Filed To Story: The Scarlet Vengeance: Justice of a Framed Beauty Novel (Grace & Jason)
Once the reporter had left, Lornell turned to his subordinates and said, “You guys can leave too.”
A moment later, Lornell was the only one left in the room.
He lowered his gaze to the photo in his hand, looking at Harley in the picture, his hand gently resting on the face of the man named Calvert.
In the past, he never imagined that one day, seeing Harley being intimate with another man would stir up a surge of nameless anger in him.
It felt as if something had been stolen away.
Harley was just his childhood fiancée, a commitment he had made out of curiosity. In his eyes, it had always been nothing more than a childhood game.
Just because the Hart family and the Quentin family’s backgrounds matched up in Beijing, he didn’t rule out the possibility of spending his life with Harley in the future. After all, she had a good personality and she liked him.
Being liked by others was always better than liking someone else. Besides, he wasn’t interested in liking anyone else.
When she proposed to break off their engagement, he didn’t feel bad about it at all. After all, he was never the type to force others. As long as it didn’t disgrace the Quentin family, it was fine by him.
Even though she once said she wouldn’t like him anymore, that she would take back her feelings for him.
He didn’t pay much attention to what she said. After all, in his view, whether she liked him or not was a trivial matter. He didn’t care if she liked him in the past, and it would be the same in the future.
But why was he bothered about whether she liked someone else?
It seemed like something was changing.
It was as if one day, he would regret some of the things he had done!
But no matter what, he wanted to figure it out.
Over the weekend, Lornell arranged to meet Harley at a coffee shop.
Lornell looked at Harley as he pushed the door open and walked in: “Ah, you’re here.”
Harley stepped forward, “Sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you. I’ll just grab the photo and leave.”
“Are you in a hurry?” he asked.
“What?” She didn’t catch on immediately.
“Are you in such a rush?” he asked. “Don’t you even have time to sit down and have a cup of coffee with me?”
“No, it’s not like that,” she denied. It was just that he hadn’t seemed to like her clinging to him in the past, so she had thought it would be best to just take the photo and leave.
“Since that’s not the case, why don’t you stay and have a cup of coffee with me? The coffee here is pretty good,” he suggested.
Harley hesitated for a moment, then sat down across from Lornell and ordered a latte.
Soon, the waiter brought over the coffee. The aroma of the coffee made Harley feel more relaxed.
She thought for a moment, realizing it had been quite a while since she last had coffee with Lornell like this.
Back when she was still his fiancée, she always dreamed of sitting down with him for a cup of coffee, knowing how much he loved it. But who would have thought, it was only after they broke off their engagement that he took the initiative to invite her for coffee for the first time.
“By the way, how did you end up going to the amusement park with that guy named Calvert?” Lornell asked, pretending to be casual.
“That day happened to be Calvert’s birthday, so I went with him to the amusement park,” Harley said.
“Really? Did he ask you to go with him?” Lornell asked again.
Harley raised an eyebrow curiously, “Why are you suddenly interested in him?” After all, Lornell wasn’t someone who typically showed curiosity about others.
In Harley’s view, the only thing that would pique Lornell’s curiosity was anything related to medicine. As for other people and things, Lornell had always been quite indifferent.
But then, he actually asked in detail about Calvert’s situation.
“You say you’re just friends with him, but is that really what he thinks? And, those photos of you two, was it really just a coincidence? Or did he anticipate that you might be photographed, so he deliberately asked you to accompany him to the amusement park, hoping to create a scandalous rumor that would benefit him?” Lornell said.
Harley frowned, “He’s not that kind of person!”
“Do you really trust him that much?” Lornell said, clearly displeased.
“He’s my friend, of course I believe him!” she said.
Lornell scoffed, “You believe him? Do you think a low-level nobody, desperate to climb up, wouldn’t resort to any kind of scheming or tactics? I thought after all these years, you’d have developed some caution.”
“Thanks for your concern, but I know what I need to do,” Harley said.
Lornell’s thin lips were pressed into a straight line.
“Can I have the photo now?” Harley asked.
“Alright,” Lornell said, pulling out a photo and handing it to Harley.
Harley took the photos and flipped through them. They were pretty well taken, and indeed, they looked somewhat ambiguous, as if she and Calvert were truly a young couple.
If these photos were to be released, they could indeed cause misunderstandings.
“Thank you.” She said, preparing to get up and leave.
“Wait a minute, you just got here. You haven’t even had a sip of your coffee. Are you really in such a hurry to leave?” Lornell said.
Harley lifted his coffee cup and took a sip, “The coffee here is indeed very good. I have some things to take care of, so I’ll be leaving now. Next time when there’s a chance, we’ll…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Lornell suddenly said, “It seems like they’re shooting an advertisement across the street today. Speaking of which, you should be quite familiar with the model they’re using!”
Harley paused, looking up and out the window, his gaze sweeping across the road opposite.
Sure enough, she saw a crowd of people gathered over there, and in the cleared space within the circle, a few individuals were being filmed in front of a camera.
Among them, she instantly recognized one figure – it was none other than Calvert.
She didn’t expect Calvert to be shooting here today. Was it a coincidence that Lornell chose to meet here? Or did he know in advance that Calvert would be shooting here, and that’s why he deliberately chose this place?
However, no sooner had this thought crossed her mind than she dismissed it.
Probably not. After all, Lornell never went out of his way for anyone, let alone someone like Calvert who had nothing to do with him.
From the vantage point of the coffee shop, she could clearly see the scene being filmed.
The scene that was captured was of a man and a woman walking towards each other from opposite sides. The moment they crossed paths, the man wrapped his arm around the woman’s waist, pulled her against the wall, and forcefully kissed her.
He must be about to kiss her passionately! Harley guessed to himself. But every time Calvert leaned his head towards the actress, he would pause, and then the director would yell, “Cut!”
Was it because Calvert was filming a kissing scene that he couldn’t shoot it well?
Harley was aware that some people struggle with their first on-screen kiss, especially someone like
Calvert who wasn’t professionally trained as an actor and was just starting out as a model.
However, if this advertisement had worked out well, he might have gradually made his way into the entertainment industry. If that had happened, his future path could have been much broader!
“Today he’s filming a kissing scene, seems like he didn’t tell you about it, huh?” Lornell said.
Harley chuckled, “Why would he tell me? I mean, you wouldn’t tell your friends the specifics of your job, would you? Especially not to friends who aren’t involved in your line of work.”
Lornell pursed his thin lips slightly, “So, seeing him kiss someone else, you feel nothing?”
Harley sighed, “It’s his job, why should I feel anything about it? Also, you seem to always think that something is going on between him and me. So, if you see him in a kissing scene, do you think I’d get angry? Jealous, perhaps?”
Lornell just looked at her, not saying a word.
Harley continued, “That’s his job, and I respect it. Moreover, if one day he really becomes my boyfriend and needs to do kissing or intimate scenes, I will respect and accept it. My family is in the entertainment industry. If I can’t even accept this, then there’s no need for me to take over the family business in the future.”
A flicker of surprise flashed in Lornell’s eyes.
The person before him was far more resolute and decisive than he had ever imagined.
Once, his impression of Harley seemed to gradually blur. Or perhaps, even though they had been engaged for so many years, he had never truly seen her.
And it was only then that he began to see her clearly, to understand her bit by bit.
“It seems like you’re not opposed to the idea of becoming his girlfriend, hence the hypothetical scenario,” Lornell said. “But people who claw their way up from the bottom tend to seize every opportunity and become increasingly greedy. One day, you’ll realize that we live in different worlds from them.”
Harley’s expression suddenly turned sour, “Have you forgotten? My mother was just an ordinary person, to begin with. But my father never looked down on her. My mother never became more greedy.
We shouldn’t be classifying people into ranks!”
Lornell was taken aback. He had indeed forgotten about Harley’s mother’s past.
For him, everyone around him belonged to prestigious and wealthy families. He had grown up in such an environment, and all his friends were from similar backgrounds. So much so, that he sometimes forgot that there were always exceptions in this world.
“If what I said earlier upset you, I apologize,” Lornell said.
Harley was somewhat surprised. After all, the Lornell she knew wasn’t someone who would apologize easily.
“But I still hope you won’t give people like Calvert a chance. I don’t want to see you get hurt,” he said.
Upon hearing this, Harley couldn’t help but inwardly mock herself, considering that the person who had hurt her the most was Lornell himself!
However, to avoid any awkwardness, Harley said, “I’ll be careful, but Calvert is my friend!”
Just then, there was a sudden commotion at the spot below where they were originally filming. A few people, who seemed to be onlookers, tried to rush towards the model, but they were stopped by the staff on site, turning the scene into a bit of a chaotic mess.
Harley frowned, what on earth was going on?!
She immediately wanted to rush out of the private room.
“Don’t go!” Lornell abruptly pulled Harley back. “If you go now and someone recognizes you, you’ll probably end up in the news again, and become the subject of all sorts of rumors and gossip!”
Harley pursed her lips, “Even so, I want to go and make sure. As for what happens next, I’ll handle it myself!”
With that, she quickly left the private room.
Lornell stared at his empty palm, the sudden loss of warmth made him feel as if something was missing.
But she didn’t take the photo!
Was the look of obvious worry and anxiety on her face just now because she was concerned about
Calvert?
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.