Clarence took a glance at the lobby calmly and said, “The banquet is going to start.”
He walked towards the second floor after finishing the words.
Stella felt more flustered when she heard his words, “Mr. Conrad…”
Clarence didn’t turn around and she could only see his indifferent back.
Stella gritted her teeth, clenched her fists and then followed him.
Clarence walked upstairs to the second floor, pushed open the door of the bedroom and then directly
walked to the cloakroom.
Stella followed him without a second thought, “Mr. Conrad, what’s wrong with my brother? Please make
it clear!”
Clarence, who was picking neckties, said in a cold voice, “This is my private space, Miss, please leave
right away. Otherwise, I’ll call the police.”
Stella was rendered speechless. “Clarence, are you insane?” She asked in her heard.
“Mr. Conrad, please tell me what happens to my brother. I promise I will leave here right away if you
can tell me and I won’t stay in this place for a single more second.”
“Your brother? Like you, he made the silliest choice for the sake of money.”
Stella recalled that Channing gave her a bank card before and felt overwhelmed by uneasiness. She
didn’t have any mood to care about any other things and grabbed Clarence’s arm, “Mr. Conrad.”
Clarence looked down at her hand. Stella hastily took back her hand. When she was about to say
something, Clarence pressed a necktie on her palm.
He said in a cold voice, “The most urgent thing now is the banquet downstairs.”
Stella gritted her teeth and had an impulse to strangle him with the necktie in her hand.
When he tied the necktie for him, Clarence landed an emotionless gaze on her face, “Horace will
engage today. He will be happy if he sees you here.”
Stella finally failed to suppress her resentment and abruptly tightened the necktie.
Clarence slightly knitted his brows.
Stella hurriedly adjusted the necktie, “Sorry, sorry, I’m not skilled in this.”
Clarence found out her small tricks soon. He sneered and casually took out a dress from the wardrobe,
“Wear it.”
Stella was a bit stunned, “Me?”
Clarence became impatient, “It’s that for me?”
Stella was rendered speechless and pondered why Clarence was so temperamental today.
After a long while, she said, “Mr. Conrad, I just want to know what happens to my brother. If you can
answer my question, I will leave immediately.”
“I don’t want to talk about this now.” Clarence continued, “If you’re impatient, you can go and directly
ask your brother.”
Stella felt that her mind was going to explode. If Channing could tell her when asked, why did she have
to beg Clarence now?
She pondered for a while and said, “Mr. Conrad, I don’t want to take part in the banquet, you…” Stella
wanted to ask him to make the other request.
Clarence, who was leaning against the wardrobe, spoke after several seconds, “You think I want to
take part in it?”
Stella was silent and recalled what Justin said before.
She doubted that Clarence asked her to go to the banquet with him with a purpose of using her as an
excuse to deal with Joanna.
Stella said in a low voice, “This dress is not suitable to me.”
“Each of the clothes here is of your size.”
Stella blushed, “I… I have gotten some weights recently.”
Clarence was rendered speechless.
He sneered, “Looks like that you have been living a happy life after divorcing me.”
As a matter of fact, Stella didn’t gain weight on her arms and legs. It was just that the dresses for
banquets are basically tight-waisted and her budging belly would be obvious if she wore the dress.
Stella seized her pants, “I think I don’t need to change my clothes.”
They would tease at her regardless what she was wearing.
“As you like.”
Clarence walked out of the room after finishing the words.
Stella kept a distance away from him and followed him out of the room.
The guests gathered in the lobby and toasted each other. The banquet looked lively.
As there were many guests in the lobby, Stella soon found that Clarence had disappeared in her sight.
Looking at the direction that he disappeared, Stella moved her lips trying to say something. But in the
end, she simply found a corner to reduce her sense of presence, hoping that this banquet would end
soon.
After a second thought, she took out her phone and called Channing, yet only to hear a string of busy
tones from the other end of the phone.
Stella pressed her lips together. She then sent a message to Sherry, asking her to go to Channing’s
school to find him.
Although Stella didn’t know what happened to Channing, judging from Clarence’s tone of voice, she
was certain that it must be a bad thing.
After a short while, Stella suddenly felt stomach-churning. She guessed that the baby in her bully was
making a fuss again.
After making sure that no one was paying attention to her, she went to the toilet of the first floor.
When Stella was washing her hand, a girl who just walked out of a compartment, took several glance at
her.
Stella didn’t remember this girl and felt a bit strange. When their gazes met in the air, she nodded at
her as a greeting politely and then turned around and left.
Phoebe gradually withdrew her gaze when Stella left the toilet.
Right at this moment, Rebecca, who had a big belly, walked into the toilet, “Phoebe, you’ve staying in
the toilet for so long.”
Phoebe turned around and smiled at her, “Nothing. I saw something incredible just now.”
Rebecca heaved a long sigh, “Will Horace’s engagement ceremony be smooth today?”
Although it was a birthday party for Joanna, today’s banquet was more like an opportunity that the two
families had arranged in advance to declare the engagement in front of those guests.
Although both Horace and Clarence would be in a dilemma after the declaration, their main target was
not Horace, but Clarence.
Even though the two families had reached an agreement on the engagement, the Conrad Group was
basically controlled by Clarence for the time being.
It was a union of the two families on the surface, but the nature of this engagement was the
cooperation between the two companies.
Phoebe said, “Horace has tacitly approved this. Otherwise, he won’t come to this banquet today.”
Rebecca looked a bit helpless, “Based on the situation of the family, this seemed to be the only way for
us to get out.”
The outsiders might not be able to perceive this, but they were quite clear that the Jason family had
been going downhill over the past two years. Rebecca’s father had tried many approaches, yet they
were all proved to be useless. Therefore, when they got the opportunity to build connection with the
Conrad Group through marriage, they agreed with it without hesitation and regardless of Horace’s
opinion, even though they knew that Annie was an unruly and self-willed woman.
Last now, Horace’s parents invited Horace to the study and they talked for the whole night. For
commercial marriages, there was always a clear distinction between interests and affections. If Horace
really didn’t like Annie, he could divorce her when the cooperation between the two companies came to
an end.
So far, commercial marriage was the plainest excuse.
Both Clarence and Annie were all Dempsey’s chess pieces.
When he lost control of one chess piece, he would immediately use the other one to achieve his
purpose.
Phoebe sent Rebecca back to the lobby of the banquet. When she was about to find Stella, she saw
Annie walking to her with a gloomy expression.
Phoebe asked, “What’s wrong?”
Annie squeezed out the words from between her teeth, “That shameless woman also takes part in this
banquet. She knows that I will engage with Horace and she must be here to make a fuss. If Clarence is
not here, I will directly drive her out of this place!”
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