Chapter 17 Engagement Token
"Yes, I forgot," I replied.
"I waited for you for two hours!" Lucas was very unhappy.
Kenny couldn't help but defend me: "You only waited two hours. Last year on your anniversary, Bella waited for you from morning until night—the whole day! And the year before that, you hadn't even finished the appetizers when you took a phone call and left, leaving Bella all alone."
Lucas looked as if he'd been slapped across the face.
"And that phone call was from Amelia," I remembered clearly and added.
Lucas opened his mouth but couldn't speak.
"Can you move aside now?" I gestured for him to step away from the doorway.
"Let's talk," Lucas said.
I shook my head. "Except for the divorce, there's nothing for us to talk about."
For the past three years, I'd often longed to spend more time with Lucas. Even just a brief five-minute chat would have satisfied me as I sat alone in that empty house.
I never expected that now when Lucas wanted to talk to me, I no longer wanted to listen.
Adrian and Cole dutifully worked to remove Lucas, who looked at them both with dangerous eyes.
Alfred said quietly, "Mr. Valeri, let's go. Don't make Mrs. Valeri angry again."
Lucas glanced at Alfred and moved aside.
Karen, Jonathan, and I walked into the private room and closed the door behind us, shutting Lucas out.
The meal lasted over two hours. When I walked out of the private room, Lucas still hadn't left.
But now there was someone with him—Amelia.
"Lucas, who exactly are you waiting for here? Come paragliding with me," Amelia coaxed. "Let's go to Dravonia. I heard there's a gold exhibition going on! I have too few gold jewelry pieces—I want to buy more."
As she spoke, Amelia saw me and suddenly stood up. "What are you doing here?"
I ignored her and asked Lucas teasingly, "Still waiting for me? What exactly do you want to say to me?"
Before Lucas could speak, Amelia exploded: "You were waiting for this bitch! And I stupidly waited here with you!"
"I didn't ask you to wait with me. You refused to leave," Lucas said with some annoyance. "Amelia, watch your volume and manners. There are other guests here."
"You think I'm embarrassing you?" Amelia laughed coldly. "You waiting here for two hours trying to please your ex-wife—that's what looks ridiculous to everyone else!"
Lucas, hit where it hurt, looked extremely uncomfortable.
Amelia turned to attack me: "You did this on purpose, didn't you? Now you're Vice Chairman of Platinum Haven Hotel, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and you don't give a damn about Lucas, the Kingpin of the North!"
Finally she wasn't so stupid—she'd learned to stir up trouble between Platinum Haven Hotel and the Northern District.
I smiled carelessly. "If I don't care about Lucas, I certainly don't care about you. Who are you anyway?"
Amelia stamped her feet in anger. Her eyes fell on Jonathan, and she suddenly paused, saying suspiciously, "Are you Jonathan?"
"I am." Jonathan seemed to sense trouble and squeezed closer to Karen and me.
Amelia smiled. "I know you. You're Isabella's fiancé!"
She excitedly pulled at Lucas: "Isabella was already engaged before she married you! Now her fiancé is here—stop stalling and divorce her already!"
Lucas seemed unable to process this, staring at me in a daze: "Fiancé?"
I really wanted to nod and confirm it, and take the opportunity to provoke Lucas, but what if Lucas insisted on taking Jonathan to the fighting ring? Jonathan wasn't Marcus—he'd probably faint before even getting on stage.
Jonathan was trembling slightly, saying quietly, "Bella, he's so scary. You married a mob boss!"
I couldn't help but be speechless. Karen glared at him: "Idiot, we're all from mob families!"
"Mob families aren't all the same," Jonathan said sheepishly.
"This is your fiancé?" Lucas came back to his senses, looking down on Jonathan a bit. He asked me, "You like this kind of weak man?"
"Jonathan and I grew up together. He is my fiancé. That's a fact." I sharply asked Amelia, "My engagement to Jonathan wasn't made public. How did you know about it?"
Amelia froze. "Of course everyone in Dawnharbor knows. I heard about it by chance."
"You're lying!" Karen's tone was certain. "The engagement was privately decided by Bella's parents and Jonathan's parents, with an agreement to make it public at their engagement party. Many relatives don't even know about this, let alone other people in Dawnharbor. There's only one way you could know—you've seen their engagement token!"
In mob families, engagement tokens are extremely important items, representing an unshakeable alliance of interests between two families. They're only shown to outsiders on very important occasions and are usually carefully stored away to prevent accidental damage.
The fact that Amelia had seen such a thing was very intriguing.
Lucas frowned deeply, doubt flashing in his eyes.
Amelia frantically denied it: "I haven't seen it! I just... I just heard about it by chance."
"Then please think carefully about who you heard it from," I asked her in a serious tone. "This token was lost five years ago when the Sorelli family was massacred. Anyone who knows about my engagement to Jonathan must have seen the token. The token is very important to Jonathan and me. We must get it back."
Lucas clenched his fists and let out a frustrated breath, asking in a muffled voice, "Can you remember?"
Amelia quickly shook her head. "I don't know."
"Even a goldfish has a bigger brain capacity than you." I mocked her, then said to Karen and Jonathan, "Let's go."
Leaving the restaurant, I took them both to the airport.
Jonathan looked somewhat ashamed: "I performed so poorly just now."
Karen didn't mind. "Bella and I are used to it."
I said thoughtfully, "I originally thought the token was lost, but now it seems it must be in the hands of someone from the Gambino family, most likely Amelia's mother."
"Can we get it back?" Jonathan asked worriedly.
"I'll figure something out," I reassured them. "If we can't get it back, it's okay. I'll have Gale visit your family."
Karen and Jonathan looked at each other, then held hands and said to me, "Bella, although our elders don't want us involved in the Sorelli family's revenge, we're your friends. Five years ago we couldn't do anything for you, but five years later, we want to pledge our loyalty to you."
"Are you sure? I'm walking a dangerous path," I said, somewhat surprised but not entirely unexpected, feeling warm inside.
Their eyes were determined. "Just don't think we're too weak."
"Of course not!" I opened my arms and gave them a big hug.
Karen and Jonathan promised to come back to Starstream City in a while, and then I watched them walk through the boarding gate.
Two days later, Gale went to Dawnharbor. Marcus, worried, went with him.
As the year drew to a close, there were more and more party invitations. From now on, I would no longer attend as Mrs. Valeri, but represent Platinum Haven Hotel, which meant I needed at least thirty different evening gowns made in various styles.
This was a big project.
Early one morning, two fashion designers arrived at my door at the same time.
One was my current styling director, Sophia, and the other was Lucas's exclusive designer, William.
I asked, "William, why are you here? Your client now should be Amelia."
William bowed to me: "Good morning, Mrs. Valeri. I never serve mistresses."