Chapter 10
His eyes held a hint of playfulness and scrutiny, like he had caught a whiff
of prey. He approached Celeste with two drinks in hand.
Celeste was thoroughly repulsed by the sudden appearance of Gavin Bates,
and so was Gavin when he clearly saw Celeste’s face.
He stared at her pretty face for a few seconds, then drained his two drinks.
in one gulp.
“Why are you here?”
Gavin leaned on a nearby chair, looking like he could barely keep his balance. He exuded a strong scent of perfume mixed with alcohol, like he stunk from the bone.
Celeste covered her nose, her disdain obvious as she fanned the air.
This gesture infuriated Gavin. He was poised to push away Celeste. “Are you humiliating me?”
She slightly turned her body, avoiding his push.
The overwhelming smell of alcohol and this madman made Celeste sick. She turned around to leave.
Gavin Bates was still yelling from behind as she weaved through the crowd and vanished from sight. Pretty bad luck today to encounter with this jerk, Celeste thought.
Finally, it hit 11 o’clock, time for the show to begin, but Celeste felt drowsiness gradually devoured her mind.
The spotlight cast on the stage. A man dressed in green swaggered onto the
stage. With the beat, he instantly pulled off some flashy dance moves that got
the crowd cheering.
After that he declared, “everybody claps your hands. I know you have been waiting for this highlight moment. Let the show begin!”
“Shout for our muscle men strippers!”
“What?” Celeste blurted out with a widened mouth.
She would definitely beat the shit out of Sienna!
Sienna was throwing apologizing, pleading words to Celeste, yet her eyes couldn’t move away from the guys on the stage.
Since the show had already begun, Celeste had no choice but to ride it out. At least she’d never watched male strippers‘ show before. Today was an eye–opener, to say the least.
All these men strippers had sculpted, well–defined physique, and they weren’t shy about showing their muscles. Their opening act had the whole place going wild.
However, out of blue, the music screeched to a halt. In the next moment,
several uniformed cops stormed in.
Celeste swore she had never been this unlucky in her entire life.
Clearly, this was just the beginning of their troubles.
The cop gave her and Sienna a once–over and made them stand aside.
“please show your ID cards. Are you both adults?”
They nodded vigorously, “of course.”
Sienna handed over her driver’s license, and the cop glanced at Celeste. She
began fumbling in her pockets.
Her identification was thrown on the seat in the car.
“Sir, mine is in the car…”
“Oh, please. I’ve seen plenty of young girls like you. Under age, but dress up
like an adult and sneak out of home to strip club. Save your lies and call your
guardian here.”
Call her guardian? Her dad was a thousand kilometers away.
Despite all her explanations, the cop wasn’t buying it. Sienna said she. would fetch the identification for Celeste, but when she reached into her pocket, she panicked to find she’d lost her car key on the dance floor earlier.
They were hopelessly jinxed today.
The cop got stern, “still not gonna call? You want us to dig out your records?”
Celeste threw up both hands, “my dad’s not in this city. I’m really an adult.”
Ultimately, the cop didn’t slap on the cuffs but brought Celeste to the station to take a statement.
Sienna was haunted by guilty, “Cely, I will have my brother come to get you right now.
Celeste nodded.
Gavin and his friends were regulars at the club. After a couple of questions from the cops and flashing their identifications, they walked free.
ChapteMo
Gavin shot her a wicked smile, “Celeste, look how embarrassed you are. I
wonder what Ken would say if he saw you like this.”
“Not as embarrassed as you drunken oaf.”
Gavin thought he had something to hold over her, but he didn’t expect her
to shoot back.
“You don’t feel embarrassed. Since you’re so eager for attention, I’ll make
sure you get enough of it.”
Celeste walked past him, expressionless.
What did she have to fear? She hadn’t committed any crimes, nor had she broken any laws.
The police station.
The cops brought many underage teens from the club. Celeste and them were brought to a conference room.
The conference room was comfortably air–conditioned, and the cops poured the teens some water. Then they went into a long monologue about advising the teens to focus on their study rather than strip clubs.
From time to time, they shot glances at Celeste.
Celeste was speechless. Seriously, does she look that young?
After that, one by one, the underage teens were picked up by their parents. Celeste, on the other hand, was still waiting for Sienna to come to her rescue.
She’d been waiting for nearly an hour, but instead of Sienna an
Chapter40
guest arrived.
Kendric Melville.
Melville’s villa.
Kendric sat in his study. He wore a suit, and he left the top button of his
white shirt casually undone.
Sienna had once described him as the type who had “a lifetime without true
love, guarding his billions, and growing old in solitude.”
But, to his great fortune, he was a man of talents, good looks, and, most importantly, he met Celeste, who loved him wholeheartedly.
Fate had been particularly kind to him. Almost anything he set his sights on, he could have.
For years, he’d enjoyed a life of smooth sailing. It didn’t mean the setbacks and frustration would never find their way to him.
Kendric’s assistant had tracked down Celeste’s new phone number, but for some reason, they couldn’t get through to her. When they arrived her apartment, she was not there, either.
“Still unable to find her?” Kendric sounded unpleasant.
Cold sweats oozed out from Luke’s forehead. He just didn’t have superpowers or a tracking device, so naturally, he had no idea where Celeste
was. “I’ll visit Miss Alinsky’s other friends for more information.”
“Start from Vader family.”
Kendric knew little about Celeste’s friends. He disliked strangers visiting his
home, so Celeste never brought her friends back to Melville family. He only had
a vague recollection that Celeste was close to Sienna Vader.
When Celeste was in college, Kendric would occasionally swing by her
campus to give her a lift. But he never informed her ahead of time.
And sometime he caught Celeste chilling out in a bar with classmates, he’d
get pretty steamed…
Kendric stood by the window, lost in thought. Without Celeste around, he
felt a bit out of sorts.
Perhaps deep down, he’d never consciously realized that Celeste took up the biggest part of his life.
He pondered this with a furrowed brow, while Luke and Kash stood silently at his side, not daring to make a sound.
They thought Kendric might blow his top, or at least give them a
tongue–lashing for not failing the tasks. But he just stood silently by the window.
The dark, eerie night set off his gloomy face, and no one dared to approach
him.
The only girl who dared to get close to him and offered him comfort was no longer here.
