Chapter 172
One year later.
Aurora and Dorian had grown another year older and gotten quite a bit taller.
Ella's position at the company had become even more secure.
Vida had performed brilliantly in the company's design department. Several of her works had won awards one after another, making her radiate confidence as she threw herself wholeheartedly into her work.
That day, Ella had a business dinner. She was invited to a club by several heirs who had just inherited their family businesses.
Ella brought Vida and Megan along.
All the way there, those young heirs surrounded the three of them like stars around the moon, their attitude humble and respectful.
"Ms. Garcia, this way please."
After guiding Ella and the others into a private room, Luke Jones instructed the waitstaff to serve the food.
Once the dishes were served, several particularly young and handsome boys came in.
Each one looked to be just over twenty, with delicate features, broad shoulders, and narrow waists. Some had that wild, wolfish look, while others had a more innocent, puppy-like charm.
Luke introduced them to Ella, "Ms. Garcia, these are all college students, very clean and very obedient. How about letting them drink a few rounds with you?"
"After drinking, we can go somewhere else to sing and chat."
Ella sat in the main seat of the private room, her makeup flawless, her clothes elegant. Though she was only 28, she gave off an air of dignified composure and stern authority.
She had thought this was just a meal with business partners.
She hadn't expected these people to be so into this scene, bringing her several good-looking college students.
So when women become CEOs, they also get sent men.
Ella felt both amused and exasperated, glancing at Vida and Megan beside her.
"Do you like them? If you do, keep them."
She couldn't find interest in men anymore.
Perhaps in recent years, she had focused entirely on work and never thought about personal relationships, having no such needs.
So much so that now, the higher her status and position, the less she wanted to get entangled with men.
After all, men were all the same.
Vida smiled and said, "Ms. Garcia, it's Luke's gesture. Why don't you pick two to stay?"
All these years, Ella had been so busy with work that she'd neglected herself.
Women occasionally need men to provide some comfort.
Anyway, Ella was single now with nothing to worry about. Keeping two eye-pleasing boys to give her a massage and help her relax could ease her body and mind.
Ella understood what Vida meant, knowing that Megan had Samuel watching over her and wouldn't dare mess around.
Her gaze swept over the group of young boys in front of her, and she casually pointed at two.
Luke immediately instructed the two selected boys, "Take good care of Ms. Garcia, and you'll be well rewarded."
Most who came to work at this kind of club were from ordinary families.
The boys realized this was a rare opportunity and immediately put their best foot forward, trying to impress Ella.
Ella didn't want to drink. The two she picked were there to drink for her.
When her phone rang, she left Vida and Megan to drink with them and stepped out of the private room with her phone.
The call was from Aurora.
Ella chatted patiently with Aurora, unaware that Mason had just passed by and couldn't help but stop and take another look at her.
Confirming it really was Ella, he said nothing and went into the private room next door.
In the next room sat Samuel, Joshua, and Brian.
Mason came over and sat down, saying, "I just saw Ella when I came in. She's here too."
Hearing Ella's name, Joshua's heart stirred, and he asked urgently, "Why would she be here? Does she know I'm back?"
He had only just returned, planning to gather them together so that when he held a birthday party for his parents, he could surprise Ella and the kids.
He hadn't expected Ella to come to this club.
Joshua looked at his legs, which could now stand completely, and the gunshot wound at his waist had almost healed.
Now, with good care and a bit of grooming, he still looked quite young and handsome.
At least he was satisfied with his appearance.
"Not sure, but nobody told her about your situation, so she couldn't possibly be here because of you."
Mason understood Ella too well.
In the year Joshua had been gone, Ella hadn't asked about him once, hadn't sent anyone to find out about him.
She treated it as if Joshua were dead, completely unconcerned.
Sometimes when the kids asked, she would just brush them off with a few words.
Although he no longer lived at the Lewis family home, he still knew everything that went on there.
"I'll go see what she's here for." Joshua stood up, eager to see Ella, wanting to show her how he looked after his recovery, wondering if it would make her heart flutter like before.
But Samuel grabbed him just as he stood up. "If you go now, what about the surprise you have been planning?"
Joshua hesitated, then speculated, "What if Ella doesn't want to come to my house then?"
Ella had once told him she would never set foot in the Thomas family home again.
Ella might let the kids go to Ava's birthday party, but she herself might not show up.
"So you really want to see her at this moment?"
Samuel let go.
Joshua hesitated, then replied, "How about I just go take a look from a distance?"
It had been a whole year since he had seen Ella.
He didn't know if Ella had changed at all, didn't know if Ella missed him.
He really was eager to see Ella's reaction when she saw he'd recovered.
"Alright then, we'll go together."
Samuel thought, if Ella were here, then Megan, as her assistant, would definitely be here too.
He also wanted to see how well Megan was doing after leaving him.
When both of them went out, Mason followed along.
In the next private room.
Ella had a young handsome guy on each side, one drinking for her, one serving her food, taking care of her like a queen.
Megan and Vida were listening to Luke introduce their company's situation, planning to analyze and advise Ella later.
At the door, Joshua and the others saw that the private room door was tightly closed, and with such good soundproofing, they had no idea what was going on inside.
Knocking and going straight in would be too abrupt.
The men were a bit stumped.
Samuel suggested, "How about we pretend to be waitstaff and go in to look?"
Joshua thought that could work and immediately went to find a waiter to exchange clothes with and put on a mask.
Before long, someone knocked on the door of Ella's private room. Luke called out, "Come in."
Joshua, holding a plate of food, dressed as a waiter and wearing a mask, walked into the private room.
Looking up, the scene in the room immediately made his chest tighten.
Three women, and the other five or six were all men.
And those men were all young and handsome, bright and good-looking.
Just as Joshua entered, he saw a young guy holding food up to Ella's mouth.
Ella didn't avoid it at all and opened her mouth to eat.
She paid no attention to the waiter bringing in food, staring curiously at the young handsome guy beside her and asking, "How old are you? What's your name?"
The young guy smiled shyly and replied softly, "I'm 20 years old. My name is Chris Miller."
Ella was surprised.
So young, yet already out working to make money.
It seemed being a man wasn't always easy either.
Thinking of her own past struggles, she empathized with these male college students and gestured to them with particular warmth.
"Don't just focus on me, you guys eat too."
The two young handsome guys obediently responded, "Thank you, sis."
Hearing them call her "sis," Ella felt inexplicably pleased.
When the young guys asked to add her on WeChat, she didn't refuse and added them.
However, this entire interaction was witnessed by Joshua, who had come in to deliver food.
He minded it terribly, but no one noticed who he was, and no one gave him a second glance.
Unable to bear it any longer, after setting down the plate, Joshua turned and left the private room. The door was immediately closed by the server inside.
Samuel and Mason came up to ask, "How was it? Who's Ella with?"
Joshua took off his mask and went to the adjacent private room. His face, though showing some age, was still distinguished, but at this moment looked so dark and forbidding that it was frightening.
Feeling gloomy, he immediately grabbed some alcohol and filled his glass.
Samuel quickly stopped him, "How long has it been since your injury healed, and you're already drinking heavily? Don't drink. Tell us what you saw."
Joshua still felt suffocated in his chest. After holding it in for a while, he said sourly, "There are only three women next door, and five or six men. Ella actually has one on each side. Those men look barely legal, all delicate and keep calling Ella 'sis.'"
"Ella, as a CEO, is really different now. She's even learned to have men keep her company."
Brian, standing nearby, didn't dare say a word.
The next second, Samuel exclaimed, "Is Megan there too?"
Joshua was confused, "Who's Megan?"
Mason followed up, "Is one of the women Vida?"
Vida and Joshua did know each other.
He nodded, "Yes, one is Vida."
"They're in there playing with men?" Mason's tone also became displeased.
Over this past year, Mason had watched Vida's transformation.
Vida, who had left her child behind to return to the workplace, was indeed much more attractive than when she was a housewife.
Although the two of them would occasionally contact each other because of the child, it seemed like they had made a clean break.
But they had never gone to court to finalize the divorce, and they had been separated for a whole year now.
"Who knows. Anyway, those men are really shameless, brazenly trying to seduce Ella."
The more Joshua thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. He instructed Brian, "Go tell Ella that the kids need her and she should hurry home."
Brian hesitated, somewhat afraid. "Mr. Thomas, Ms. Garcia is now the CEO of the Lewis Group and the largest shareholder of the Thomas Group. Her status is much higher than yours right now. I wouldn't dare interrupt her good time."
"No matter how high her status is, isn't she still the mother of my children? How can someone who's a mother be out drinking with those men?"
"Besides, she's allergic to alcohol. Go quickly."
Brian still didn't dare.
But Samuel and Mason could no longer hold back and turned to leave.
The two of them suddenly pushed open the door to the adjacent private room.
The people who had been eating enthusiastically looked up toward the doorway.
Seeing that the people entering were Mason and Samuel, Megan's heart jumped, and she immediately distanced herself from the man beside her.
Vida appeared calm and composed.
After all, she and Mason had nothing to do with each other anymore.
Even if she had something going on with a man, it had nothing to do with Mason.
She just didn't know why Mason and Samuel would appear here.
Ella looked at those two, also quite curious.
What a coincidence—just coming out for a meal and running into acquaintances.
Luke, seeing it was Mason, was very enthusiastic and stood up to greet him, "Mr. Lewis, what brings you here? Have you eaten? Would you like to..."
Before Luke could finish, Mason brushed past him and stepped forward. Instead of looking at Vida, he spoke to Ella in the tone of an older brother scolding her, "You're a woman—why are you learning from men and going out to do business dinners? Does the Lewis Group have no men left?"
Seeing that there really were two young handsome guys sitting beside Ella, and two beside Vida as well.
He got angry and yelled at Vida, "You too. If Ella doesn't know better, are you going to follow her lead? Take her home right now."
Vida was somewhat angry and wanted to retort when Ella stopped her. Sitting there looking at Mason, she said mockingly, "Who do you think you are? What we do has nothing to do with you. Aren't you taking yourself a bit too seriously?"
They hadn't been in contact for a year, and he showed no remorse. Now he was actually lecturing her.
Ella thought he really had some nerve.
Mason saw that Ella still didn't acknowledge him and got even angrier. "Ella, do you know you're ruining the Lewis family's reputation?"
A female CEO going out to find male college students—if word of this got out, did she know how big the impact would be?
Ella laughed, "When you had an affair during your marriage, weren't you afraid of ruining the Lewis family's reputation?"
Not wanting to let such a person ruin their mood, Ella looked coldly at Luke. "Luke, can't you see he came here deliberately to cause trouble? Do you still want that project or not?"
Luke snapped to attention and immediately signaled the servers to throw them out.
Mason snapped, "Let's see who dares touch me."
Luke looked apologetic but was very good at reading the situation. "Mr. Lewis, no offense, but Ms. Garcia is now the CEO of the Lewis Group."
He had the servers forcibly push them out.
Mason was furious but couldn't really fight back.
There were five or six men inside.
If a fight broke out, who knew who would win or lose?
Besides, Ella and Vida were in the room.
He didn't want to be too embarrassed.
In the end, he could only be pushed out of the private room, looking disheveled.
Samuel, seeing he was about to be pushed out too, shouted at Megan, "You come out here."
Megan had been somewhat afraid at first.
Seeing Ella backing her up, she straightened her spine and instructed the servers, "Get them all out of here."
Luke understood, and after throwing them out, immediately came forward to close the door.
Then he came to Ella's side, pouring tea and water while apologizing.
"I'm so sorry, Ms. Garcia, for upsetting you all. I guarantee this kind of thing won't happen again."
"Take your time drinking. To express my apology, after you finish, we'll go somewhere else, and I'll find a few more young men to serve you."
Ella sat upright and waved Luke away.
She still found it strange that Mason and Samuel had appeared here.
Logically, they couldn't be so tactless.
Why were they acting so abnormally today?
"Sis, have another bite." Beside her, Chris picked up some food and brought it to Ella's mouth.
Ella came back to her senses, deciding there was no need to care, and opened her mouth to eat what Chris offered.
But the next second, the private room door was burst open again.
And this time, appearing before everyone was a healthy, well-dressed, upright Joshua.
The moment she saw him, Ella's eyes clearly showed surprise.