True White Lotus (2)

"Babe." She whimpered and forced a couple more tears to fall out of her eyes.

He somehow heard her and turned around. When he saw her teary face and her limp as she walked, his expression became cold, and he quickly approached her with his arms open as she bonelessly collapsed into his arms.

Watching as Celeste limped towards him with tears dripping down her face, Richard coldly asked, "What happened?"

When Celeste had left him, she had been in good condition and now her delicate face was covered in tears, her right shoulder was turning red with fingernail marks in it, and her foot looked like it was injured. Seeing her hurt once again, something in his heart twisted and he felt a bit of pain shoot through it.

She had just finally recovered from her previous injuries and yet they dared to injure her in his presence. It seemed that somebody wasn't taking him seriously. He would have to make an example out of them.

Celeste didn't respond as she buried her face into Richard's chest. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and felt gratified when he cupped her head with one hand and gently patted her back with the other. As she smelled his unique smell, a mix of amber, leather, coffee, and something sweet, she felt herself relax in his arms.

Feeling the girl in his arm relax into him, Richard turned his gaze from her to the people following behind her. Titania Girardi was walking over followed by Rebecca Molina and some women he didn't know. Focusing solely on Titania, he asked.

"Miss Girardi, what happened?"

"Rich, I don't know what Miss Celeste told you but-"

"I am not one to play games or listen to excuses Titania. I'll give you one chance to clearly tell me what happened and why my woman got injured at your event." Richard felt even angrier as he looked at the fake expression of concern on Titania's face. Good. Good. Very good.

Hearing Richard claim Celeste Valentine as his woman, Titania felt like exploding in anger. It was one thing for him to bring a woman as his plus one to her event. She could be anything from a one-night stand to his assistant. But for him to boldly proclaim 'my woman' while tenderly holding the girl in front of her was an insult to her unofficial claim of this man as hers. Still, she couldn't allow some random girl to ruin the relationship between her and Richard Carrington. Collecting her thoughts, she carefully replied, hoping to mollify his anger while painting Celeste in a bad light.

"Richard as I said. I don't know what Miss Celeste told you, but she's the one at fault! Completely unprovoked, she dumped her drink all over Rebecca, embarrassing her in front of everybody. And when I confronted her about assaulting my guests and told her she must leave this event and would be banned from future events for the assault, she ran over her crying to avoid taking responsibility" Titania responded in a righteous tone. The way she presented the case clearly, stating the actions and punishment. No matter who listened to her, they would feel that Titania had only done what was right and was protecting her guests from somebody who crazily assaulted people for no reason and ran away when confronted.

Titania hoped that Richard would see her logic and understand. However, she didn't know how biased Richard Carrington became when he considered someone 'his people'.

Richard coldly waited for Titania to finish speaking before he replied causing the crowd gathering around them to stare at him with open mouths.

"So what?"

"Pardon me?" Titania asked in shock.

"If my woman wants to dump drinks on you, you should be rushing to fill her cup, so it doesn't get empty. If she wants to slap you, you should kneel and present your face. I'm asking why she was injured!" Richard roared.

Everyone stared at him in shock and even Celeste was surprised. So, this is what it felt like to have somebody unconditionally on her side. It felt nice.

Her lips curled up into a smile and she hugged Richard even tighter before vowing to do her best to uphold her side of the contract. She felt great listening to him protect her, but she couldn't let him be painted as unreasonable and she definitely couldn't let Titania be painted as innocent. Since Titania wanted to act like a white lotus, she would show her the skills of a true white lotus. May the best woman win.

Celeste gently disentangled her arms around Richard and tapped his side three times when he tightened his arms around her. He reluctantly released her, and she glanced up at him and gave him her most beautiful smile as she whispered, 'Thank you'. This was a fight between women and it was her turn to take the battleground.

She then turned to face Titania and the small crowd gathered around her, satisfied that the stage was properly set up.

"Miss Girardi, I understand that you don't like me, but your words are too biased. I will admit that I did in fact dump a drink on Miss Rebecca, but you refused to tell the reason why and even painted me as an unreasonable person."

Celeste took a deep breath, forcing a single tear to trickle down her face before wiping it away and continuing, "As I said before, Miss Rebecca said some harsh words before intentionally injuring me. Upset, I immediately retaliated, yet I am the one getting punished for my actions."

"You're lying! When did I injure you?" Rebecca Molina interrupted angrily glaring at Celeste before surreptitiously glancing down at Richard's hands around her waist.

"I'm lying? So, you didn't intentionally bump into me and then throw your glass of wine at me? I saw some security cameras in the other room so I'm sure we can get someone to pull the footage." Celeste said with an innocent smile.

Hearing that there were cameras that might have caught her actions, Rebecca became flustered. She immediately glanced at Titania before attempting to deny it, "I didn't-, it was an accident. The glass slipped from my hand! Besides you keep saying you're injured, but you look perfectly fine to me! You're just making it up to make me look bad."

Celeste internally smiled as she watched Rebecca scramble. She tossed back her hair to expose her bruised shoulder and simply raised her dress and exposed her legs. Tonight, she was wearing strappy stiletto sandals with dazzling blue crystals all over. Her left leg still looked perfect, the pale skin contrasting with the deep blue, but her right leg was frightening to look at. The red wine had stained her alabaster skin and there was a diagonal cut from her big toe to her ankle. The blood had dried around the cut but with the wine stain around it, it looked frightening. The people around gasped as they saw the injury and many of them turned and started pointing at Rebecca and whispering.

Seeing Rebecca jump straight into the pit that Celeste had dug for her, Titania wanted to sigh. It seemed that Rebecca had lost her sense all of a sudden and become a pig teammate. This battle was lost, and she could only do damage control afterward. She coldly glanced at Celeste, vowing to remember this night.

"Does this look like an injury I'm faking Miss Rebecca? Miss Girardi? Or do you think I should just accept whatever somebody else does to me without retaliating? It's my first event since returning to the capital and not only was I ostracized by everyone due to Miss Rebecca's orders, but I was even injured. As the host, not only did Miss Girardi not get both sides of the story, you immediately tried to silence me and paint me in a bad light. My eyes have really been opened." Celeste said sardonically while calmly staring at both Rebecca and Titania. She was positive that the events that happened today were by Titania's orders and not Rebecca's.

Even though she was saying nonsense, she now had the moral high ground and people would believe her. it would be even better if she could drive a wedge between the two. Satisfied at the ugly expressions on both of their faces, she decided to twist one last knife in.

"Thank you for tolerating my presence at your event Miss Girardi, but it seems I've overstayed my welcome. There's no need for you to ban me from future events, I simply don't dare to come for fear that I may lose my life. Goodbye."

Celeste turned as if to leave but before she could take a simple step, she felt herself flying in the air until she was settled into someone's arms. She glanced up and saw Richard's expressionless face as he glared at both Titania and Rebecca.

"Miss Celeste, please wait-"

"The Carrington family will be suspending all future activities with the Molina's and Girardi's until the appropriate reparations have been made," Richard ordered coldly. Carrying Celeste in his arms, he began heading out.

"Rich- wait!"

Celeste tilted her head back to see Titania staring at Richard back. Catching her eye, she stuck her tongue out at her before quickly hiding her face in Richard's arms.

Serves her right.

As they stood outside waiting for the car to arrive, Celeste began to feel a bit shy as she was being princess carried in public.

"You can put me down." She quietly told Richard.

"Be quiet."

Shocked at his cold tone, she glanced up at him, but he refused to look at her.

"Babe? I promise it looks worse than it is. It actually doesn't hurt at all."

"I said be quiet."

….

Seeing that he was really upset, Celeste just quietly tucked her head into his chest. Maybe he was mad that he had to leave the party early? Or that she had bullied Titania a bit too much?