Book 1: She Becomes Glamorous After the Engagement Annulment

Chapter 47

Chapter 139: Hillary Digs Her Own Grave

Joel stopped in his tracks and suddenly looked at the lobby manager. He repeated, “What do you mean you won’t allow her to bother me?”

The lobby manager was very shrewd. At the sight of Joel’s reaction, something immediately clicked and he replied, “Yes, that’s right. Mrs. Smith told us just now not to allow the lady at the entrance to come in. She said that this was your instruction.”

He lowered his head. What he said next sounded as if he was claiming credit, but in truth, he was actually lodging a complaint. He said, “We don’t have a rule like that at Club Prism, but Mrs. Smith said that this was an instruction from you, so we had to do as requested, of course.”

Instructions from him…

Joel’s amicable expression faded and he said dispassionately, “She’s not Mrs. Smith yet.”

The lobby manager put on a show of looking scared and said, “Apologies, Mr. Smith. I’ve always addressed her as Ms. Jones, but she demanded that we change the term of address today…”

Joel didn’t look angry. However, when he turned and saw Tanya, his eyes darkened a little.

Just as the lobby manager was about to say something, Joel looked away from Tanya and said detachedly, “We’ll leave it at that, then.”

For some reason, he didn’t feel like letting her come in and go for her dinner appointment.

The lobby manager was dumbfounded.

For over ten years, he had always been skilled at reading people’s body language and had never made any mistakes before. Had he guessed wrongly this time? Hillary was clearly acting like a donkey in a lion’s skin just now, yet Mr. Smith was actually giving her actions tacit approval now?

He withdrew his gaze and became a lot more respectful. “Alright, Mr. Smith.”

At the entrance.

Tanya waited idly for the parking valet to bring her car over.

Suddenly, a few people came toward her. “Hey, is that who I think it is? Isn’t she Tanya?”

Tanya turned and saw a few people who used to hang out with Hillary walking toward her.

They were her high school classmates.

Hillary and the Joneses were considered a moderately wealthy family, so all of them had curried favor with her back then. Why were they here though?

Were Hillary and Joel… here for dinner with them?

Tanya clenched her jaw.

Joel had despised them when he and Tanya were dating back then. Hillary had brought them over to greet Joel, but he couldn’t even be bothered to pay them any attention at that time.

Yet he was actually willing to dine with them for Hillary’s sake now?

Heh.

People did change, after all. Right?

While she was inwardly mocking Joel, her ex-classmates started to taunt her.

“Tanya? Are you thinking of going in for dinner? Why don’t you ask Hillary, then?”

“That’s right. What are you standing around here for? Didn’t they say that you were the champion in an international dance competition? Why aren’t you able to even enter a small club like this?”

“Man, what’s the big deal about being a world champion? Did you win any prize money? Have you spent it all??

Tanya’s eyes narrowed at their mockery of her.

She sneered, “Tsk, I’ve finally witnessed today what it means to ride on someone’s coattails!”

Her choice of words was too artful, so it took a while for them to understand what she was saying. They became angry right away, and a man and a man from among them even stepped forward and pushed her while demanding, “Is that how you should be talking, Tanya?!”

“Exactly. Do you really think you’re that great just because the wealthy are being polite and inviting you to teach them dancing after you won a championship? At the bottom of it all, you’re still just a dance teacher! Oh, look at the situation you’re in now. Why don’t you give one of your students’ parents a call and ask them to bring you in?”

“She probably can’t get them to! At least we can still enter because of Hillary, but what about you?”

“…”

Tanya was highly sought after among the wealthy. Given her current status, it wasn’t hard for her to enter the club if she wanted to—in fact, she could even easily get a VIP card. However, the problem was that Joel had forbidden her from going in.

In the whole of New York, the Hunt's were the only ones who didn’t fear offending Joel.

However, she didn’t want to trouble the Hunt's.

Tanya lowered her gaze. At this point, the parking valet brought her car over. She walked around the group of people to the car, but just as she was about to get in, they stopped her again.

“Oh hey, that’s a pretty impressive car you’re driving! Only the rich can afford to drive a jeep like this!”

“Is this car a present from one of your students’ parents?”

“I heard that there are some dance teachers who use the excuse of giving dance lessons to fool around with the masters of the households instead… Hahaha!”

“…”

Their comments were becoming increasingly ridiculous, causing the look on Tanya’s face to turn even colder. She couldn’t tolerate it anymore. She was about to step forward and teach the foul-mouthed guy a lesson when a tall and slender figure suddenly rushed over.

He moved extremely quickly and grabbed the guy by his collar. Before anyone could even react, he socked him right in the face!

As a loud bam rang out, the guy stumbled a few steps backward and spat out a couple of teeth.

His head whipped up as he shouted, “Who the hell…”

However, when he saw Joel and the frosty look on his face, his words came to an abrupt stop!

The people around them were also dumbfounded. They hastily took a step back and stammered, “M-Mr. Smith…”

Joel’s frigid gaze swept across the few of them. At last, he ordered coldly, “Get lost!”

Frightened out of their wits, the few of them immediately fled.

After all of them left, the people around them started to point at them as they speculated among themselves. Someone could be heard faintly commenting, “That woman’s making a scene just because she can’t enter the club… How terrible!”

Joel abruptly turned to Tanya. He grabbed her wrist and walked straight to the lobby entrance.

Then, to the lobby manager who was standing there respectfully, he said, “Remember what she looks like. From now on, no one is allowed to stop her any time she comes here!”

The manager nodded. “Yes, Mr. Smith!”

Tanya’s expression changed a little when she heard what Joel said after being dragged into the club by him.

Was that man sick in the head?

He was the one who didn’t let her in just now, yet he was acting like a hero saving a damsel in distress now?

Seemingly sensing her emotions, Joel left the club without looking back after leaving those instructions.

_

At the Smith's.

Hillary, upon hearing the news from her cronies, didn’t have the leisure of having dinner anymore. She hurriedly went home.

As soon as she entered, she said, “I’m sorry, Joel… I didn’t know that my friends would do that… I went to the kindergarten this morning to thank Tanya, but not only did she not appreciate my gesture, but she even hit me…”

Hillary held her cheek that was still red and lowered her head. She said pitifully, “When my friends heard what happened, they asked me out to Club Prism, so I headed over. I really didn’t expect that they would try to seek revenge for me… and even use your name to stop Tanya from entering…”

She lifted her head with her eyes reddened and said, “It’s fortunate that you were there. Otherwise, Tanya would have suffered injustice this time. I’m sorry, Joel…”

She had only just said that when Joel raised his head calmly, scoffed, and pointed to the things on the table.

Hillary was taken aback. However, her expression immediately changed when she picked up the things on the table.

It was actually evidence against her that Joel had found after conducting an investigation!

Chapter 140: Leaving No Means Untried

Hillary held the few pages of evidence.

The first page was about her conflict with Tanya in the kindergarten.

The photo clearly showed that she had provoked Tanya first. The humiliated Tanya had then counterattacked.

The second page was photos of her speaking with the lobby manager in Club Prism’s lobby. Her facial expression in the photo was exceptionally smug.

Hillary balled up her fists. She wanted to say something, but before she could, Joel said unhurriedly, “There are surveillance cameras in both the kindergarten and the club. If you continue to deny it, I can ask for the video footage for you. Ms. Jones, allow me to remind you that surveillance camera footage comes with audio nowadays.”

Hillary’s retort instantly got stuck in her throat.

She stared at Joel in shock.

A moment later, she finally hung her head dejectedly and said, “It’s my fault this time, Joel… I only did that because I panicked when I saw that Tanya was back. I was afraid that she would take you away from me.Joel, she told me that she’s back this time so that she can take revenge on me and take everything from me.”

Hillary, whose head was lowered, started to cry. She said, “As you know, Tanya has been fighting with me over everything ever since we were kids. I had no other choice. I just wanted her to leave. I just wanted to protect everything that’s mine!”

She looked at Joel again and said, “There’s Mia, too. Of all the kindergartens around, why did she go to that one? It’s definitely because she knows that Mia is our daughter, so she especially went there for her. Joel, she must be planning to start her revenge with Mia. I don’t know how she did it, but she’s already bribed Mia. It’s only been a day, but Mia’s already asking for her.”

She stared at Joel and went on. “There’s no way someone like Tanya would be content. Back then, for the sake of dancing, she abandoned you. Even though she won the championship, her life abroad all these years must not have been that great either, right? That’s why she wanted to come back. She must be thinking of pestering you.”

‘For the sake of dancing, she abandoned you.’

The words stabbed brutally into Joel’s heart like a knife.

He lowered his eyes and let out a cold chuckle.

Perhaps that woman would give up glory and wealth for the sake of dancing, but there was no way he would ever believe that she would pester him for the sake of glory and wealth.

No matter how people might change, the pride embedded in one’s bones would never change.

Besides… She had gone to that kindergarten for her son.

Now that she had Justin Hunt, there was no need for her to pester him anymore.

The icy smile at Joel’s lips became tinged with a bit of bitterness—he’d rather she pester him instead.

“Joel, I really am repentant. I won’t do anything anymore, no matter how Tanya provokes me again in the future. Don’t worry. Even though she betrayed you back then, the two of you are ultimately still friends, so…”

Before Hillary could continue sowing discord, Joel said detachedly, “What did I say back then, when you came to me with your child?”

What he had said?

Hillary bit her lip. Back then, she had wormed her way into the Smith's by relying on her daughter. However, Joel had refused to marry her no matter what, and only gave her the title of his fiancée.

She was the one who moved into the Smith's with the excuse that her daughter needed her mother. She cared for and fussed over Mia greatly ever since, thereby stopping Joel from driving her away.

However, on the night that she moved in, an icy-cold Joel had said, “If you stay content with your lot and behave, I don’t mind turning a blind eye to most of your actions. However, you’re not allowed to publicize that you’re Mrs. Smith. I won’t let you off if I ever find out.”

Why would Hillary even care about that at that time? She had agreed to his terms right away.

In the years that followed, she waited on Mia carefully, in hopes that once enough time passed, Joel would officially register their marriage in order to give the girl a mother.

This way, even if they didn’t hold a wedding ceremony, she would still become the veritable Mrs. Smith!

However, apart from when she was picking up and dropping off Mia, she actually didn’t have any chance to meet Joel at all after she moved in. It was no exaggeration to say that they were strangers with the closest relationship with each other.

At this point of Hillary’s inner thoughts, Joel said, “Since you’ve broken the rules… Get lost.”

Get lost?

Hillary’s head whipped up and she stared at him incredulously.

Even when he was telling her to get lost, Joel’s upturned eyes still felt mild-mannered, despite him being expressionless.

Astonished, she asked, “What did you say?”

Joel stood up and said mercilessly, “You violated our agreement.”

She had violated their agreement…

Hillary started to tremble all over.

To be honest, this wasn’t the first time she had violated it during all these years.

The Joneses had already tacitly recognized them as husband and wife when she moved into the Smith's. It was also thanks to this that the Joneses’ businesses started to do better and better.

Hillary was even on tenterhooks when the Joneses first used the Smith's name in their business dealings. However, she had later discovered that Joel didn’t care at all even when he did find out.

After that, she had let down her vigilance.

Yet he was bringing up their agreement now?

Hillary reached out and clutched Joel’s sleeves. She said, “Joel, I was wrong. I’ve really seen the error of my ways…”

Joel pulled his sleeve out of her grip. There was no trace of emotion at all in those eyes on his expressionless countenance. He asked coldly, “Are you going to leave by yourself, or should I get someone to throw you out?”

Hillary’s legs went limp and she almost fell onto the floor.

Five years!

She had lived here for a whole five years!

How cruel and unfeeling must a person be, in order for them to hold not even the slightest bit of feelings for her?

She regained sobriety at once.

Counting on Joel’s sympathy or feelings for her would get her nowhere.

That little bastard was the only thing she could count on now.

Hillary’s eyes reddened. She gazed at Joel earnestly and said, “I was wrong, Joel. I’ll leave, but can you let me see Mia before I go?”

Joel stared hard at her.

“Okay. But when you see her… Surely you don’t need me to tell you what you can say in front of her and what you can’t, right?”

Hillary’s gaze flickered. She lowered her head and replied, “No, I’m aware.”

Only then did Joel instruct the nanny, “Bring Mia over.”

Mia was resting at home today and hadn’t gone to school after suffering an allergic reaction the day before.

She was currently playing by herself in her bedroom. When the nanny brought her over, she asked timidly, “Mommy, Daddy… What’s the matter?”

Hillary immediately put on an affectionate and devoted act. She hugged Mia and said, “Mia, Mommy will be away for a while. You must behave at home, okay?”

She had already thought about it. Joel had a thousand and one ways he could drive her away if she kicked up a fuss in front of her daughter.

Her only option at the moment was to make Mia reluctant to leave her, and make her cry her eyes out in her arms.

That was the only way Joel would let her stay.

She was confident that she had treated Mia well enough all these years.

Besides, she was her mother; Mia definitely wouldn’t bear to leave her side.

She stared at Mia and asked, “Will you miss Mommy, Mia?”

However, an anticipative Hillary never expected that Mia would instead nod and reply timidly, “Go ahead, Mommy. I’ll be a good girl.”

Chapter 141: Cherry Is Hospitalized

“…”

Hillary stared at Mia incredulously.

She even suspected whether she had misheard just now.

What was that heartless little wench saying? Did she not feel even the slightest bit of reluctance to part with her?

She clenched her fists. “What did you say, Mia?”

Mia met her eyes and repeated timidly, “I’ll be a good girl, Mommy. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“…”

Hillary felt a wave of frustration that she simply couldn’t get off her chest. The look in her eyes gradually turned menacing.

She wanted to lose her temper and make a scene, but when she saw the man seated on the sofa, she ultimately suppressed the urge.

As expected, those unrelated by blood would never be faithful!

She had never dared to treat her unkindly all these years—or at least, she hadn’t dared to abuse her, lest Joel discovers it. All she had done was complain that Mia wasn’t a boy and even so, Joel had given her a warning.

Hillary wanted to say more, but Joel looked over dispassionately and said, “Aren’t you in a hurry? You can leave after you say goodbye to Mia.”

“… Okay.”

Hillary didn’t dare to say any more. She nodded, took a deep breath, and went upstairs. After doing a simple packing of her things, she came back down and said, “I only took some of the clothes that I usually wear, Joel. I’ll go home for a few days for now… I’ll come back again when you aren’t this mad anymore, okay?”

Joel neither agreed nor disagreed. He merely gave her a small smile.

Hillary couldn’t help but become lost in his smile.

Who wouldn’t fall in love with such a handsome and gentle man?

She left the house with her suitcase. After she left, Joel turned to Mia. He picked up his daughter and looked at her little oval-shaped face. Her big eyes were filled with puzzlement.

He suddenly asked, “Mia, let’s not allow Mommy to come back anymore. Is that okay?”

Mia was still young, so she didn’t understand any of this. Her eyes merely flickered a little when she heard what her father said.

To be honest, her mother treated her alright.

Although she had a nanny taking care of her daily needs ever since she was a baby, her mother had still taken her to school in the morning and picked her up in the evening every day. She even slept together with her.

However, she had never told anyone that she was afraid of her mother.

There was no love in her mother’s eyes whenever she looked at her. The way she smiled when she looked at her seemed more like how she looked when she was inspecting the jewelry that she had bought.

Her mother often told her to make her father happy. She wanted her to be obedient and forbade her from making any noise and making trouble unreasonably.

She forbade her from doing this and doing that, making the timid girl even timider than she originally was.

Later, she even occasionally complained resentfully, “It’s all because you’re not a boy. That’s why your father doesn’t want to marry me.”

After hearing too much of that, she had become a little afraid of her mother before she even realized it.

When she said that she was leaving, Mia had actually breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

She stretched out her little arms and put them around Joel’s neck. She sounded as timid as ever as she said, “… Okay.”

As soon as she said that, Joel called out to the butler.

The butler immediately walked over respectfully and asked, “Is there something you need, sir?”

Joel looked up at the second floor with his upturned eyes and said, “Pack up the things in that woman’s bedroom and send them to the Joneses. Do not allow her to ever enter the house again.”

“Yes, sir.”

At the sight of the butler going upstairs and getting people to pack up the things in the bedroom, Mia felt inexplicably relieved.

_

At Club Prism.

Justin was currently ordering food in the private room.

As the head of the Hunts, he actually had nutritionists especially in charge of managing his diet. Justin had always preferred mild-tasting food and didn’t particularly hold any desire for good food.

He was equally strict on Pete.

However, he looked at Cherry in this instant and said, “You can order whatever you want.”

Cherry pointed to the ice cream and said, “Daddy, this looks delicious, yeah!”

The weather hadn’t completely become warm yet.

Having ice cream during this period easily gave one the runs, so Justin was rather hesitant. However, when he made eye contact with his daughter’s big innocent eyes, he nodded and said, “… Okay, we’ll order it!”

Cherry pointed at the French fries. “Daddy, I wanna eat this!”

Fried, greasy foods like French fries were obviously unhealthy. Justin never ate such things, but he nevertheless said, “Okay, we’ll order it!”

“Daddy, I want this, too!”

“Okay, we’ll order it!”

“Okay, we’ll order it!”

“Okay, we’ll order it!”

As a result, the table was filled with messy, random dishes before Nora even arrived.

The table was full of food, but both of them merely stared at the food without touching it.

Cherry swallowed. “Why isn’t Mommy here yet?”

Justin also raised his eyebrows. He was about to reply when the thudding of footsteps suddenly reached them from the door.

Justin couldn’t help but say, “Your Mommy likes being late quite a bit, huh.”

Cherry nodded. She was already holding the ice cream and ready to dig in the moment Mommy sat down.

Click! Clack! Click! Clack!

The footsteps got closer and closer.

Something suddenly occurred to Justin and he remarked, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your Mommy wearing high heels?”

He couldn’t help breaking into a smile the moment he said that.

The woman had always worn flat-heeled shoes whenever he saw her in the past, yet she had suddenly put on high heels for the date today.

Had she put on makeup and specially dressed up for it?

It seemed that he wasn’t the only one who was looking forward to the meal after all!

However, Cherry blinked and tilted her head to the side hesitantly. She replied, “But Mommy doesn’t ever buy high heels!”

She didn’t ever buy high heels?

The moment Justin heard what she said, someone suddenly pushed the door open. At once, a tall and slender woman with long arms and legs appeared at the door. Before she even entered, her loud voice had already reached them.

“Nora, how can you pick a good place like this when you’re asking me to treat you to dinner? I’ll say this in advance—you’ll also have to fork out some money if it’s too expensive… No, wait, what the f*ck?”

A shocked Tanya stared at the two people in the room and subconsciously said, “Am I in the wrong room?”

But that didn’t make sense! Cherry was in the room!

She swallowed, picked up her cell phone, and called Nora.

“Where are you?”

Nora’s lazy voice rang out on the phone.

“Mr. Hunt was the one who did you the favor. Why do I have to be present when you’re the one treating him to dinner?”

Tanya, “???”

Justin, “???”

Cherry was the only one who suddenly relaxed completely. She happily dug into her ice cream with a spoon.

“…”

The private room suddenly fell into a strange silence. In the end, after Tanya hung up, she smiled awkwardly and said, “I’ll take care of the bill, Mr. Hunt. Please enjoy your meal with Cherry… Pit.”

Tanya quickly slipped away.

With Nora absent and Justin indulging her, Cherry finally had her fill of food.

It was only when her belly was all round and bulging that she finally went home with her sullen-faced father.

As the villa was under renovation, the two of them stayed at the Hunt manor that night. It was already late, so they didn’t see the other Hunt's there.

Cherry obediently went to bed after Justin sent her to her room.

At one o’clock in the morning.

For some reason, Justin suddenly woke up. He went next door uneasily, intending to pull up the covers for Cherry. However, as soon as he opened the door, he saw his daughter holding her belly with her hands, her forehead covered in perspiration.