Chapter 17 - A Debt in Need is a Debt Indeed

Bella was furious, not only her, but her mother was being ruined by these defamations.

She stood in front of her mother and gazed coldly at that woman, and said firmly, “They are fake!”

Bess was trembling from her anger, she had never been touched like in the photos, “I don’t know the man in the photos! Why are you trying to ruin me?”

The woman laughed contemptuously, the loose skin on her face shaking horrendously, “Ruin you? You brought your daughter to seduce your ex-husband before her, didn’t you tempt him to reunite your passions? I just saw you holding his hand!”

“Nonsense!” Bess was an honest woman she attempted to explain anxiously, “He took my hand, I did not take his.”

“Did you hear that? She admitted that she held her ex-husband’s hand. What a shame! A bitch! A slut! So you must have seduced my husband. Bitches like you lure men by pretending to refuse.”

That speech was quite farfetched, and she tried to convince the other women that grasping her ex-husband’s hand meant that she could lure another man in the same way.

“Beat her!”

“This woman is shameless! Garbage!” Her companions began to jeer, and some of the people standing outside joined them, the emotion of the “victim” woman was significantly animated, and she rushed to Bess to hit her.

“Get away!” Bella pushed her as hard as she could but stumbled to the ground by the attack of the woman. The purse which the makeup artist gave her dropped to the floor, and she hardly had time to pick it up. Bella struggled to get up to her feet and fight back, but some of the other women trapped her, the whole situation was in a total mess.

“Stop, stop, we are calling security!” The waiters in the room shouted. But the group of women got even more excited, “Hurry, hit her. The chance will never come back.”

“Let her go, let her go!” Bella cried out and tussled with the women around her, her hair now dishevelled. She yelled to the people watching, “Call the police, call the police!”

A voice shouted out in the crowd, “The security guards are coming!”

The crowd soon scattered, no one dared to be caught by Charles’s guards, and the women involved in the battle ran away along with the group.

Bella and her mother were left behind at the site. The meeting room was a total mess. Bess laid on the floor pitifully, as a bruise formed on her face.

Bella crouched and helped her mother to sit up, she asks her worriedly, “Mum, are you all right?”

“I am OK.” Bess’s face wrinkled painfully as she spoke, Bella looked at her concerned.

“You are OK, but I am in big trouble now.” A waiter pointed desperately to the broken vases scattered on the floor, “Do you know how much those cost? The value of those broken decorations and vases in this room were worth more than forty thousand, you must pay for the damages.”

“What?” Bella widened her eyes, “You are lying.”

“Nonsense, the vases and the decorations were specifically designed and made, that price was the cheapest one.” The waiter looked at them threateningly, “You can’t go if you do not pay for the damages. Or I have to be responsible for the loss.”

“We did not break anything in this room. Make a claim to the person who broke them!” Bella was annoyed. Her mother was beaten by that group of thug women, it made no sense for her to be responsible for the damages.

The waiter looked at the photos, and said harshly, “If she did not seduce the woman’s husband, why did those women attack?” He warned, “If you don’t pay for it, I will call the police.”

“Call the police then! Please.” Bella ground her teeth as she spoke. She preferred the police to come to catch those women.

But Bess disagreed with her, as she was conservative and having the opinion which it could be only a stain on one’s life for anything having to do with the police. She pulled her daughter’s hand and shook her head, “We surely have done some of the damage.” turned to the waiter and said lightly, “We will pay, don’t call the police.”

“Mum.” Bella seized her hand, “We can’t afford that amount of money.”

She could not even pay for next year’s schooling, how could she afford to pay for this?

“Give me some time.” Bess struggled to get up and soothe her, “I can borrow the money.”

Bella spun and watched Bess blunder to Len who was the outside of the door. She clenched her teeth hard for the fact that he had been there from the beginning. He had been watching the whole process of his ex-wife and daughter being abused and attacked, coldly and indifferently.

“Mum, you must not ask him.” Bella wanted to stop her mother, that man was heartless.

But the waiter forbade her from moving, “You can’t go.”

Bella stood and watched desperately as her mother walked to Len, begging him and bowing to him, he ignored her, pretended that she was not even there until Laura came over and dragged him away.

That was his ex-wife, who he once had loved.

Bella’s heart constricted because of the subservience of her mother, as well as the cruelty of the man, who had called her name gently that morning in order to exchange his daughter for a shipping line, and now there was cold in his eyes because she chose her own life.

Her world was icy and merciless. Her heart compressed hard while her mother came back with an embarrassed look on her face. She knew that her mother was in more pain than her at this point.

“Mum, it is all right. Count on me.” She hugged her and smiled, “Trust me.”

Then she turned to the waiter and said, “My mother will stay here.” And told him firmly, “I will pay for it all, I will be right back.”

What she could do now was to go ask Charles for help.

Bella fixed her hair and secured the pearl band back in place. She then ran back to the banquet hall.

What had happened in the meeting room had spread out to every corner of the place, all eyes focused on her again, most of them unfriendly and mockingly.

Bella ignored those looks, she stood at the door looking for Charles anxiously, some of her hair hung down on her shoulder, her distressed look had such a pathetic appearance.

Oh, there is he!

Bella’s eyes glistened as she saw his figure. He walked out with a man from another doorway and talked to each other as they walked, he must be talking about business, since he was deadly serious.

Bella hesitated to approach him, as she might intrude impolitely on their conversation.

“My Lord, Miss Brook seems to be looking for you,” Ziv informed Charles.