Chapter 46: Venom

Chapter 46: Venom
Giselle looked straight into Colton’s eyes trying to read what was going on in his mind “I want to have quiet dinner too, Mr. Black. She is going to be your fiancé soon and she is also your assistant, shouldn’t you be finding peace in her company?”
Colton looked at her with his brows raised, he knew that she was teasing him. Colton never got to see this playful side of her, she was always obedient in front of him.
Something flashed in Giselle’s mind, and she could not help but look at the woman sitting a few tables away from where they were.
Colton frowned, disliking the tone of her speech and her attitude, he spoke in a low voice, “She is an efficient employee there is no denying that, but she has nothing to do with whom I spend my time with!”
"She might not have any right to interfere in your life as your assistant but as your fiancé... now that is a different story as she has every right to!” Giselle took a bite of her food looking at Colton with her brows raised in a playful challenge at him. She was surprised that he was explaining things to her!
Giselle was a fool to have believed that she could make him fall in love with her eventually, she could change his heart. She was so wrong, but she had already wasted close to three years of her life on him, waiting for him to finally see her.
After recovering from the shock, she lowered her head and gave a light cough, “It has nothing to do with me” she shrugged her shoulders "Anyway...” she turned her attention towards Zana with a bright smile “Who wants ice – cream?”
Zana squeals, raising her little hands above her head excitedly. Giselle’s phone starts ringing “Gi, I got a client call to attend urgently so I came back to my room.”
Giselle - “Zana and I are still in the restaurant. Just call me when you are done with the call.”
Tanner - “Thank you so much for taking care of Zana and I promise I will make it up to you.”
Giselle - “I will hold you to that promise.”
Colton noticed the way she made sure to not mention him to Tanner “Are you afraid?” Colton was a little depressed, she failed to mention his presence to her present lover! Seeing how affectionate she was with Zana and the way she was feeding her he felt a pang in his heart, “Do you like children very much?”
“Afraid? Afraid of what?” Giselle chose to address his first question coz she did not know how to handle his second question. He caught her off – guard with that question of his.
“Afraid of your lover doubting you if you mentioned that you are having dinner with your ex – husband?” Colton tried his best to keep his anger at bay.
“Tanner knows me better than you, so there is no question of him doubting me!” Giselle knew in her heart that the trust Tanner for her in his heart is not one that comes with ‘Conditions apply’ clause with it.
Colton heaved a sigh raking a hand through his hair. He realized that he is still not ok with the fact that she moved on so quickly, he is a man that every woman desperately wanted to get their hands on, rich, handsome, powerful, and he was someone that could give them everything that their heart desired, so how could she replace him?
“You did not answer my second question, Giselle” he saw the way Giselle’s hand tightened around her fork and the way her breathing changed. Every time the discussion turned to her pregnancy or children, she got nervous, and this made his suspicion stronger.
“I always loved children, Colton. Just because I agreed with your clause of not getting pregnant during our marriage does not mean that I never wanted children!” She picked up on his suspicion quickly.
Colton did not ask any more questions even though he had many running on a loop in his head. Not long after, Wanda saw them and walked over, her expression was tight with a stiff smile, “Miss Smith you are here too.”
Giselle ignored her as she had already seen Wanda’s true colors. The woman is a two – faced snake that could kill you with just a drop of her venom. So, she did not want to bother with such hypocrites, she was not in the mood to be around such hypocritic people.
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Wanda’s face, she gritted her teeth with hatred, and saw the child in her arms, and suddenly smiled and whispered, “Wow, she is such a cute child.”
When Wanda changed her expression of shock into one of admiration, she stretched out her hand toward Zana’s face. Giselle’s eyes turned cold, she stood up holding Zana, and spoke to Colton in an indifferent tone, “Thank you for everything that you did last night, Mr. Black. I am full, and I have something to do.”
After that, Giselle left without sparing a glance at Wanda. Wanda got so angry that she wanted to slap Giselle, but she did not dare to show her hatred in front of Colton, she just put on an embarrassing appearance, looking at the man innocently, “Colton, did I say anything wrong? Why is Ms. Smith so cold and rude towards me?”
Colton continued to stare at Giselle’s retreating back and said nothing.
Wanda saw the way Colton was looking at Giselle’s silhouette even after she was far away from them, she gritted her teeth, sat down “Colton... I know it is not my place to ask you this, but... are you in love with her?”
Colton’s head whipped around to face Wanda, he stared at her with narrowed eyes “Why the fuck would you think so?”
“It is just the way you look at her every time... though you are divorced, you look at her like a man that is in love. You are always getting involved with her ever since your divorce!” Wanda’s points were all valid, but Colton was not willing to accept them nor was he willing to listen!

Giselle’s PoV
Seeing her hypocritic face kind of ruined my mood “Auntie, Gi” Zana tugged on my hand that she was holding in hers. She then pointed towards the Fun Zone where many kids were playing all these different games and having fun while their moms sipped on cocktails and chilled in the pool.
“You just had food, Ally, if you jump around too much all that food will end up coming out of your mouth” I tickled her making her squeal and giggle.
“Auntie... stop...” she was flapping her arms around and was trying to get out of my hold “auntie, Gi, pleeeeeeaaaasssseee.”
“Alright, fine, we will go on one condition” Zana nodded her little head up and down excitedly “You will not jump around much and if you feel like vomiting, you will stop and come down.”
“Promise” she gave me a toothy smile before running off towards the fun zone.
I sat on the bean bag and opened my phone, a notification immediately came up on my screen “Not everything that you see is what it is. Even a white sheet looks black if there is no light.”
There was a picture attached to the message. In the picture I could see the hand of a woman holding a pen drive and she was inserting it into my father’s computer, in his office. The world I knew shattered around me, I was filled with remorse, regret, relief, happiness, and a myriad of emotions that I couldn’t put my finger on ran through my mind.
I was numb, my father spent two and a half years in jail for a crime that he did not commit, he kept screaming on top of his voice that he never committed a crime, but no one, we were his own family and we never believed him “Dad, all this time...!”
I could not even cry coz I treated him like a criminal when I should have been standing by his side and fighting along with him! Arranging for money was all that I thought about “I am sorry dad... I am so sorry.”
Finally tears fell down my cheeks, I did not have any right to cry, I pointed my finger at him when the whole world was calling him a liar, a cheat, a corrupt individual, and a hypocrite!
My phone buzzed again, and the picture disappeared “Innocent until proven guilty, but your father was innocent even after proven guilty. Do you want to clear your father’s name?”
“Yes” I replied immediately as my mind was blank and all I wanted to do was to prove that my father is indeed a righteous man and that he is not the criminal everyone is claiming him to be!
“Then you do as I say, and I will give you all the proof that you need to prove your father is innocent. Wait for my next instructions.”
I called the number wanting to talk to them, but I just got a busy tone, a sign that whoever it was that messaged me had switched off their phone or turned – on flight mode “Shit!”
Mr. Tom was the first person I wanted to call but instead I called Tanner, he disconnected my call, but I called him again, this time he answered my call “Giselle, is everything ok? Is Zana troubling you?”
“No... No... No Tanner, Zana is busy playing with her newly found friends in Fun zone, I am calling you for something else” Though I am the one that called him in a hurry, I did not know how I should talk to him about this! “Ummm... Tanner...”
“Giselle, tell me what it is! Is Colton causing any trouble for you downstairs? Do you want me to come there and deal with him?” Tanner’s voice was tinged with worry, and it made me feel guilty for putting him through all this.
“My father was framed!” Those were the only words spoken for the next five to ten minutes before any of us spoke again.
“WHAT? How do you know that? Did you find something out? Or did someone say something to you about his case? Did Tom find out something that the police could not?” Tanner was shooting question after question, he sounded just as worried as I was and why wouldn’t he, my father has been his mentor for five to six years!
“I just got a message from an unknown number with a picture of someone tampering with my father’s computer at work, but the message auto disappeared before I could save it, Tanner! They have been sending me some cryptic messages too!” I got up from my place and started pacing the floor.
“Did they mention anything else? Any demands that they have?” Being from a law background made Tanner think like a policeman.
“They just instructed me to wait till their next message comes and to do whatever is asked of me in that message!” I have been reading and re – reading their last message over and over again! “I have called that number and it is switched off or they have put it on flight mode!”