Erica didn't know whether to cry or to laugh at his words. It almost seemed like Matthew was scared of his wife.
But there was no way that was true. Erica was afraid of him. How could the reverse be possible?
As soon as the bodyguard helped Noreen up from the floor, she heard Erica mollifying Matthew, "Honey, don't worry. I won't run away anymore. I want to be with you forever!"
"Good girl! I'll hold you to that. " The man lowered his head and gently kissed her forehead, which made everyone jealous.
Then Matthew switched gears effortlessly, dropping into shop talk as if nothing had happened.
Leaning on her bodyguard, Noreen shot Chantel a vicious look before leaving. This woman was responsible for her humiliation. If she hadn't said anything, Erica wouldn't have knocked Noreen to the floor.
Erica noticed the look in her eyes. She knew that Noreen considered Chantel her enemy now.
As soon as Noreen left, the onlookers at the scene also dispersed. Erica excused herself, getting away from Matthew for a moment. She said she needed to talk to Chantel. After a moment's consultation, the two girls left the hall together. They decided to follow Noreen. Not a bad idea. If she was stirring up trouble, it would be better to know about now.
Their destination was a lounge. The door was not shut entirely, and Noreen's voice drifted out. "Why was Erica here? And how could Chantel Ye bully me like that? Find that bitch. I'll make her pay for what happened today!"
Then she stretched out the check and tore it to bits, as if she had done the same to Chantel and Erica.
"Yes, Miss Xia," a man said.
"Good news. You can stay put. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Chantel!" Erica's voice suddenly came. She guessed right. She knew that this woman was planning something else. She just headed that off at the pass.
She'd learned well from Camille and Phoebe. Shut them down immediately, or face more trouble in the future. So Erica did just that.
Since she got Chantel in some hot water, she figured it was her job to get her out of it.
When she saw the two women at the door, Noreen shivered and asked, "Why are you following me?" She was in the middle of smashing things in her room. Next up: a lamp that was the latest target of her anger.
"Thought you were looking for Chantel. Well, here she is!" Erica leaned against the door and answered lazily.
Chantel pretended to be frightened and said, "Miss Xia, I didn't mean for that to happen. Please forgive me."
Seeing the fear on her face, Noreen felt better. But she forgot that Chantel was an actress, and a very good one at that!
She also knew these two women came here for a reason. Ignoring Chantel, she asked Erica, "Come on, I promise I'll leave Mr. Huo alone. What more do you want?"
"What more do I want?" Erica turned and waved at the hidden bodyguards.
A few strong men were at her side in an instant. "Mrs. Huo!"
"Take Miss Xia away!" She wanted to make sure that from now on, Noreen Xia would be afraid whenever she thought of her and Chantel.
"Yes, Mrs. Huo!"
While Noreen screamed, one of the bodyguards covered her mouth, and then one grabbed her arms, the other grabbed her legs, and they took her out of the room.
When they passed Erica on the way out, the CEO's wife deliberately pronounced her sentence. "Considering that it is her first time, just lock her up with one hundred bees for a night. If it happens again, lock her in a cage with a Tibetan Mastiff. And if she still hasn't learned her lesson, then find a wolf and do the same. She'll stay under lock and key until she knows better."
Erica learned this from Colman. The boy had once locked Pike's two goons in their neighbor's bee house for an entire day. When the two goons came out of the bee house, their faces were swollen like a pig's head.
'Bees, Tibetan Mastiffs, wolves...' Noreen was so frightened that she felt dizzy. But her mouth was covered entirely by one of the bodyguard's hands, and she couldn't beg for mercy.
"Yes, Mrs. Huo!" the bodyguards answered in unison.
Just like that, Noreen was quietly spirited away.
Silence returned to the corridor. Erica rubbed her hands together, removing the imaginary dust. "That's one woman down. Hopefully we won't have to do this again!" She came back to spend time with her husband and didn't want to deal with all the women who were drooling over him. It was exhausting.
Chantel was a little worried. "Rika, I think we may have a problem. Noreen must have some serious backing for her to get so popular that quickly. Is it really a good idea to punish her like that?"
She was afraid that Erica would be in some serious trouble after this.
Erica wasn't worried. She was not afraid of her. "It doesn't matter. She is powerful, so what? We're not entirely without resources. You have my brother, I have Matthew, and don't forget that we have the Violet Eagles too! What are you afraid of?"
'She's right, ' Chantel thought.
Chantel was not good at throwing her weight around, but Erica was right, and not worried. So gradually the anxiety in her heart faded.
The guests at the party were all bigwigs—rich, powerful, or both. A lot of them were in finance. A lot of them had made a killing with their investments. And quite a few of them saw how Noreen was humiliated, and they learned the price of messing with Mrs. Huo. They secretly discussed cutting ties with Noreen, to make sure they didn't accidentally piss off Erica.
Eighty percent of what Noreen lost would be transferred to Chantel. Chantel would have more work waiting for her if she wanted it.
When they returned to the banquet hall, Erica and Chantel found Matthew.
Chantel didn't want to see the guy at first, because she was afraid that he would get even with her for hiding Erica and his kids' whereabouts. And why wouldn't he?
But Erica didn't think he would be that petty. She wanted everyone to know that she and Chantel had Matthew's backing before Gifford and Chantel took their marriage public.
She was his wife and Chantel was his sister-in-law. They were both family to Matthew.
Erica's plan was a success. Everyone could see that Mrs. Huo was on good terms with Chantel. Anyone who wanted to curry favor with the Huo family wouldn't dare to neglect Chantel now.
Some of the stars, who were jealous of Chantel's popularity and wanted to make trouble for her, immediately nixed the idea. They didn't want to anger Matthew or Mrs. Huo. And they would include Chantel in their plans, if they had any.
Matthew was still talking about work with a group of his peers, and it took less than two minutes for Erica's eyes to glaze over. She whispered to Chantel, "Let's grab a bite to eat!"
"Okay!" Chantel didn't like social engagements either, so the two women went to the dessert table.
Unfortunately, the world was full of fools. They thought if Matthew couldn't see them, they'd have a chance to mess with Erica.
For example, at this moment, a woman bent her elbow slightly.
She knocked over her glass of juice by accident, and the green kiwi fruit juice spilled all over the table, spreading over the tablecloth, and dripping on anything underneath.
Standing next to the kiwi fruit juice, Erica and Chantel were eating the waffles on their plates, talking and laughing. They didn't notice what the woman was doing.
When Chantel bent over to laugh wildly at one of Erica's jokes, she happened to see the liquid flowing down from the table to the ground. Some of the liquid had already dripped onto Erica's beautiful dress. "Rika, be careful!"
Chantel pulled her away. Wearing high-heeled shoes, Erica took two quick steps back and almost fell. If it weren't for Chantel holding her up, she would have hit the floor.
Everyone in the crowd approached the two women to see what was happening. Only a woman in a black evening dress made a point of moving away. Chantel noticed her and called out, "You, stop!"