Chapter 61That Man
"Stop it!"
A voice suddenly cut in while they were struggling.
Vivian froze and instinctively let go. Aria also stopped, looking somewhat disheveled toward the source of the voice.
The speaker was a very tall man with snow-white skin, chestnut hair, and a pair of deep, captivating blue eyes.
This kind of person seemed naturally born with an air that made people trust him easily.
He walked over with a smile and said, "Ladies, getting physical in a public place isn't very dignified, is it?"
His accent was pure London English.
As soon as he looked over, Sophie instinctively turned her face away. "Sir, this is our private matter. Please don't interfere."
"Private matter?" The man raised an eyebrow. "I can see this lady doesn't want to discuss any private matters with you. She said she wanted to leave, but you're blocking her and even getting physical."
Vivian rubbed her reddened arm where she'd been hit, saying indignantly, "What's it to you? Who are you anyway?"
The man smiled. "I'm the owner of this café. You're fighting here—what do you think, does it concern me or not?"
Sophie's expression changed.
Vivian snorted, said "Fine," and pulled Sophie to leave, but he extended his arm to block them.
"Miss, I think you need to apologize to this lady."
"Why should I?" Vivian's voice rose.
The man's smile remained unchanged. "Because the cameras in this shop clearly captured that you provoked her first, and you threw the first punch."
Vivian's chest heaved. She glared fiercely at the man, then said to Aria, "Miss, I'm very sorry."
With that, she pulled Sophie and left.
Aria watched their figures disappear through the doorway before finally breathing a sigh of relief.
She smoothed her hair and turned to the man with a slight smile. "Thank you."
"No need to thank me." The man nodded politely at her. "Are you hurt?"
Aria shook her head. "I'm fine, just got scratched a few times."
It hadn't seemed like much, but now the pain was kicking in—her scalp and neck were burning. Still, at least she hadn't come out on the losing end. She'd hit that bitch with her bag plenty of times.
And her bag had some weight to it.
The man handed her his business card. "Vincent Sterling, my name. If you're satisfied with my shop, you're welcome to come by for a drink anytime."
Aria took the card. Hearing him say this, she couldn't help but smile. "A drink? Does Mr. Sterling run a bar?"
"I have alcohol here too, if you'd like some."
"I'll come by when I have time." After saying this, Aria started to head out.
But because of her leg injury, she needed to hold onto the table and slowly shuffle her way out.
Seeing this, Vincent extended his arm with a smile. "Your leg isn't doing well. Would you like me to take you home?"
Aria glanced at him and used his arm for support, which made getting out much easier.
"No need, I drove here and my car has an autopilot system." She smiled slightly. "But thank you anyway."
"If it weren't for you, I don't know how long they would have kept bothering me."
Vincent's charming eyes blinked. "No need to be polite—it's what I should do."
-
Not far from the café, at a street corner, Sophie and Vivian hid behind a large tree, watching Vincent help Aria into her car.
Vivian rubbed her arm, grimacing. "That bitch hit hard. She almost broke my arm."
After a pause, she added, "Do you think our plan will work? This Aria doesn't seem like she'll fall for it that easily."
Sophie stared at the white sedan slowly driving away, a smile curling at the corner of her mouth.
"Of course. I've never seen a woman Vincent couldn't win over."
Despite saying this, Vivian was still a bit worried. "But she's pregnant."
"Being pregnant makes it even better." Sophie's voice was eerie. "A pregnant woman about to get divorced needs care the most. And when a handsome, caring man appears to help her in her time of trouble..."
"How could she not be moved?"
Besides, she didn't even need to be moved. As long as she was willing to be friends with Vincent, as long as she talked to him when feeling down, as long as she let down just a tiny bit of her guard, he'd have a reason to take her somewhere nice to relax.
An amusement park, a movie theater, a bar... any place would do. One moment of carelessness and that little bastard in her belly would be gone.
And who could she blame then?
Even if she called the police or went to court, it would be her own failure to protect the baby. It would have nothing to do with Sophie.
Of course, this was a secret she would never speak of. After all, she was so kind—how could she possibly do something so vicious?
Vivian thought about it and nodded. "True, but what if Arthur finds out?"
"It would be even better if he found out." Sophie sneered. "By then, Aria would be a slut who seduced another man behind her husband's back. No matter how much Arthur cares about her, he absolutely won't be able to stand that."
As she spoke, she pulled out her phone and sent Vincent a message: [How did it go?]
A few seconds later, the reply came: [All went smoothly. I got her social media contact.]
Sophie smiled with satisfaction.
"Let's go." She said to Vivian. "From here on, it's up to Vincent."
By the time she got back to the villa, it was already dark.
Arthur had just gotten home too and was about to eat. When Aria came in, they ran right into each other.
"You have a leg injury and you're still running around? Where did you go?"
"Went to see your mom, and met with a client." Aria didn't want to say more and walked past him into the house.
But Arthur stopped her. "Wait."
He walked over. "How did meeting with a client get you hurt?"
He grabbed the small mirror from the coffee table and held it up to her. Sure enough, she saw a cut on her fair neck that was already red and inflamed.
It was scratched out by Sophie's friend's fingernail.
There was nothing she couldn't say about it. She said directly, "The client was Sophie. Oh, and her friend. She said she's getting married next month and wanted me to help set up the venue. She said it was your idea."
"I didn't want to take her business, so we had a bit of a conflict."
Arthur's expression immediately became extremely strange.
"I didn't ask you to do the setup..." He said this, then his tone paused.
He could only clear his throat and change the subject. "You got into a fight?"
"Not really a fight, just some pulling and tugging." Aria said lightly. "Anyway, I didn't come out on the losing end."
Arthur stared at her for a few seconds, said "Wait here," then turned and walked into the house.
"What are you doing?" Aria asked.
Arthur didn't answer and went straight upstairs. A few minutes later, he came down with a first aid kit.
"Sit down." He pointed to the sofa.
Aria hesitated. "No need, it's just a scratch."
"Listen to me."
Aria had no choice but to sit on the sofa.
Arthur opened the first aid kit and took out iodine and cotton swabs, then sat down beside her.
He was very close. Aria could smell the faint cedar cologne on him. His hands were steady as he dipped the cotton swab in iodine and gently applied it to the wound on her neck.
When the iodine touched the wound, it stung slightly. Aria couldn't help but shrink her neck back.