If the woman Tristan was smooching in the elevator wasn't her, Katniss would definitely give Bella a heads-up that he was straight-up betraying her.
Katniss just said, "You gotta trust Mr. Forbes. If you're curious, ask him, not me."
Bella let out a heavy sigh, looking all down. "But he's been lying to me. Even if it wasn't him in the elevator, he's hiding something. I woke up at five this morning, saw a message from my friend, and bolted out of the hospital to Serenity Estate to find him. He wasn't home, and his car was gone. I went to the office, hoping he'd be there, but nope. When I called, he sounded like he was in deep sleep. If he wasn't at home or the office, where the heck was he sleeping?"
Bella's car seats were real leather, making it hot as hell.
But Katniss wasn't feeling the heat. She was sweating bullets from fear. She tried to keep her cool, knowing Bella might suspect Tristan someday, but she didn't think it'd be this soon. It made her feel super uneasy.
What threw her off even more was Bella spilling all this to her, showing she trusted her.
"Miss Astor, I think you should just ask Mr. Forbes. Guessing won't get you anywhere."
Bella ran her fingers through her hair, looking both hurt and stubborn. "You've been with him forever. Don't you know him? If he doesn't want you to know something, he won't tell you. If I ask, it'll tip him off. If he's got another woman, he'll hide her even better. If he doesn't, he'll be pissed I don't trust him and didn't give him a chance to explain. I'm too scared to ask."
Katniss often found herself speechless around Bella. Seeing two women arguing outside the car, she pretended to be distracted and didn't answer Bella.
Bella waited for a response, but seeing Katniss distracted, she honked the horn, making the women move.
Before Katniss could turn back, Bella grabbed her hand and softly pleaded, "Katniss, please help me. I see you as a friend. I've been abroad so long and don't have anyone else I trust. You're my only friend! If Michael finds out, he'll flip and confront Tristan."
"What do you want me to do?" Katniss asked, feeling a bit cornered.
Bella replied, "Just keep tabs on him for me. See if he sneaks out after coming home, where he goes, who he meets, and what he's up to!"
"Miss Astor, I really can't do that," Katniss said, clearly troubled. Even if she had nothing going on with Tristan, she couldn't do it. "I work with Mr. Forbes for over ten hours a day. I barely get any rest. If I follow him around like you want, I'd never sleep. Plus, if he finds out, I could lose my job and be blacklisted in this industry."
Bella, looking defeated, slumped against the steering wheel. After a moment, she said, "You can go now. Just leave me alone."
Katniss opened the car door and got out, weaving through the crowded street back to the hospital parking lot to get her car. When she returned, Bella's car was gone.
She didn't know what Bella would do next, but she knew Bella would definitely dig deeper.
Back at Oakwood Hills, as she was unlocking the door, a thought hit her: How did Tristan get in this morning?
She had told Tristan the password was her birthday, thinking he wouldn't remember.
Staring at the lock for a while, she ultimately decided not to change the password. She went inside, changed into her work clothes, and headed to Synergy Global Corporation.
There were still a few undercover reporters hanging around the company entrance, clearly not letting go of the Tristan and Bella story.
However, after pressure from the Astor family, they didn't dare to openly block them.
As Katniss stepped out of the elevator, she immediately sensed people looking at her differently. She wasn't sure why; maybe it was because she was later than usual?
"Katniss."
Two employees who passed by greeted her, and she nodded back before placing her bag down. She then casually picked up a file and knocked on Tristan's office door.
"Come in." Tristan's deep, magnetic voice came through.
She pushed the door open and walked in, only to find Bella and Michael also there, both staring at her.
"Katniss, you're late today?" Bella said, looking completely different from the defeated woman in the car, as if she had never suspected Tristan of anything. Bella also subtly hinted that Katniss should keep quiet about their earlier meeting.
Katniss nodded slightly and flashed a polite smile. "Mr. Astor, Miss Astor, I hurt my leg. Mr. Forbes let me hit the hospital for some meds, so I'm running late."
Bella let out a sigh of relief and smiled sweetly. "You are so dedicated coming to work even when you're hurt. You and Tristan go ahead with your work. I just snuck out of the hospital, and Michael chased me here. He's trying to drag me back."
Katniss felt Michael's gaze was off. Throughout her chat with Bella, Michael kept staring at her, like he was trying to see right through her, even though he had a slight smile on his face.
She turned and walked to Tristan's desk, feeling their eyes still on her. What really stung was that she had just grabbed a random file to talk to Tristan about Bella's suspicions.
And this file had already been signed by Tristan.
Tristan glanced at the file, then flipped to the last page to see his signature. He looked up at her. "In fifteen minutes, we'll have a meeting in the conference room. Go over this file in detail, and then I'll decide whether to sign it or not."
Katniss breathed a sigh of relief and bent down to retrieve the file. "Yes, Mr. Forbes."
She walked out with the file, not forgetting to nod at Michael and Bella.
Once outside the office, away from their stares, her tense nerves relaxed, and she returned to her desk.
She had to admit, Tristan was sharp. He could tell she had something to say and orchestrated a little "drama" without any prior communication.
She got up and went to the break room to pour a cup of coffee. Before entering, she vaguely heard people whispering inside.
"How could she afford a house there?"
"She's good-looking and capable. It's not hard for her to find someone in high society to rely on."
When Katniss walked in, the group immediately fell silent. She poured her coffee, nodded at them, and left.
Seeing that she hadn't overheard anything, the group relaxed, but someone still said, "I just saw a hickey on Katniss."
"Really? Are you sure? Jessica told me she's single!"
They started gossiping again.
Katniss returned to her desk, finished her coffee to perk up, and went to the conference room five minutes early to prepare.
The large conference room had the blinds drawn, making it a bit dim. She turned on the air conditioning and walked to the corner to turn on the lights.
Suddenly, she heard the door open and turned around, bumping right into Tristan's chest. His familiar scent filled her nose, and the impact made her nose tingle, her eyes quickly welling up with tears.
"Why'd you suddenly come back to the office?" Tristan gently pinched her tingling nose.
Katniss glanced at the door. The large conference room was empty, but someone could walk in any second. She tried to step back, but his hand on her waist held her tight.
"This is the office. What are you trying to do?" she whispered angrily. "Besides, Miss Astor and Mr. Astor are still in your office!"
"They're in the office, not the conference room. What's there to worry about?" Tristan raised an eyebrow, looking at her with a half-smile. "Are you scared?"
Katniss felt a surge of anger inside her. 'Isn't that obvious?' she almost blurted out, but she managed to hold back and calmly said, "Bella came to see me this morning when I was at the hospital."
Tristan played with her fingers, even bringing them to his nose to smell. "Why did you go to the hospital?"
"I..." Katniss realized Tristan was missing the point!
The point was that Bella had come to see her!
A shadow passed by the window, and Katniss mustered all her strength to push him away. She turned on the conference room lights just as the door opened.
More than ten people entered for the meeting, instantly dissipating the room's ambiguous atmosphere, but Katniss still felt a bit nervous.
With the lights on, she turned to see Tristan already seated at the head of the table, looking at a file with a blank expression.
Tristan and Katniss were usually the first to arrive at meetings, so their presence alone didn't arouse suspicion. The meeting quickly got underway.
The meeting lasted two hours, ending just before lunch. Katniss returned to her desk, and Michael emerged from Tristan's office.
Standing beside her, he looked at her, prompting her to stand and greet him, "Mr. Astor, are you leaving? Won't you stay for lunch?"
"No, Bella is clinging to Tristan, so I won't stay to bother them. Get them some food from the hotel, try to keep it light. Bella shouldn't have anything too heavy right now," Michael instructed, but he didn't leave after giving the order.
Katniss agreed to his requests and then asked, "Is there anything else you need?"
"I heard that last night, after your engagement at D.V., you personally took Tristan home?" Michael straightened up, hands in his pockets, looking at her.