Chapter 188 A Disgusting Bunch of People

She pondered on the meaning of his words for a few moments. Did he mean that he would act as her personal bodyguard? She wasn’t very enthusiastic about such a prospect. The last thing she wanted was to be stalked by Charles twenty-four hours a day. She was better off alone.

By the time Bella was out of the bathroom, Charles had vanished without a word. Then she decided it was time to look around for Brandon. She hadn’t seen the kid for the last twenty-four hours. Where could he be? Probably in the company of his good friend Ziv. They were probably having a blast together, that’s why Brandon had not shown up yet.

She headed to the dining room with the expectation that he would be there eating his breakfast. She had to leave soon for the office but she wanted to see him before leaving the Mansion.

As she rushed to the dining room, she heard some light steps from behind. It was probably the naughty boy trying to play some trick on her. She turned around swiftly. Whoever it was, he managed to hide before Bella caught a glimpse of him.

What Bella did not know yet, it wasn’t Brandon who was hiding from her, but Charles. Katherine-who was also spying on Bella-managed to catch a glimpse of him in his hiding spot. She came from behind and grabbed his arm, pulling him closer to her.

“My love…”

Her voice was as soft and sweet as ever. Charles used to like it once, but not any longer. Once he had seen Katherine treat Bella like trash, he had difficulty conjuring up pleasant memories of Katherine.

He pulled his arm away from her grip and stared at her in contempt.

“Why aren’t you eating your breakfast?” he asked.

“I was thinking about the two of us having a private breakfast in my room,” she said.

“I got better things to do,” said Charles and he walked away from her.

Those words made Katherine’s heart sink to the depths. She never expected that Charles would reject her offer in such a manner.

It was all Bella’s fault!

Katherine lowered her head to conceal the hate in her eyes and hurried up to catch up with Charles. She grabbed him from the arm once more, this time trying to hold on tighter. She was determined not to let go of him this time.

Charles tried to ignore her and fastened his pace. He was so anxious to catch up with Bella. He had heard her calling Brandon’s name in the bedroom. Because her voice was so anxious and afraid, he wanted to explain to her who Brandon really was, so that she would stop being so sad.

In the dining room, Charles saw Bella talking to Roy.

“Where did he suddenly go? He should have told me if he was going to leave.”

Charles stood at the door and gazed at her delicate face, which simultaneously revealed her two basic traits. Frailty and stubbornness. He could also distinguish one more, the one that she was trying so hard to hide from the butler. Her extreme lack of confidence.

“Brandon has returned home,” said Charles.

Bella turned her head and stared at Charles in disbelief. “How can that be possible? Brandon told me he has no family. You must have driven him away…”

In fact, she knew that Baron would leave the Mansion soon or later, but she just didn't expect that day to come so fast. If Charles had not returned so quickly, Brandon would probably still be around.

Despite these thoughts, Bella hadn’t suspected yet the real reason Brandon and Charles could no co-exist in the same place. Not that Charles was going to explain the situation to her. He had found another way to deal with the problem.

He took a folded piece of paper from his pocket and offered it to her.

“Brandon wrote this for you.”

Reluctantly, Bella took the paper and unfolded it. Everyone in the room was eager to see her reaction to the message. It wasn’t a long one, for she had tossed the paper away in a matter of seconds.

She looked up at Charles with anger and disappointment.

“Are you serious? Is that all he wrote?”

Charles shrugged his shoulders.

“What did you expect? The kid was illiterate.”

“I was expecting more than just one plain sentence.”

“What exactly did he write?”

She shoved the paper in his hands on which someone had scribbled in a very clumsy way with a black pen the following words:

Must go now. See you later. Brandon.

“Didn’t he say anything about his family and where he lived?” she asked in a depressed manner. “Who came to pick him up? Was it a man or a woman? Did he go on his own free will or did he have to be dragged away?”

Katherine showed up next to Charles and put her arm on his shoulder. She seemed to be having a lot of fun with Bella’s miserable state.

“Get over it, will you?”

“She’s right,” said Charles. “Why don’t you sit down and eat breakfast?”

“With you two in the room, I’ve lost my appetite,” said Bella and stormed out of the room.