Though paralyzed, still radiantly charming!

Chapter 298: These little tricks are nothing to worry about

“Bella! Bella!”

Ryan shouted Bella’s name, jolting awake from his dream, drenched in sweat.

He looked around, but the familiar figure wasn’t there. Slowly, he let out a sigh of relief—it was just a dream.

But the dream had felt too real. It was a memory of his past with her.

Four years ago, he had let go. Faced with Bella’s deep feelings, he chose to run away for the first time, thinking that would be the end of it.

But after all this time, just when Ryan thought everything had settled down, Bella came back—forcing her way into his life in a way he couldn’t refuse.

Ryan had some control over his dreams, and he admitted that when he recalled their first meeting, he felt a rush of excitement.

If he could treat it as a new beginning, did that mean everything that happened before didn’t count? Could they start over?

Unfortunately, the dream ended there, and with it, the struggle of a new day began.

“Bella? Who’s Bella?”

Ryan was still groggy when a cold voice cut through the air beside him.

Like a gust of icy wind blowing into the room, the voice snapped him out of his drowsiness.

“Miss Alice…”

Rubbing his eyes, he turned to see a girl sitting in the corner.

It was Alice, of course. She had come into his room early in the morning and was now sitting there, arms crossed, watching him.

Ryan massaged his aching temples. Even though he had slept through the night, he felt as if he’d been beaten up. His whole body was drained of energy, and it took him a while to piece together what was going on.

Alice didn’t know who Bella was, even though she was already here.

“I asked you, who’s Bella? Why were you calling her name?”

Alice had been more patient with Ryan lately, but her patience had limits. She wasn’t going to tolerate everything forever.

Take last night, for example. She had kept her cool in the face of desire and let Ryan off the hook. But now, he was calling out another woman’s name in his sleep.

Naturally, this didn’t sit well with Alice. And don’t expect her to stay calm about it.

“I’m talking to you. Who is Bella?”

Her expression darkened, a subtle but unmistakable tension in the air. Her amber eyes, usually so clear, were now clouded with a shadow of impatience, signaling that her tolerance was running thin.

“She… she was a friend of mine. From the orphanage.”

“But she’s dead now…”

Ryan didn’t bother coming up with any other excuse. Knowing Alice, she’d probably dig into it right away, and any far-fetched lie would only make her more suspicious.

Whether Alice would eventually figure out that Bella was actually Nella didn’t matter. Ryan had already made his stance clear—Bella was dead to him.

And honestly, in Ryan’s mind, what difference did it make? The Bella he once knew might as well be dead.

When Ryan said Bella was dead, Alice’s gaze faltered for a moment, as if she regretted her earlier harshness.

But that moment of sympathy vanished just as quickly. Even if Bella was dead, the fact that she still held such a place in Ryan’s heart made Alice uncomfortable.

“Miss Alice, you didn’t come to my room this early just to watch me sleep, did you?”

Ryan got out of bed. Thankfully, he wasn’t in the habit of sleeping naked, so his clothes were still on.

“Of course not. I came to check if you were still being lazy. We need to get going.”

As Ryan turned his back, a faint blush crept across Alice’s face. She quickly looked away, avoiding the sight of him.

Though she said that, the truth was she had been in his room for two hours already.

Alice had never been one to indulge in sleep, and ever since she took on the role of Miss Alice, she slept even less. When people are constantly after your head, you tend to sleep lightly.

“Get going…”

Ryan glanced at his watch and gasped.

It was already 10:30!

…

Thirty minutes later, Ryan sat in the back seat of the car, feeling guilty as he cautiously glanced at Alice’s expression.

Unlike the blue dress she wore yesterday, Alice had returned to her usual style today—strong and composed. Her suit was perfectly pressed, and even the creases in her pants were as straight as a ruler.

Her ankles, peeking out from under her trousers, were wrapped in black socks. As for her upper body, though the fitted white shirt still hinted at her alluring figure, the overall aura she exuded was one of restraint and authority, making her seem almost untouchable.

It was hard to believe that the Alice sitting here now was the same girl who had clung to Ryan’s arm at the party last night.

“Miss Alice, I’m really sorry.”

Ryan rubbed the back of his head, apologizing sincerely. The dream had drained him so much that he overslept this morning.

When he first arrived at the villa, Alice had laid out the house rules, and the most basic one was that breakfast at 8 a.m. was mandatory. Ryan still remembered how angry Alice had been the first time he tried to skip it.

But if Alice had been awake so early, why hadn’t she woken him up?

Ryan’s gaze shifted toward her, and Alice, noticing his confusion, coughed lightly. A faint blush flashed across her face before she quickly regained her composure.

“It’s fine. We still have plenty of time. Besides, there’s someone who’s even lazier than you.”

Alice had been focused on the tablet in her hands since they got in the car, her brows furrowed in concentration. Only when she glanced at Ryan did her expression soften slightly.

She had thought that last night’s party had sent a clear enough message to the outside world. Whoever was causing trouble behind the scenes would surely think twice before making another move.

But she had underestimated the determination and resources of the person trying to bring her down. Alice had been a regular on the front pages of the business section for years, but seeing headlines like “Major Losses, Business Crisis” still made her eye twitch ever so slightly.

Her secretary had already sent over the reports. While Alice was attending the party last night, something had happened at the company.

First, one of the subsidiaries was found to have suffered significant losses and was accused of tax evasion. Although her team had immediately located the person responsible and taken emergency measures, somehow, the news had still leaked.

This wasn’t some underworld issue—it was purely a business matter, which made it even more troublesome.

People in the business world were starting to question Alice’s meteoric rise. She had built her company from the ground up, and after three rounds of funding in just six months, it was only a matter of time before they went public.

But now, critics were asking if she had bitten off more than she could chew. Where was the actual revenue? Did she really have the strength to complete the projects she had taken on?

In no time, countless so-called investment experts jumped on the bandwagon, offering detailed analyses of the situation. Their conclusion? Alice’s company was running on fumes, and her success was nothing more than a house of cards.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was her competitors kicking her while she was down. But even Alice, as calm as she usually was, couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger at a time like this.

As Ryan continued to sneak glances at Alice, trying to figure out what was going on, a figure appeared outside the car.

Dressed in a white casual outfit, in stark contrast to Alice’s black ensemble, the person knocked playfully on the window with their knuckles. The girl leaned in, signaling for Ryan to roll down the window.

Ryan swallowed hard, feeling like he was staring at a nightmare. After taking a few deep breaths to steady his trembling hand, he finally lowered the window.

This must be the “lazy” person Alice had mentioned earlier. Bella, yawning and looking completely unbothered, ignored Ryan and greeted Alice instead.

“Miss Alice, don’t worry. I’ve already spoken to my grandfather about this.”

“The Langston family has promised to support you, and when we say support, we mean it. These little tricks are nothing to worry about.”

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