Chapter 8

Cassandra turned back to Ryan. "I'll leave the rest of the agreement to you, Attorney Scott. Once the authorization letter is signed, I'll text you." "You're kicking me out already?" She replied, "I need to run some errands." "It's too late for that. You're not going out to meet a certain woman, right?" "I'm… just gonna window shop." "Sure. Let's go. I feel like window shopping too." Cassandra hadn't planned to bring Ryan along, but he shut the laptop and went downstairs to get the car without a word. She figured it didn't really matter since he disliked her anyway. Maybe this visit would give him the chance to meet his best friend's future wife. It took them about half an hour to get to the department store. Ryan went to park the car while Cassandra headed inside alone. As she turned the corner into the hallway, she immediately spotted Annabelle in the jewelry boutique. Annabelle had changed into her work uniform, wearing velvet-blue gloves and carefully arranging the new arrivals in the display case. Suddenly, Cassandra's phone went off. It was Cameron calling. She let out a mocking laugh and answered, "Hello?" "Cassie, I managed to wrap things up early on my end. Why aren't you home?" She deliberately asked, "I thought your work matters were urgent? How did you wrap up so quickly?" "Well, I wanted to come back to you sooner. I promised you that I wouldn't be heading into the office because I wanted to spend time with you. It was urgent earlier, so I made an exception…" She found his excuse utterly laughable. She exhaled deeply and said, "I'm not going home tonight. I'm at Daisy's place." Daisy Graham was one of her best friends. She was a somewhat well-known actress now, so she had to go through a full disguise routine every time they met up. They usually had to schedule dinners late at night to avoid being recognized. Cassandra had already snuck out in the evenings several times to meet Daisy, so this time, Cameron didn't suspect a thing. "Wasn't Daisy still filming at the studio two days ago? Is she back already?" "Yep. She wrapped up." "Alright then. Have fun, you two. I'll pick you up from her place in the morning." "It's fine. Her driver will send me home." After ending the call, Cassandra slowly walked toward the jewelry boutique. Annabelle quickly spotted her and greeted her with a smile, "Ms. Blake, you're here… Sorry, my phone's ringing. You don't mind if I take a call, do you?" Cassandra nodded, found a seat, and sat down, flipping through a magazine while she waited. Annabelle's sweet voice drifted over from the counter. "Don't be mad at me. This rich woman is super generous. I'm sure I won't leave without a commission tonight… I don't know how long she's gonna browse. "The customer is always right, and I can't rush her! Alright, alright. I know it was wrong of me to ditch you last minute today. I promise I'll make it up to you… "Oh, come on. I've got a customer here. Tone it down… Alright, I gotta go. She's waiting for me. Talk later." Annabelle ended the call. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and her eyes were bright and dewy—the very picture of a woman glowing with the sweetness of love. Carrying a velvet tray in both hands, she walked over with a smile. "Take a look, Ms. Blake. I picked out a few pieces that I think really suit you. You can try them first, and if none speak to you, I'll bring you a few other options." Cassandra nodded. "Sure." Annabelle's hands were still as delicate and graceful as ever. Even as she handled the jewelry with practiced ease, her movements were effortlessly alluring. "That was your boyfriend calling, wasn't it?" The flush on Annabelle's cheeks deepened. "Mm-hmm. He's been busy with work lately, and I've been swamped too, so we barely get to see each other." Cassandra chuckled. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time together in the future." Once she divorced Cameron, the lovebirds could meet as often as they liked. If they didn't feel like sneaking around anymore, he could just bring her home officially. As Annabelle bent slightly to adjust the angle of the earring on Cassandra, she murmured with a soft laugh, "Men… They always seem so aloof at first. But once they fall in love, they become clingy. Sometimes, I find him a little annoying." "Oh really? How did you two get to know each other?" Annabelle blushed shyly. "He used to come to our boutique all the time, saying he wanted to buy jewelry as gifts. He insisted I try them on to see how they looked. Then, one day, he confessed to me…" Her voice grew softer until it was barely a whisper. "What kind of jewelry did he buy?" "Mostly earrings, necklaces… Every basic style we have in the store, he's bought." Cassandra nodded. "But these are all women's jewelry. Was he buying them for other women?" Annabelle suddenly froze while adjusting the earring, accidentally pulling on Cassandra's earlobe, causing her to yelp. Cassandra touched her earlobe and realized it was bleeding. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Blake! I didn't mean to…" Annabelle apologized, quickly grabbing a tissue to wipe. "What do you think you're doing?" A strong force surged forward, pushing Annabelle aside. She crashed heavily against the display counter with a dull thud. Clearly, the impact was hard. Before Cassandra could fully react, a warm breath brushed against the side of her neck. Her earlobe tingled, like someone had just touched it. "Are you okay?" When Cassandra saw the person who rushed over, her face scrunched into a frown. "Why did you come here?" Ryan's face tightened with worry, and he jerked his chin at her injured earlobe. "I thought you were here to window shop. You seem to be doing the opposite of that." She pulled out a few tissues from her bag and dabbed at the blood on her ear. The white tissues quickly soaked up a large patch of bright red. It clearly wasn't a small nick. Annabelle was extremely apologetic. "Sir, I'm really sorry for hurting your wife. I'll go get some alcohol and cotton swabs to disinfect the wound right away." "Save it," Ryan said coldly, turning her down. "I'll take her to the hospital." He grabbed Cassandra's arm and pulled her toward the exit. "Hurry up if you don't want it to get infected." All the way there, Cassandra felt as though her back was attached to the seat cushion. Ryan was practically driving like he was flying through the air. "If you decide not to be a lawyer one day, you should consider becoming a racecar driver." He glanced at her, unamused. "You don't seem too affected by your bleeding earlobe." "It's not a big deal to begin with. I can just put some ointment on it when I go home. Do we have to go to the hospital?" "Aren't you worried that your earlobe might end up swollen?" She laughed. "More room for me to try on even more earrings, then." In the end, they still went to the hospital. The doctor cleaned and disinfected her wound, performed some debridement, and prescribed an antiseptic solution for her to apply at home. Throughout the process, Ryan stood with his arms crossed and a serious expression. As they were about to leave, he finally asked, "Does she need a tetanus shot for this kind of injury?" The doctor replied, "It's not necessary. The earrings were made of gold, so as long as there's no rust, it shouldn't be a problem." "But tetanus bacteria are also in the air, right? Maybe she should get a shot just to be safe." Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Well, germs are in the air too. Why don't you give me a flu shot too while you're at it?" The doctor chuckled. "You two have quite a sense of humor. Life together must be pretty fun, huh?" Eventually, she took a cab home by herself. Ryan had offered to drive her, but she politely declined. They were usually at odds the moment they met, so why was he now offering to see her home? Before the divorce papers were finalized, she couldn't let Cameron find out she was getting close to Ryan. By the time Cassandra got home, it was already past midnight. Lisa had already left for the night, and the entire living room was dark. Outside the villa, she noticed the lights in the main bedroom were still on. Cameron wasn't asleep yet. In the entryway, she spotted a familiar pair of shiny black patent leather heels. She recognized these heels all too well, as she had just seen them at the jewelry boutique earlier. Honestly, they paired nicely with Cameron's leather shoes sitting right beside them.