.
"This is really...bad," Beatrice stuttered when she looked at her uncle, who didn’t have a pleasant expression.