Whispers of Destiny: His Belated Love

Maxwell's eyes darkened at the mention of evidence of infidelity. Heh, quite the guts to dream that big!

"I was just lying in wait at Ms. Temple's; never meant her any harm."

"Did you get the shot?"

"Nope, Mrs. Templeton wanted a bed shot. Said she planned to leave you with nothing but the shirt on your back and smear Ms. Temple's name by blasting those photos online."

Maxwell's expression was unreadable, no telling what he was feeling, but one could feel a touch of hostility seeping out of him.

The commotion caught hotel security's attention. By the time they arrived, Maxwell had let go, "Take him down to the police station."

Security whisked the guy away pronto.

Maxwell rang Christ, gave him the lowdown, and told him to handle it. He turned to Victoria, his voice casual, "Caught the creep tailing you. You can breathe easy now."

Victoria, chin up, wasn't about to let it slide, "And what about Rosemary? She sent someone to stalk me; even tried to leak my private snaps online. That's illegal."

Maxwell, still poker-faced, said in a distant tone, "That's just one side of the story. We need to dig deeper. It's late; you should get some rest."

With those words, he left, leaving Victoria standing there, lost in thought.

In the days following, Rosemary was juggling her day job at the studio and her nights fixing Victoria's painting, squeezing by on six hours of sleep, barely finding time to eat.

One night she got a call from Yolanda, and before she could even say hello, she had hit with a torrent of curses, "That scumbag's dragging out your divorce while cozying up with his mistress; doesn't he fear karma?"

Rosemary, who'd been eyeballing fine details all day, looked up to a spinning ceiling and asked reflexively, "What's up?" NôvelDrama.Org: text © owner.

"You haven't heard? The paps caught Maxwell heading into Victoria's hotel! Didn't stay the night, but was there for a good while. They seemed to have had a fight; Maxwell left the hotel looking all stormy. Tsk, Victoria, that drama queen, only a masochist like Maxwell would treat her like a princess."

"Is that so?" Rosemary's tone was neutral; she hadn't had time for gossip lately.

"The news got hushed up, but I got screenshots, sending 'em your way. We'll use this in court against him!"

Rosemary couldn't help but laugh at the mention of a lawsuit. No bed shots, no solid proof, and besides, what power did she have to sue Maxwell?

As she pondered, Mr. Holiday's call came through. Seeing Harvey's name made her frown involuntarily. She told Yolanda she'd call back and switched lines, "Mr. Holiday."

"Mrs. Templeton, sorry to disturb you at this hour." Probably due to his occupation, Harvey's voice was professionally detached, "Mr. Templeton would like you to repay that sum within this month."

To Rosemary, it felt like a bolt from the blue. Mid-month already, she couldn't scrape together 300 million in half a month if she emptied herself.

The man was doing this on purpose! Rosemary was almost amused by the absurdity, "What if I can't pay up?"

"Then consider it a loan to you, overdue interest calculated at bank rates."

300 million, the monthly interest alone was a fortune for her! She didn't linger on the call with Harvey; he was just the messenger. After hanging up, she called Maxwell directly, wanting to know what he was really up to.

But the call was cut after two rings! Rosemary was so mad she could grind her teeth. She didn't call Maxwell back but knew the debt wasn't a joke.

Glancing at the calendar, her eyes clouded with worry, yet she noticed a special date; a thought struck her.

The next day at noon, she invited Yolanda out shopping, heading straight for the boutique dress shop.

"Why did you buy dress out of blue?" Yolanda was puzzled.

Rosemary browsed a few styles, "It's Mrs. Pearl Templeton's birthday soon. A gift for her."

Despite Pearl having everything, it was the thought that counted, and Rosemary had other things in mind.

Hearing it was for Pearl, Yolanda couldn't help but sigh, "Maxwell sure got himself a fairy godmother. With all his misdeeds, he should’ve been struck by lightning by now!"

Yep, she couldn't agree more.

She picked up a dark green dress, "How about this one?"

Pearl had fair skin and a great figure, not an ounce of extra weight, perfect for this waist-cinching style.

Yolanda took it over and examined it, "Pretty, suits your mother-in-law."

Before she could finish, a slender hand reached over and snatched the dress, "Please wrap this one up for me."

"This one is what we’ve picked. What's with you?" Yolanda traced the arm up to the face and burst into laughter, "No wonder you grab things, a homewrecker, huh? Getting a habit after snatching men?"

The one who grabbed the dress was Tracy, but standing beside her was Victoria. Birds of a feather, these two.

"Ms. Abbott, watch your mouth. Without proof, I could sue you for defamation." Victoria shot her a look, her cold, aloof face tinged with pride, "If it's not paid for, it's not stealing. Now I've bought it, it's mine."

Those last words, loaded with implication, left one to wonder if Victoria was talking about the dress or the man.

Rosemary was about to speak up when Yolanda snatched the dress back unapologetically and handed it to the shopping guide, "Wrap this up; we're taking it."

Each dress in the store was a unique designer piece, one of a kind. The guide hesitated, caught in a bind.

Victoria pulled out a Centurion black card, "I'll pay ten times the price."

Yolanda raised her chin, "I'll pay twenty times."

Victoria flashed a sly grin, a hint of provocation in her smile, "Ms. Abbott, isn't this something Rosemary was supposed to buy? You're quoting a price twenty times higher right off the bat. Did you even stop to think that with her current situation, she couldn't possibly cough up that kind of dough?"

Rosemary furrowed her brows. How on earth did Victoria know about her situation? Could Maxwell have spilled the beans about that 300 million issue?

This time, it was Rosemary who whipped out her card, with no other motive than the simple desire to gift the dress to Pearl.

"Go ahead and swipe it."

As Victoria saw that she was serious about paying, her expression lost its composure, "You don't have to burn a hole in your pocket just to spite me."

Rosemary shot her a slight smile, "The one who has a beef with money isn't me, is it?"

Who was it that suddenly decided to snag the item, and who was it that jacked up the price out of the blue?

Yolanda wasn't in the mood to waste words on a bitch. As she pulled Rosemary towards the checkout, she bumped into Victoria's shoulder as a warning.

But what she didn't expect was.

"Ah!"

Victoria suddenly let out a cry of pain, stumbled, and fell to the ground. She clutched at her spine, biting her lip so hard it looked like she was in unbearable pain in an instant!

Tracy's face went pale, and she slapped Yolanda across the face, "Do you have any idea how important her body is? Who do you think you are, pushing her like that?"

Victoria was her golden goose, and heaven knew how much Tracy had been babying Victoria's body recently; fearing any mishap, she even put dance rehearsals on hold.

And this woman had the nerve to bump into her, causing her to fall!

Yolanda was not one to take things lying down. She swung back with a slap of her own, "Freakin' bitch! You think you can pin this on me? Well, I'm about to show everyone here what happens to homewreckers!"

With that, another slap landed on the pitiful face of the woman on the ground.