It’s Now or Never
“I didn’t see it. Elise tricked me into getting detained in the detention center for a few days.” Faye
successfully found an excuse. In reality, though, even if she didn’t have her freedom restricted, she
wouldn’t have opened the hundreds of meaningless messages in the group chat every day unless she
needed to.
“It’s Elise again!” Celina was seething with anger. “She spoiled everything. How abominable!”
Faye rolled her eyes in secret. She’s really good at pleading innocence, huh? She doesn’t blame
herself at all for being unable to do anything right, she thought. Still, she reminded Celina patiently,
saying, “It’s okay. We all learn from our mistakes. Now that you’ve been tricked by her this time, you
gotta be careful in the future. Don’t play into her hands again.”
“You’re talking like it was all my fault. I didn’t say anything about how you had nearly angered my dad
to death, yet you started on me!” Celina had suffered a lot of grievances today, so she wasn’t in the
mood to please Faye. Her eyelids drooping, she said impassively, “We’re besties, so it’d be unsightly
for us to fall out. I’ve got to entertain my guests, so you should go on on your own.” As she was sulking,
she wasn’t even willing to say goodbye. After finishing her sentence, she immediately left without
looking back.
“You little piece of—” Faye stamped her foot in anger. What an idiot who wouldn’t even listen to
someone’s kind advice! Does she honestly think that the Andersons are eager to lick the Saunders
Family’s boots? Although the Andersons and the Saunderses are equal in terms of strength, when it
comes to social standing and connections, the Saunderses, who are only a family of upstarts, can’t
even hold a candle to the Andersons. How dare she actually blow up at me? Why do I still bother
pleasing this good-for-nothing? I might as well go my own way! Losing her temper at once, she turned
around and left without asking Celina to stay.
Elise was looking into the distance from one of the balconies on the top floor of the Saunders
Residence, so she happened to see how the two ladies had gone their separate ways at the
residence’s entrance. Her beautiful eyes narrowed, and a sharp glint flickered in them. Losing your
composure after losing face a little, huh? There’s more where that came from, Faye! Your ‘fortune’ is
still awaiting you!
She kept watching until Faye’s figure disappeared before she withdrew her gaze and prepared to
leave. Just then, however, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Celina meeting up with
Gabriel in a small garden with trees. Her eyes turned cold at once. What’s the matter that they need to
discuss without being noticed? She had a hunch that she had something to do with this.
“Seems like the scenery here is nice.” Kenneth leisurely came to Elise’s side while glancing down
casually at the ground below. “Let me take a look. What’s the scenery that Miss Anderson’s been
unable to tear her eyes away from?”
“I wasn’t enjoying the scenery.” Elise put on a straight face with a meaningful look in her eyes. “I was
looking at the sky. It’s going to rain, I’m afraid.”
Kenneth looked up at the sky before bantering, “What makes you say that it’s going to rain? The sun’s
still blazing high above in the cloudless sky.” As soon as he finished his sentence, though, he
immediately realized that Elise was referring to the Saunders Family. But what is she worried about?
The storm just now has subsided, no? He couldn’t quite put a finger on it.
Elise subconsciously answered him back, saying, “Someone like you will only cause trouble for others.
How can you see the trouble somebody else’s in?”
Kenneth tilted his head to one side with a faint smile. Ellie, you’ll know one day that I’m braving the
storm out there to do a better job of keeping you away from the storm that’s coming at you.
“Let’s go.” Elise took another glance at the small garden before turning around to enter the house. “The
next drama’s about to unfold. Gotta let them find me, the protagonist, huh?”
…
Meanwhile, Gabriel and Celina were standing face to face in the small garden, the former bowing
respectfully while quietly observing their surroundings from the corner of his eye.
Celina chided, “Where have you been just now? Why didn’t you keep an eye on things back there?
Dad collapsed and nearly died, you know?”
“Did you forget that it was you who had ordered me to bring Edwin here personally, Miss Celina?”
replied Gabriel.
“Edwin?” Celina recalled with hindsight who Edwin was, and the look on her face became complicated
at once. “Where is he, then? Is he here?”
Gabriel replied honestly, “That brat’s bent on currying favor with respectable big guns. As soon as he
learned that you had personally invited him, he came with me without hesitation. He’s now distributing
his business cards to the guests inside.”
“He’s still so unpresentable. No wonder Dad was unwilling to invite him to the party.” Celina pouted her
lips in disdain. “Have someone keep an eye on him lest he make the Saunderses lose face.”
“Don’t worry. Someone’s watching over him. Then, about our plan…” Gabriel said hesitantly.
“Plan? What plan can we talk about? There was such a huge commotion, and Dad nearly died.
Wouldn’t the birthday party be ruined for real if we proceed with what we were doing?” Celina’s cheeks
puffed up with anger, and the more she spoke, the angrier she was.
“That’s not true, Miss Celina. I’ve heard about what happened just now. Not only did Elise, that woman,
embarrass you in public, but she had often given you a hard time before. If you don’t strike the iron
while it’s hot and discredit her this time, nobody knows when you’ll be able to get back at her for this.”
Gabriel curled his lips into a barely perceptible smile. “Well, the plan didn’t go smoothly earlier because
we failed to take Master David’s health into consideration. But the later part of our plan wouldn’t hurt
Master David, so what else are you worrying about, Miss Celina? Let me remind you: there’ll be no end
of trouble if you let an enemy off.”
Celina was somewhat swayed by his words. “But Faye said that Elise is very cunning. Is she really
gonna be taken in by our plan so easily?”
Gabriel looked enigmatic with an unfathomable smile. “It’s precisely because she’s cunning that she’ll
be tricked. Once she leaves this time, it’d be impossible for you to get back at her in the future. It’s now
or never, Miss Celina.”
Celina fell silent as she was lost in her own thoughts. This was her birthday party, but Elise ended up
stealing all the limelight. How can I hold my head high in the circle of socialites if I don’t get back at
her?
Seeing that Celina was wavering, Gabriel took out the aroma diffuser that he had prepared beforehand
and held it out to her. “Look. This is something I’ve just developed that can arouse people’s lustful
desires. It’s a chemical used in modern medicine, and it’s invisible and odorless, so not even Elise—
who’s skilled in traditional medicine—will notice it. And besides, its effect is strong, and it takes effect
very quickly. Elise won’t have time to realize what’s happening. I was angry when I saw you being
bullied, so I made a special effort to add a bit of a psychedelic drug that will make Elise lose her self-
control and imagine the one we’ve fixed her up with as her beloved. She’s gonna succumb to her
desire, so nothing would actually go wrong!”
Celina had to admit that she was tempted. “This thing’s gonna be detected, right?”
Gabriel gave the smile of a modest and scrupulous gentleman. “How could I not have considered your
worries, Miss Celina? Please rest assured. The drug won’t leave any traces behind after it volatilizes.”
Which means no evidence will be left behind! “Great!” Celina took the diffuser and held it up high
excitedly, shaking the aromatic liquid inside. Let’s see how you’re gonna escape from this, Elise!
Suddenly, she turned to look at Gabriel as if she had recalled something. She asked curiously, “Mr.
Gabriel, didn’t my dad say that you learned physics before coming to work at our residence? How did
you learn to make chemicals?”
Gabriel’s eyes darkened imperceptibly as he joked without turning a hair, “Physics and chemistry are
closely related.”
“Oh, I see.” Celina didn’t get suspicious as she didn’t know if Gabriel was lying.
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