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Carla rounded her eyes and then looked back at her sister who, in return, averted her gaze and cleared her throat, returning to polishing the doors. Amelie wasn’t sure whether such an awkward reaction was caused by her clarifying Carla’s love interest’s identity or gender, but either way, she felt that her words had ruined the atmosphere inside her study.
T
Realizing that Amelie felt uneasy, Carla rushed to save
the mood.
“Well, it’s not like I care about her gender! She looks great and I think she is very strong too… What’s so wrong about being attracted to a woman? And well… Ugh, forget I said anything!”
Stumbling over her own words, Carla clicked her tongue annoyingly and turned around, moving the duster over the shelves with a distinct touch of anger. Amelie, however, couldn’t help but smile.
“There is nothing wrong with being attracted to a woman, Carla,” she tried to make her feel better about her confession, “I guess I only wanted to correct you
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because I didn’t want you to be disappointed—or perhaps frustrated—later or. That’s all.”
The maid’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Really, Mrs. Bennett? You don’t mind me being attracted to your sister?”
Amelie couldn’t ignore such genuine enthusiasm, especially since it wasn’t really up to her to control anyone’s preferences. She nodded and Carla almost pleaded, “Then, may I go and see if she is still in the mansion? I’d like to at least say hello!”
“Carla, you’re at work, for God’s sake!” Her sister shot her a warning glare but Amelie intervened, “It’s alright, you may go. Just make sure not to cause any trouble.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Bennett!” The maid offered Amelie a bow and stuck her tongue out, mocking her sister’s annoyed expression before she dashed out of the room. Mary sighed and shook her head.
“You shouldn’t be so lenient with her, Mrs. Bennett. Even after the army, she still lacks a lot of discipline.”
Amelie only smiled and returned to her laptop, however, it was now almost impossible to get back to work as one important thought popped up inside her
head.
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“Both Mary and Carla have been opening up to me more and more with each passing day; Carla even reports all the gossip that is being passed on among the maids… Seeing how I do not see any negative change in treatment from the staff, I think it’s safe to assume that neither of them is talking about me behind my back. Perhaps it’s time I pushed a little harder for my own benefit.”
“Mary,” Amelie started carefully, “I’ve noticed that Vanessa has been spending a lot of her time out… Even though you have spent so many years living abroad, it seems that she is still holding some popularity here as well. What can you tell me about her social circle?”
Amelie took a daring shot with this one.
She was aware that their social circles were drastically different but she still had no idea who exactly were the people who were willing to stick to Vanessa even after she had spent so many years outside the country.
‘Liam, too, has been spotted surrounded by numerous people I’ve never really interacted with, and now that he is the president of the Diamond Group and had his status changed to a tycoon, a lot more people are
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trying to build friendships with him, and I don’t want Vanessa to take credit for any of that.‘
Mary tapped her index finger on her chin, taking a moment to think about her response, then pulled one of the chairs closer to Amelie, and started,
“Well, Mrs. Vanessa Bennett has a lot of very influential friends here thanks to her parents‘ connections but the most prominent people in her social circle are definitely the Castillo siblings.”
“Castillo? Ted and Angelina?”
Mary nodded and Amelie narrowed her eyes. She had met the Castillo siblings several times before—they were the heirs to C Motors, a world–famous company that was making supplies used by every single car–building company in the world, making them one of the richest families in the country.
Although famous, they were not very approachable due to their busy schedules and only regularly socialized with a selected group of people. Apparently, this group included Vanessa as well.
The maid continued, “The late Mr. and Mrs. Castillo were good friends and partners with the late Bennetts
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so naturally, Ted and Angelina became friends with Liam and Noah too. From what I’ve heard, Ted Castillo was Vanessa’s childhood friend and was even
supposed to become her husband but once Mr. Oscar Bennett proposed to her family a marriage deal with Noah, Vanessa tossed Ted aside which angered Angelina.
She removed Vanessa from her social circle once she got married to Mr. Noah Bennett and every time Vanessa would come back, it seemed that it was always Ted who continued inviting her to all their gatherings and parties.”
Mary suddenly paused and leaned closer to Amelie as if she were about to share something very secretive with her.
“Angelina has a lot of very influential friends and me and other girls are suspecting that Vanessa only has friends here because of her—Miss Castillo is probably planning something vicious and is simply waiting for the right time to cut Vanessa off. We think that “the right time” is your wedding, Mrs. Bennett.”
Amelie looked at the maid’s serious face and tried to
assess the weight of the information that had just been
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delivered to her.
‘Angelina Castillo does not like Vanessa because she betrayed her brother for a bigger fish. Yet, after some time, she is pretending to be friendly with her again because she is waiting to do the same to her. The question is… Can my being married to Liam be seen as an advantage or something that will keep me away from Angelina as well?‘
The other thing that bothered Amelie was Ted Castillo—there was no telling whether he was genuinely kind to her for old times‘ sake or was manipulated by his sister as well. Whatever the real situation was, she was not powerful enough to get these two on her side without additional help.
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