Chapter 10 Provoke Rachel

"Take the key to the apartment. I'm going back to work."

Rachel handed Eric the key to the newly rented apartment.

"Okay." Eric was secretly glad that he was finally discharged from the hospital. After being stuck in the hospital ward for so long, he wanted to go out for some fresh air.

After Rachel left, he couldn't wait to close the door. Then, he changed his clothes and went out.

By then, it was completely dark outside, and he didn't really have anywhere to go.

Meanwhile, in JH Bar, Celine was drinking alone.

The pub was just starting to get crowded, and people were twisting their bodies crazily on the dance floor. Celine stared at these people in a daze as she thought about the first time she had met Jack here.

In the end, she had been deceived by him. He had said that he loved her and that he would marry her one day. Nonsense! It had all just been lies.

If he really loved her, why would he have let Rachel humiliate her?

From what Rachel had said this afternoon, it was obvious that Rachel looked down on her. In Rachel's eyes, Celine was nothing but a shameless mistress.

'So what? I don't care if you look down on me or not. Even though you're Jack's wife, he doesn't take you seriously, ' Celine thought vindictively. Then, with a wicked smile on her face, she made a phone call.

'Since you care so much about Eric, I'm going to play with him, ' she thought. She took a sip of wine as she waited for Eric to answer the phone.

At that moment, Eric was having dinner alone at a restaurant in his neighborhood. He had called several friends but they had all told him that they had no time to come out for dinner.

All of a sudden, his phone rang. As soon as he took a look at the screen, the frustration on his face vanished.

"Why are you calling me, Celine?"

At the other end of the line, Celine laughed. "What's wrong? Can't I even call you?"

"No, no, I mean, you've never called me before. I'm just so happy now."

Celine sighed helplessly. "Since I can't go to the hospital to see you, I'm calling to comfort you."

As long as she could capture Eric's heart, no matter how arrogant Rachel was, she wouldn't be able to do anything. Besides, she wanted to see what on earth Jack would do.

Eric's eyes brightened up. He said cheerfully, "I've been discharged from the hospital, so you don't need to go there anymore. We can meet outside from now on."

Celine's smile deepened; she hadn't expected that she would be able to put her plan into action so soon. "Well, I'm in JH Bar now. Would you like to join me?"

"Okay, I'll be right there," Eric answered without skipping a beat.

Celine hung up the phone and drank a glass of beer. She knew that Jack would have arranged someone to watch her movements, especially in a place like JH Bar, so she was curious to see what would happen when Eric got here.

Besides, she still remembered the unexpected action that Rachel had done to appease Jack's anger last time. She didn't know what other tricks Rachel had up her sleeve and if Jack would buy it this time, so she suddenly looked forward to seeing what was going to happen.

Eric arrived at JH Bar in a hurry. As soon as he walked in, he saw Celine sitting in a quiet corner and his face lit up. "Celine, why are you here today? And why are you drinking so much?"

he asked worriedly when he saw all the bottles on the table.

"I was bored, so I came here for a drink. Have a seat." Then, Celine picked up another glass of beer and gulped it down.

Eric sat down and randomly picked up a bottle of beer as well. When he was about to drink, however, Celine stopped him.

"You still have wounds on your hands. I don't think you can drink, right?"

Eric suddenly remembered that Rachel had reminded him not to drink. He hadn't planned to go to a pub, but now that he was here, how could he not drink, especially when Celine was drinking? "It's all right. It's not a big deal," he assured Celine before taking a swig.

Celine looked at the shocking reddish scars on the back of Eric's hands.

"Let me have a look. It's all my fault that you got hurt so badly," she said in a guilty tone as she took Eric's hand in hers and looked at it.

"It's not your fault. Jack is to blame for bullying others with his power," Eric said in a gruff voice. He was pleased to see that Celine cared about him so much. As long as he could draw her attention, he wouldn't mind getting a little injury once in a while.

"Anyway, the wounds have almost healed. Rachel is a good doctor," he continued.

When Celine heard Rachel's name, she froze. Then, after a moment, she said as casually as she could, "Your cousin hurt you too much! I was just trying to save you. We didn't need her to do that."

"Rachel is awesome! She did that just to save me!" Eric said with a laugh.

The expression on Celine's face soured a little. Didn't Eric understand what she was trying to say? Instead, he was praising Rachel. 'What a fool!' Celine thought.

She felt sorry for Rachel to have such a stupid cousin. However, this was a good thing for Celine; only such a stupid person could be controlled easily.

"Miss Duan."

Suddenly, a voice interrupted Celine's thoughts. She raised her head and saw two men in black standing next to their table. These two people worked for Jack, didn't they? Celine hadn't expected to see the fruit of her labor so soon.

"What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"We are here to ask Mr. Shen to go with us," one of the men said expressionlessly.

"What are you going to do? We don't know you at all. Get out of here!" Celine said in a panic.

Eric had seen these two men before too. He knew without a doubt that they were Jack's men. However, he hadn't done anything wrong today, so he was not afraid of them.

When he saw the fear on Celine's face, he comforted her at once by saying, "Don't worry. I'm fine. I'll go with them. You don't have to worry about me." Then, he stood up.

Celine was still in a fluster, but she didn't stop them. Instead, she said, "If you dare to do anything to him, I'll call the police right away."

Once Eric was out of sight, Celine reverted to her usual self. She drank calmly while watching the performance on the stage.

After a while, she picked up her phone and made a call.

When Rachel got the call, she was walking out of the emergency room.

Upon seeing the screen, she immediately had a hunch that something bad had happened. Why was Celine calling her?

"What is it?" she asked coldly. After the conversation this afternoon, she had no reason to pretend to be polite to Celine anymore. There was no way they could talk like they were friends.

"I just want to inform you that I just saw Eric being taken away by Jack's men," Celine said in a complacent voice.

Rachel frowned slightly. What was Jack planning to do? Eric had just been discharged from the hospital!

"Where are you?"

"Oh, I am in JH Bar. I think Jack's men have taken Eric upstairs."

JH Bar? Rachel had warned Eric not to drink during this period of time. How could he forget her words so soon?

"Did you ask him to drink with you?"

"Rachel, you care about your cousin, don't you? I think you'd better come as soon as possible," said Celine unhurriedly.

When Rachel hung up the phone, she was still confused about everything, but she was sure that Celine must have deliberately invited Eric to meet her in JH Bar. 'Celine, you've taken things too far this time! Do you really think that there's nothing I can do to you?' Rachel cursed in her heart, clutching her phone tightly.

With a sneer, she went back to her office and changed her clothes. Then, after asking a colleague to cover her shift, she drove to JH Bar.

When Jack had gotten a phone call from one of his men, he had actually just been about to call Celine. He hadn't expected to receive the news that she was at JH Bar, and with Eric, no less. Since Eric hadn't learned his lesson yet, there was no need for Jack to go easy on him this time.

After asking his men to take care of Eric, Jack got into his car and started driving to JH Bar.

As for Celine, she was still sitting in the corner of JH Bar, waiting for Jack even though she didn't know whether he would come or not.

As soon as Jack walked into JH Bar, he saw Celine. No matter how crowded a place was, she was always the first person he would see. There was something about Celine that made her stand out in any crowd.

"Ah, here you are! Ask your men to let Eric go," Celine said coldly.

"Well, if you stay here with me, I will release Eric," Jack said in a compelling tone, the corners of his lips curving up slightly.

Celine took a deep breath. "Jack, you're going too far. It's my freedom to meet anyone I please."

As if he hadn't heard her, Jack walked up to her and took her hand. "Let's go. You should have a look at your date."

Then, he led her up to the second floor.

On the second floor was a dimly lit room. Although it looked old, the traditional furniture inside gave it an elegant look.

However, the person in the middle of the room was the opposite of elegant. When Celine entered the room behind Jack, she gasped in shock.

Eric was kneeling on the floor with one hand on his stomach and the other one on the floor. Jack's men had surrounded him, and one of them was stepping on Eric's back. Hearing Celine's gasp, Eric raised his head with difficulty. His face was beaten black and blue, and Celine could hardly recognize who he was.

She hadn't expected that Jack would beat up Eric to this extent! On one hand, she was a little worried about Eric, but on the other hand, she felt very excited. She couldn't wait to see how Rachel would react when she saw this.

Holding Celine's hand, Jack walked up to Eric. He looked down at him and said indifferently, "You want to drink with Celine? Hmm?"

He took a quick glance at Eric's wounded hand on the floor and stepped on it with his foot. "Once on shore, one prays no more. Huh?"

Eric raised his head and stared at Jack. "If you dare, just kill me."

Upon hearing this, Jack rolled his eyes and thought to himself, 'This little guy is really reckless.' He shifted his weight to his foot and slowly rubbed Eric's injured hand.

Although he was trembling with pain, Eric gritted his teeth and glared at Jack in silence.

Celine turned her head away somewhat reluctantly. When she was about to walk away, her hand was grasped tightly by Jack.

"What do you want, Jack?"