Chapter 9 Scandal

"Is this Eliana's daughter in law Diana? How beautiful she is, no wonder Eliana can never keep quiet about her and is always showering praises on her constantly."

"She is indeed a beautiful woman, well deserving to be the daughter in law of the Stoll family."

Immediately Angelica was introduced to Mrs. Donald's circle of women, they all began showering praises on her all to get into Eliana's good books, they were all aware of how Eliana doted on this new daughter in-law of hers as she would never stop bragging about the girl, it was only right they try to win her over as Eliana was well known influential socialite. Plus, she basically now ruled the Stoll family.

A lot of the women who had daughters had tried to push them onto Nicholas by using Eliana, but of course they had been painfully rejected since Eliana already had her sights on the Wilbert family's only daughter Diana. Some of them had even planned to have their daughters go to Nicholas and try to attract his fancy, if her son came to like a girl, Eliana would have no choice but to accept her right?

But Nicholas had been an even more harder to catch than his mother, the girls sent to him were lucky if they didn't end up publicly embarrassing themselves. He was said to be cold and unresponsive to women, so much so rumors had spread that he hated women.

But then, he ended up marrying Diana, the girl his mother had chosen for him.

"Diana, long time no see." A man's voice suddenly interrupted the women's circle as he called out to Angelica.

Angelica who didn't know the voice had to turn around to be faced with an unknown man behind her. He was wearing a worn looking suite that seemed out of place in such an opulent gathering.

She stared silently at the man's face trying to recognize him among Diana's acquaintances but the face wasn't ringing a bell at all.

"I had no idea I'd bump into you at this party, it's really nice to see you again." The man was fairly good looking beaming from ear to ear obviously happy to have bumped Into her.

Having thought about everyone Diana had informed her about, Angelica still couldn't place the man's face among Diana's acquaintances. She frowned slowly unable to conceal the clueless look in her eyes at not recognizing the man.

"Don't you recognize me Diana? I'm Anthony... Anthony Hansley, we dated for two years in college."

The women around eagerly strained their ears to hear the incoming gossip immediately they overheard that the man who had just come up to Angelica was supposedly her ex boyfriend. Maybe they would have something juicy to share with Eliana, or even some dirt they could gather on Diana. Though they had been praising her, all of them were looking for an opportunity to sabotage her to Eliana.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I remember who you are." Angelica said straightforwardly.

She knew of the intentions the women around her were having, plus, Diana never told her of anyone by the name Anthony, so it meant he was never someone important. Rather than ruin Diana's reputation in front of all these women, Angelica decided to act as if she didn't know who the man was which technically wasn't a lie.

The man looked taken aback, "You... you don't recognize me? That's funny, because back then, I was the very person you said you would never forget, and as a woman you're not supposed to forget the man who took your first time, or have you completely forgotten that hot night we spent together in your first years of college when I took your virginity?" The man seemed to have been offended by her claims to not remember him, his expression darkened evily and he unhesitatingly said all those words in a deliberately loud voice.

Even some people who didn't personally know who Diana was looked over after hearing the man's claims.

Taking a strong stance Angelica spoke up, "Stop openly slandering me Mr.... Hansley. I believe we've never met before, so If you're here to deliberately slander me, I'll advise you to think twice before doing so."

"Slander? Why would I deliberately slander you? I heard you got married to some big shot guy, no wonder you're trying to deny ever knowing me. I wouldn't have made a huge deal out of this had you quietly accepted that we knew each other before, but now that you denied it, I'm going to prove in front of everyone what a slut you were before now becoming the wife of a huge business man."

Angelica was internally frightened by the man's threats, but she had to keep a straight face in front of the crowd who had slowly been attracted to the scene leaving the ongoing party to hear some juicy gossip, they all gathered around Angelica and the man listening keenly.

As if he had been prepared beforehand, the man pulled out his wallet, "I've never once forgotten you even after we broke up back then, so I always kept a picture of you in my wallet." Saying this the man called Anthony pulled out a picture of Diana from his wallet.

Seeing that familiar face perfectly identical to her own, Angelica stood stunned, her eyes wide in shock. She could swear that wasn't her in the picture, but she couldn't say the same thing about Diana.

She immediately regretted having denied knowing the man. But if he had been someone she once dated, why hadn't Diana said anything about him to her?

Angelica had gone through months of orientation into Diana's life, the people she knew and Interacted with, the people close to her and even the ones who weren't close to her. Angelica had learned about every single detail in Diana's life just to get acquainted with her life and fully be able to live as Diana.

Though Angelica had learned about all of Diana's exes, there was not a single mention about anyone called Anthony Hansley, which was why she had denied knowing the man at first, but now that he had gotten proof, Angelica had no idea what else to say.

The people around had already started whispering audibly,

"Oh that indeed is a picture of her, then why did she deny ever knowing him, he's just an ex right? It's not as if she's still seeing him even after being married is she?"

"Of course she would deny him, Eliana always goes around bragging that her daughter in law was a beautiful and innocent young woman, with how much Eliana pours praises on her, one would think she was an untouched virgin, who would have thought she had already lost her purity to some ex. And not just anyone, but someone who looks like a useless drug addict."

"She probably doesn't want her husband to know that she had lost her virginity to some man in college, not to mention a man that looks like a crackhead, what kind of young woman is she? Wait until Eliana finds out about this, she must be so disappointed."

Angelica heard the whispers from the women pour Into her ears, the piercing eyes directed at her filled with disgust. Everyone seemed to be mocking her at the moment for sullying the Stoll family reputation.

The hundreds of elite guest at the party were now all gathered at the scene, surrounding Angelica like an interesting spectacle all having witnessed the scandalous revelation the strange man suddenly made. Among the crowd was Kate who stood with a smirk raising her lips deviously as she watched the show.

Angelica couldn't even bear to imagine what Eliana would feel if she found out about this. For Nicholas's mother, who valued her reputation more than anything. If she were to find out that the daughter in-law she had been so highly proud of and bragged about to the public had ruined her own reputation like this, how would she react?

Angelica felt her heart leap when she thought about how Diana herself would react to this.

It had not even been weeks Into the marriage, and Diana's reputation was already getting stained. How could she continue to be the Stoll family's daughter in law after this??

***

Outside the venue, on an open balcony. Nicholas stood facing the wind that blew over to him in the open. Once again in his hand was an unlit cigarette, anyone who saw him would think he was out to smoke, however he made no intentions of lighting the cigarette or actually smoking. He just stood there lost in his own thoughts, but his face held an unapproachable coldness.

One couldn't tell how long he had been standing on the terrace for, but at some point, he heard shuffling footsteps behind him of people coming and going, along with voices that drifted into his ears, at first he paid no attention to what was said in their words, but after some time, his mind registered what they were saying when a familiar name was mentioned.

"She's such a despicable woman, how could she just deny her ex out in the public like that? Serves her right that he brought proof with him, it's good that he exposed her two face. Did she think she could get away with having a history of sleeping around with some drug addict and then get to marry a handsome and successful husband in the end?"

"I know right? That Diana is a very proud bitch, I've met her once before and she was just so arrogant, I enjoyed seeing the look on her face when the man showed proof that she was indeed the woman he was talking about, she looked shocked, good for her."

"Hey, what do you think the Stoll family is going to do to her for soiling their good reputation at a public event like this?"

"Who knows? I hope they throw her out of the family and offer her a divorce though, that way we decent ladies can get a chance in nabbing a great man like Nicholas Stoll."

Both women conversing laughed to themselves as their footsteps finally disappeared down the hallways.

However, they had no idea that their subtle presence at the terrace had stirred a storm. Nicholas who already had on a cold expression, looked even more frightening. Like the seas in winter, his eyes seemed to have frozen over completely.

The words said by the women just now repeating itself in his head.

'....did she think she could get away with having a history of sleeping around, and then get to marry a handsome and successful husband in the end?'

'I know right? That Diana is a proud bitch...!'

"Diana." That name gritted out of the gap between his clenched teeth. The cigarette in his hand was squashed to nothing but pieces as his fist clenched tightly.