Bella blinked, the spell broken, and quickly moved back. She fumbled with her purse, pulling out her phone. Willow’s name flashed on the screen, bringing her back to the reality of the situation. Guilt washed over her as she realized she had left the party without informing Willow, who must have been worried.
She answered the call, trying to steady her voice. "Hello?"
"Bella? Where are you?" Willow’s voice was a mix of anxiety and mild irritation. "I’ve been looking for you everywhere! The auction has started, and neither you nor Theo are here. Are you with him? Seriously, you guys just disappeared without a word. You lovebirds totally fooled me."
"Willow, the thing is—" Bella began, but before she could explain, Theodore snatched the phone from her hand, his expression darkening.
"You took her to the party and promised me you wouldn’t leave her alone," he snapped at his sister, his voice sharp with frustration. "I told you to take care of her, but you ignored my words. Do you have any idea what trouble she has been through?"
Willow fell silent at his outburst, taken aback. She couldn’t process his words completely. "Trouble? What trouble are you talking about? Is she okay?"
"She was attacked," he snapped with barely contained anger. "Two men tried to assault her in the restroom. If it weren’t for Zack, she might have been seriously hurt. And you left her alone!"
"What? How did this happen? Who were those men?"
"I don’t know yet, but I will find them, and they will pay for this," Theodore vowed, his jaw tightening with resolve. But his frustration wasn’t solely directed at the attackers. "I am not happy with you either. If you had paid attention to her, she wouldn’t have fallen into this trouble."
Bella watched as Theodore’s grip tightened on the phone, his knuckles turning white. She could see the anger and fear that had driven him to lash out at his sister, but she also knew Willow had no idea what had happened. She placed a gentle hand on his arm, trying to calm him down.
"Theodore, it’s not her fault," Bella said softly, her eyes pleading with him to ease up. "She didn’t know. Don’t blame her."
As she recalled her encounter with Gina, bitterness spread in her mouth. "Actually, I went to grab something to eat and ran into Gina. We had an argument... it got ugly. She smeared pastry on my dress and ruined it."
"You met Gina!" Theodore immediately suspected that Gina might be behind the whole thing.
"Gina, that troublemaker!" Willow’s voice was exasperated. "Why didn’t you call me right away? I would have put her in her place."
"Shush..." Theodore cut her off, his focus returning to Bella. "Did you say she ruined your dress?"
Bella nodded, pointing to the stains marring her dress. "Yes, look at this mess. I went to the restroom to clean it up when those men showed up... and then... well, you know the rest." She trailed off. "I can’t believe something like this could happen at such a high-profile event."
"But I am getting it." Theodore’s expression darkened further. "Nothing is coincidental. It was deliberate. Someone wanted to hurt you."
Bella felt a chill on her nape at the implications of his words. The realization settled over her like a heavy cloud. "You mean, Gina is behind this!"
Theodore believed it was Gina’s doings, but he wouldn’t say it until he knew it for sure. "We’ll get to the bottom of this," he promised. "No one messes with you and gets away with it."
Bella leaned into him, grateful for his unwavering support.
~~~~~~~~~~
Gina arrived at the Reid family mansion, her demeanor a mix of satisfaction and vindictiveness. She wasted no time recounting the evening’s events with fervor.
"Bella is such a bitch," she spat out with evident disgust. "She is practically flirting with Zack, despite being married to Theodore. It’s sickening how low she’ll go for money. And Zack—he seems completely taken with her. This is the perfect opportunity to expose her infidelity."
Claudia listened intently, her face a mask of contemplation. "Zack could indeed be a useful ally," she acknowledged. "But we mustn’t overlook his fiancée. Ivy could be a valuable partner in our quest to ruin Bella."
Gina’s expression brightened at the prospect of collaborating with Ivy. "What’s your plan?" she asked eagerly, her curiosity piqued.
Claudia’s lips curled into a sly smirk. "I’ll tell you when the right time comes."
"Okay, I trust you." Gina beamed. She believed Claudia would come up with the best idea to punish Bella. But her enthusiasm was momentarily dampened as she recalled Franklin’s reaction. "But Franklin was furious with me. He said I shouldn’t have acted the way I did."
Claudia’s brows knitted together in suspicion. "What exactly did you do?"
With a dramatic sigh, Gina recounted her confrontation with Bella. "Bella dared to speak back to me, claiming that I couldn’t win Theodore. She challenged me directly. I was furious and wanted to teach her a lesson, so I had my guards step in."
Claudia’s mind went blank. Her ears burned as if on fire. "What did you tell them?"
Gina shrugged, thinking Claudia was overreacting. Why couldn’t she appreciate her efforts?
"She is willing to sleep with Theodore for money—why should it matter if she sleeps with other men?" she retorted with scorn.
Claudia felt her head was spinning. "Gina, why would you handle it this way? If you wanted to punish her, you should have hired professionals. Why involve your own guards? And Franklin was there—why didn’t you talk to him before taking such a step?"
Gina was irritated. First, Franklin had scolded her and now, Claudia was also pointing out her mistakes. Had she made a big blunder? Although this question appeared in her mind, she was not really able to accept her mistakes. To her, any step that was taken to punish Bella was right.
Gina’s irritation flared. She was fed up with the criticisms from both Franklin and Claudia. "I’m not a child anymore," she snapped defiantly. "I don’t need anyone’s permission to act."
Displeased and feeling dismissed, Gina pouted as she stomped away, heading to the room adjacent to Claudia’s.
"This girl can’t stop giving me a headache." Claudia, still fuming from her earlier conversation with Gina, reached for her phone with a determined look. Her fingers moved quickly over the screen as she dialed a number she knew by heart. After a few rings, the call was answered.
"Hello, Keith," Claudia began, her voice low and urgent. "We have a situation."
She relayed the details of the evening’s events in a hurried, tense manner. "Gina’s actions have put her in a precarious position. If we don’t act fast, Theodore will certainly send her to jail."
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