"Lance, you bastard!" Bella shouted in grief and anger, covering her face as she turned and ran out.
She knew that staying any longer would only embarrass her.
Outside, Logan was surprised to see Bella suddenly burst through the door.
Before he could greet her, he saw Bella leave, sobbing.
Bella had noticed Logan, but she was too heartbroken at the moment.
Of course, she also hoped that Logan would see her crying and question Lance about it.
Indeed, Logan did question Lance.
"I just saw Bella leave here crying. What happened? Did you bully her?"
"Nothing of the sort," Lance denied flatly, changing the subject with a calm expression. "Why are you here?"
Clearly, he didn't want to discuss what had just happened.
Logan noticed this and snorted lightly. "How dare you ask me that? Your mother has called you numerous times. Why haven't you answered?"
"Really? I've been working and didn't notice."
Lance's response was indifferent.
In truth, he had deliberately ignored the calls.
Since his return, his mother had been arranging blind dates against his will.
Logan looked at his indifferent son, feeling a bit choked up. He knew his son was doing it on purpose.
Finally, he got straight to the point. "Your mother asked me to tell you that you must come home tonight. If not, she'll come to your office or go find Dr. Deanna herself."
Upon hearing this, Lance's face darkened, but he eventually agreed.
Meanwhile, Bella left the Mercer Group building, looking back at the towering structure with resentment.
She couldn't believe that Lance would go to such lengths for Deanna, completely disregarding the relationship between their families.
Thinking of this, a fierce glint flashed in her eyes as she muttered to herself, "I can apologize, but don't think you two can be together!"
Almost as soon as she finished speaking, her phone rang. It was her assistant calling.
"Miss Cody, I've just received news that Mrs. Mercer is arranging a blind date for Mr. Mercer tonight."
Unsurprisingly, this made Bella even angrier.
She hadn't yet found a way to break up Lance and Deanna, and Samantha was already trying to set Lance up with another woman.
For a moment, she resented Samantha.
But she quickly calmed down.
It was clear that Lance was focused on Deanna and wouldn't be interested in any other woman.
So she didn't need to worry about that.
Her only enemy had always been Deanna!
That evening, Lance returned to the Mercer family mansion after work.
As soon as he entered the living room, he saw his mother chatting happily with an unfamiliar young woman on the sofa. His face immediately darkened.
At that moment, Samantha noticed Lance and waved him over with a smile. "Lance is back. Come here, let me introduce you."
She pointed to the young woman beside her. "This is Martha Chan from the Chan family. You should get to know each other."
"Hello, Lance," Martha greeted him with a shy smile.
Lance acted as if he hadn't seen her and coldly addressed Samantha. "I've come back as you asked. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."
With that, he turned to leave.
It was clear he had only come back for appearances and had no intention of staying.
Martha's smile froze in embarrassment at being ignored.
Samantha's face wasn't much better; she felt humiliated.
She glared at Lance and scolded him. "Who said you could leave? Stay right there."
Lance stopped and turned back reluctantly. "What do you need?"
"Your task tonight is to have dinner with Miss Chan."
Samantha knew her son's stubborn nature and got straight to the point.
Without hesitation, Lance coldly refused. "I don't have time."
"Don't tell me you don't have time for a meal. If that's the case, maybe it's time to replace some of the company's executives!"
Samantha pressed on relentlessly.
Lance's face grew darker.
Seeing that mother and son were about to argue because of her, Martha felt disappointed but spoke up gently. "Samantha, since Lance is busy, let's cancel tonight's dinner. I just remembered I have plans with a friend tonight anyway. We can reschedule."
Of course, the plans with a friend were just an excuse.
Both Samantha and Lance understood this.
Samantha found Martha's thoughtfulness endearing and liked her even more.
Lance felt relieved and finally looked at Martha properly. "Since Miss Chan has plans, we won't keep you. Butler, please see Miss Chan out."
Martha forced a bitter smile and left with the butler.
As soon as she left, Bella received the news.
However, Bella didn't dwell on it and focused more on meeting Deanna.