Chapter 4
The footsteps were getting closer.
Grace heard them too and straightened up, looking toward the door.
"Who is it?" she asked.
Andrew set his wine glass down, his brow furrowing slightly.
The footsteps were heavy, leather shoes striking the marble in a perfectly synchronized beat, like soldiers marching in formation.
The lights in the hallway outside were swallowed up by a crowd of looming figures.
Grace turned to the bodyguards. "Go see if they wandered into the wrong place."
But before the bodyguards could reach the door, it was pushed open from the outside.
The first to walk in were six guys in black suits, each one towering over Andrew's bodyguards by at least half a head.
They didn't say a word, just lined up on either side of the door, like they were making way for someone important.
The whole room went dead silent.
Then, a man in his fifties walked in, his face stern, dressed in a gray suit.
He was carrying a black briefcase.
Two people followed behind him, a man and a woman, each carrying a stack of folders.
The moment the manager of The Crest Club saw this man, all the color drained from his face.
He straightened up instantly, then rushed over.
"M-Mr. Reyes!" the manager stammered. "Why are you here in person?"
His voice shook.
Everyone in the room turned to look at the door.
Grace's brow furrowed.
"Mr. Reyes? Which one?" she asked.
She gave Andrew's sleeve a little tug.
"Andrew, do you know him?" she asked.
Andrew shook his head, but his expression changed.
He'd been in business for three years, but he'd never seen anyone make the manager of The Crest Club lose his cool like this.
He knew all about The Crest Club's background. To get in, one needed to prove one had at least 30 million dollars in assets. The manager had met plenty of big shots.
There were only a few people in the whole city who could make the manager react like that.
Edward Reyes didn't spare a glance at the manager or Andrew.
His gaze swept across the room, finally landing on me, whose face was pressed to the table, held down by two bodyguards.
Something dark and unreadable settled in his eyes.
Then he bent slightly, offering me a respectful bow.
His voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the hall heard him loud and clear.
"Ms. Summers, I'm sorry I'm late," he said.
The whole room went dead silent.
A man who could make the manager of The Crest Club tremble with fear was bowing to a woman who'd been pinned to the table and drenched in red wine, saying, "I'm sorry I'm late."
Grace's smile froze on her face.
"Did she actually call him here?" Grace sputtered.
No one answered her.
Edward straightened up and gave the two bodyguards holding me down a sharp look.
He didn't say a word.
But the six men in black suits behind him stepped forward together, their movements perfectly synchronized.
The two bodyguards holding me down immediately let go and backed off.
I pushed myself up from the table, swiping at the wine on my face.
Edward opened his briefcase, showing bundles of cash stacked neatly inside.
He set the briefcase on the table and turned to the manager.
"How much is the tab for this table?" he asked.
The manager's lips were trembling.
"140 t-thousand dollars," he stammered.
Edward didn't look up.
"There's 600 thousand dollars in here," he said. "The rest is for Ms. Summers to use as a credit for future visits."
Edward gave Andrew a pointed look.
"The tab's settled," Edward said.
Andrew's fingers tightened around the stem of his wine glass.
Grace's face turned crimson, her mouth opening and closing, completely speechless.
She was desperately trying to remember who "Mr. Reyes" was.
But after three years of working her way through Harbor City's business circles, she'd never seen Edward's face before.
Edward didn't spare anyone else a glance.
He walked up to me and took a coat from his assistant.
"Ms. Summers, the car's ready for you outside," he said, his tone respectful. "Would you like to leave now?"
I took the coat and draped it over my shoulders.
Then I turned to Grace.
I said, "You said if someone came to pay for me, you'd bow to me in front of everyone. Everyone here heard you."
Grace's face went from red to pale.
"I—" she stammered.
She looked at Andrew.
Andrew sat there, his face dark and stormy, not saying a word.
He didn't say a word to help Grace out.
Grace's eyes welled up with tears.
"Andrew." She tugged at his arm.
Andrew didn't look at her. His eyes were locked on Edward.
Three years hustling in the business scene had taught him to trust his gut. Right now, it was screaming that this guy wasn't a nobody.
He stood up and adjusted his collar.
"Mind telling me your name, sir?" Andrew asked.
Edward shot him a cold, dismissive look and didn't bother to reply.
His female assistant spoke up for him.
"Mr. Reyes prefers not to reveal his identity," she said. "But what you should know is, picking up Ms. Summers' tab is nothing for Mr. Reyes.
"And that goes for any future bills, too."
Andrew's face grew darker.
Some unknown man showed up late at night to pay for Charlotte's bill, treating her with the kind of respect one would show a superior.
Andrew had no clue who Edward was, but he knew one thing. Whatever was going down tonight was way off from how he'd planned it.
Grace was getting desperate. She shoved Andrew's hand away and stormed right up to me.
"Charlotte, don't get cocky!" she snapped. "So what if you found some old guy to pay your tab? Who knows what you did to reel him in?"
The six men in black suits behind Edward fixed their gaze on her all at once.
Grace instinctively stepped back, feeling the weight of their stare.
But she still wouldn't admit defeat.
"You think some rich guy showing up is enough to scare me?" she shot back. "Did you forget? I've got the Landon family backing me.
"Don't you know what kind of power the Landon family has in Harbor City?"
I stood in front of her, the coat draped over my shoulders, my hair still dripping with wine.
"Grace, you said I embarrassed you last time by freezing your card," I said. "What you did to me tonight is more than ten times worse than that.
"You called all these people here to watch me get humiliated, and you spent three days setting this whole thing up to make me look bad.
"Fine, I'll remember every bit of this."
She curled her lip in a sneer.
"Yeah, remember it all you want. What can you do? Without the Landon family, you're nothing," she shot back.
I didn't say a word.
I kept my eyes locked on Andrew.
"Andrew, I'm asking you one last time," I said, "Was this whole thing your plan?"
He looked uneasy under my stare, but quickly pulled himself together.
"So what if it was?" he shot back. "You went after Grace first, so don't blame me for getting even for her."
"Fine," I smiled. "Then let me tell you something you don't know."
The whole room went dead silent again.
Edward stepped back, bowed his head, and made no move to stop me.
"That port project Landon Group snagged, do you really think it happened because you spent three months pulling strings?" I asked.
Andrew's expression shifted.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"That long-term supply contract with Wave Group nearly went south last year. You honestly believe it was your negotiating skills that saved the deal?" I continued.
"Charlotte, what are you trying to say?" Andrew demanded.
I stared him down, enunciating every word. "Andrew, Landon Group didn't get to where it is today because of your skills.
"It's because your wife has connections you never even knew about.
"She just never bothered to tell you."
Before I could finish, Grace was the first to laugh.
She snorted, "Here we go again! Last time she said she'd bankrupt the Landon family, now she's acting like Landon Group only exists because of her?
"Charlotte, have you been binge-watching too many romance dramas? You really think you're some undercover genius heroine or something?"
Laughter rippled through the hall, but it was much more subdued than before.
Nobody dared to laugh too loud, because Edward was still standing there.
His presence brought a tension nobody could quite explain.
Andrew stared at me.
His lips were pressed into a thin line.
Three years of marriage had given him all the confidence he needed. He thought he knew me inside out.
He assumed I was a regular small-town girl from Southshore who came to Harbor City to make it big, that I was pretty, smart, and lucky enough to marry into the Landon family.
That was all there was.
Or so he believed.