Chapter 3 Trapped Belle(3)

6

On the day of the audition, Brandan did a great job. If nothing went wrong, he would be the male lead. The directors were satisfied with his figure, acting skills and appearance. Once the directors agreed, he would get the part.

Nowadays, it was said that the directors couldn't decide the cast, but the investors could.

Therefore, tonight's appointment was very important. She would meet the investor.

He would dine at River 1027. For this appointment, she spent almost the whole afternoon dressing up.

It had been a long time since she had spent so much time applying make-up.

She actually had fine features. She was pure, stone-cold and sexy.

Back then, her mentor said that her looks enabled her to handle different parts several times.

It was a shame that she chose to work behind the scenes.

She didn't need to dress up. After all, she couldn't steal the limelight from celebrities.

But things were different tonight. She might even have to use her appearance to get Brandan this part.

Before she departed, she took a deep breath.

In fact, she hadn't been invited in the first place. But she managed to get an invitation. It took her great efforts to get to know that the investors of the television drama would attend the dinner tonight.

She took a taxi there. As soon as she entered the hotel, a waitress broke her bracelet by accident. She was told that the investors had arrived. Hence, she knitted her eyebrows and didn't get back the bracelet which was under a table.

"Forget it," she thought.

She rushed into the elevator, somehow feeling uneasy.

"It's not a good sign that the bracelet is broken," she thought.

A few minutes later, she was speechless. That was indeed a bad omen. She saw Louis' uncle, Charles Reed in the room.

Six years ago, she contacted the police and provided an anonymous tip. No one knew that she was the one that got abducted.

Later, Louis got arrested, and she didn't ask about him. Anyway, she believed that he would get what he deserved. She was reluctant to recall what happened between her and him.

Since then, she would avoid the Reed family. But much to her surprise, she would meet a Reed after six years under such a circumstance.

The Reed family had a reputation for being a leader in the business circle of Resville. It owned businesses in the real estate industry, the mineral industry and the natural gas industry. She wondered when they started to run the show business.

This gave her a headache.

Moreover, Charles was none other than the person she had gone to great lengths to win him over but failed six years ago.

This made things even more awkward.

It was over. She didn't think she would get what she wanted.

Sitting in the corner, she didn't toast others for she was in low spirits.

"Mr. Reed, this is Ms. Murphy, the manager for the young man who went up for the male lead today. She is promising and motivated, and has worked with many famous celebrities," Howard Matthews, a director, introduced Belle to Charles.

An absent-minded Belle was caught off guard. She had to pick up her wine glass and smile apologetically.

"I'm flattered, Director. You and Mr. Reed are far more successful than me. It's pleasure to meet you." After she stopped talking, she emptied the glass of wine with a swig.

When she finished drinking, the man in a suit who was at the head of the table opened his mouth.

"Have we met before?" he asked casually.

He chuckled, but it was evident that he didn't look glad.

"Oh?" Howard tried to catch the subtext between Charles' words. He stared at Charles and then studied Belle. Suddenly, he came to a realization. He said, "Ms. Murphy, you know Mr. Reed. Why did you keep us in the dark?"

Everyone in the room was stupefied, fixing their eyes on Belle.

In fact, even Belle was taken by great surprise.

She didn't greet him when she came in. And he didn't pay attention to her.

Hence, she thought that he didn't want to let others know that they knew each other on such an occasion. In this case, she wouldn't take advantage of their relationship to get profits. Moreover, she felt embarrassed facing him. After all, she once made her move, and didn't win his affection.

She thought that they had a tacit understanding to pretend to be strangers. In that way, they wouldn't feel embarrassed. But his speech put her in an embarrassing spot.

"I've heard a lot about you, Mr. Reed," Belle said with a polite smile.

"Oh, really? I seem to have seen you somewhere else before, Ms. Murphy," Charles said teasingly as he rested his eyes on her again.

When Belle heard this, her eyes were dilated in surprise.

She regretted making it here. Why did he make things difficult for her?

Should she say that they were acquaintances? She was his admirer and failed to win his heart. That was not something she was proud of.

"Mr. Reed has such tight schedules and he still knows you. You're so lucky. Now that you're acquaintances, why don't you talk to him about your thing? You can discuss and make money. Everyone wins," Howard chimed in.

Belle gasped, thinking, "Director Mattews is such a sly guy. He's got his eyes on Brandan, but he makes me bring it up."

He felt a headache.

"Okay," Charles agreed without any hesitation. He took a sip of wine smiled at her and continued, "Let me give it to you. As for the male lead, it's directors' call. But the second male lead must be my guy."

Upon hearing this, Belle and the directors present were much relieved.

It was good that they could select the male lead.

As for the second male lead, he didn't have many lines and needed to be a good actor. It was challenging to be recognized.

Nowadays, young actors would avoid getting such challenging parts. If they didn't show emotions, they would be considered terrible actors. If they put on a variety of looks, they would be taken for those who were into stealing the limelight.

Anyway, it was a good job.

Therefore, they had no problem with Charles' proposal.

The directors expressed their thoughts one after another.

"Mr. Reed, you have excellent judgment. Of course, we wouldn't question your decision. I'm wondering who that young man is," Howard said with a flattering smile.

"He is a newcomer to a small company under our company's ownership. He's still abroad. I hope you will give him some advice when he comes back," Charles said, turning to look at Belle.

Belle felt goosebumps all over her body under his gaze.

Why was he looking at her like that? She was bewildered.

She avoided his gaze.

Charles didn't get mad. He just raised his glass and flashed her a smile.

"No problem, Mr. Reed!"

"Leave it to us!"

"Mr. Reed, he works for your company. Of course, we'll pay extra attention to him."

The directors promised Charles gallantly.

Belle didn't enjoy food because she felt uncomfortable with Charles. But the good thing was, she had gotten what she wanted.

She saw them off at the entrance of the hotel.

When the directors left, Charles came out of the bathroom. He approached a black Lincoln and paused in his tracks suddenly. He turned to look at her and invited, "Would you like to come over?"

"What?" Belle thought, petrified.

She was so embarrassed that she didn't know how to answer his question. She tucked her hair behind her ears to divert her attention.

"You've drunk a lot tonight, Mr. Reed. I'd better not disturb you," she refused politely.

Charles gave her a glance, drew an unnoticeable smile and got into the car.

7

On the way home, Belle recalled what had happened tonight. She wondered if she made a mistake or if there was something wrong with Charles.

As far as she remembered, it was not typical of him to approach and even to invite her to come over to his house.

Six years ago, she was 22 years old and graduated from college. At that time, Charles was 24 years old. The Reed family was wealthy. Her stepmother wasn't nice to her, and she was eager to get someone to back her up and help her get back what belonged to her in the Murphy family.

She got his eyes on her neighbor's youngest son, Charles.

Charles came to the world when Lawrence Reed was mid-age. Hence, he doted on Charles. She had done a lot of work in order to pursue him.

Charles was a playboy and seldom stayed at home. He changed his girlfriends frequently. It was difficult to get closer to him.

Just as she was at a loss and didn't know what to do, an 18-year-old young man came to live with the Reeds. It was none other than Louis.

It was said that he was the child of one of Lawrence's distant relatives. He was well-behaved, but he didn't do well in his studies.

When she learned about that, Belle knew it was once in a life. She volunteered to tutor Louis frequently in an attempt to get closer to Charles.

It was beyond her wildest imagination that such a terrible thing would happen to her.

She had just met Charles several times, but she intertwined her fate with Louis'.

Thinking of that, she got a headache again. She somehow felt restless recently.

She was wondering if she should ask Charles about Louis so that she would not be this paranoid. However, she didn't have a good excuse to mention that.

She sighed.

After she alighted from the taxi, Belle felt dizzy. She bent to press her hand against the flower bed to keep herself from falling. After a while, she got better and made her way toward her apartment.

It started drizzling, and the sky was dark. The street lamps gave off dim light.

She had taken this route countless times, but she felt it was quieter than usual.

Suddenly, she heard leaves crackling behind her.

Her eyes widened warily. It wasn't until then that she sobered up.

She stopped in her tracks and studied her surrounding alertly.

There was no sign of people.

Then she spotted a stray cat in the flower bed meowing in terror.

It turned out to be a cat.

She finally let out a sigh of relief. The elevator was right in front of her. She did not stick around any longer and quickly stepped onto it.