'A wedding invitation?' Carlos, who was working on his laptop, was taken aback by Frankie's words. "Give it to me," he ordered. Frankie already read the names on the invitation, and his eyes widened in surprise. "It's Mr. Wen and—" His voice trailed off.
'Never mind. Let Mr. Huo handle it, ' he thought.
Carlos frowned upon seeing the names. 'Ivan and Kasie are tying the knot at the end of next month? They're inviting Debbie and me to their wedding ceremony?'
Carlos held the invitation in his hand deep in thought.
He rubbed his brow when something suddenly occurred to him. "Check Debbie and Ivan's marriage certificate. Now!" he ordered.
Even though Debbie had shown Carlos her marriage certificate before, something didn't seem to add up. With his heart in his throat, Frankie immediately made the phone call.
Five minutes later when he got the information, he approached his boss and said in a shaky voice, "Mr. Huo, a member of staff from the Civil Affairs Department has informed me that there is no registration record of Miss Nian and Mr. Wen. I guess that means that they didn't get married."
The truth was that Debbie and Ivan had fooled Carlos.
However, he wasn't the only one that they had duped. Many people were led to believe that Debbie and Ivan were a married couple.
Carlos leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally opened them again and dialed Ivan's number. "Ivan Wen!" His voice was as cold as ice.
Upon hearing Carlos' icy tone, Ivan guessed that the fake marriage thing had been exposed. He said in a playful tone, "Hi, Mr. Huo. Surprise! Debbie and I didn't get married. Are you overjoyed?"
Carlos sneered, "Yes, I am. So in return, I plan to give you a wedding gift that you'll never forget. How about I buy the Wen Group?"
Ivan was rendered speechless. 'Carlos is a ruthless man! I have to do something.' He knew the only one who could deal with Carlos was Debbie. So he said, "Thanks, Mr. Huo. That's very generous of you. By the way, if I let Debbie know that you've regained your memory, how do you think she would feel about that? You've been keeping that little bit of information away from her. Do you think she would be thrilled or furious when I tell her? Well, my guess is that she won't be happy."
Carlos' face darkened, and he clenched his fist. "How dare you threaten me!" he said through gritted teeth.
'My daughter is calling him "Daddy." Now he's threatening me. Am I too lenient with him?' he thought.
"No, no, no! Mr. Huo, I don't dare threaten you. Debbie and I are only friends. Nothing more than that. My mom forced me to get married, so I asked Debbie to do me a favor and hold a fake wedding with me. I swear we never did anything intimate. I didn't even kiss her once." 'Sorry, Debbie. Your man is too brutal. I'm unable to deal with him.
I have to betray you to save my company, ' he thought.
Debbie had once told Carlos that she and Ivan had made love.
Given the current position that Carlos had put Ivan in, he chose to believe Ivan's story.
Somehow, he had a hunch that Debbie would stir up even bigger trouble in the future. Though what could he do?
He could only go along with it.
Even so, Carlos didn't plan on letting Ivan off the hook so easily, so he said, "I heard that a model signed up with your company recently and that she became popular after just one show…"
"Wait," Ivan said, interrupting him. "Mr. Huo, are you implying that you want me to send the model to you? Hey, does Debbie know about this?"
"Ivan Wen!" Carlos boomed in a foul mood.
Ivan realized that he had gone too far, so he said in a serious tone, "Mr. Huo, if Debbie finds out that you have taken a model away from my company, she'll make a fuss."
What Ivan said did make sense. Without saying another word, Carlos hung up on him.
He felt somewhat dejected at this moment. Debbie was his Achilles' heel, and it seemed that everyone knew it and used it to their advantage.
Ivan, on the other hand, didn't feel at ease. Although he had the upper hand this time, he knew that Carlos wouldn't let this go so readily.
'I have to keep an eye on him, ' he told himself.
The day after Debbie had received Glenda's call, Glenda went to see her with two bodyguards.
Debbie was with her lyricist, writing a song in a cafe near her company, when a woman wearing a long dress and dark sunglasses stood before her. Glenda looked down at Debbie before asking arrogantly, "Are you Debbie Nian?"
Although Debbie had never met her before, her gut feeling told her that she was Glenda. "Yes, I am. And you are?" she asked.
Glenda removed her glasses, revealing her eyes, which looked exactly like Stephanie's. "I'm Stephanie's mom," she said.
Debbie dismissed the lyricist with an apologetic smile. Then she sipped her coffee, and without offering Glenda to sit down, she blandly asked, "Are you here for your daughter?"
Glenda sat down opposite Debbie, sizing her up.
Debbie was wearing a red and white jumpsuit with a pair of beige high heels. With her delicate makeup and perfect figure, she easily stood out in the crowd.
Glenda had seen Debbie's photo before. However, now she found that Debbie was even more stunning in the flesh. She gnashed her teeth and cursed, "You are indeed an enchantress. No wonder you have bewitched Mr. Huo."
Debbie wasn't angry at all. "Really? I believe you said that wrong. Your daughter stole Carlos from me," she said with a smile.
Glenda seethed and reached for the half-filled coffee cup that the lyricist had left behind. She waved the cup and tried to splash the coffee onto Debbie's face.
Debbie realized her intention and dodged the coffee easily, which stained the rug on the floor beside her.
Before Glenda could even put the cup down, Debbie raised her cup and poured the coffee onto Glenda's head. Glenda shrieked at the top of her lungs. Debbie glared at her in disdain and snorted, "Woman, are you crazy? If you think that I'm a pushover, you should have learned more about me before you came here. I'm not someone that you can mess with!"
Glenda pulled out a pack of wet tissues from her bag and began to wipe the coffee from herself. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Bah! Learn more about you? I already know enough about you. You're just a shameless bitch who cheated on Mr. Huo and eloped with another man!"
While playing on her phone, Debbie said nonchalantly, "What are you talking about? I didn't hear you."
"I said you cheated on Mr. Huo and eloped with another man. You even gave birth to a bastard child, and you told Mr. Huo that bastard was his daughter. I've never met someone as shameless as you. You deserve to rot in hell!"
Debbie chuckled and opened the WeChat app. She sent Carlos a message saying, "Mr. Handsome, someone just called Evelyn a 'bastard.' What should I do?"
Then she turned to Glenda and said, "Come on! Many women have said the same words before. You're just like them, unable to get close to Carlos. Oops! I said that wrong. It's your daughter who is unable to get close to him. So you can only slander me to vent your frustration."
