Chapter 26 Adeline Found Out Mr. Riley Is Narrow-minded
Ella rolled her eyes in disgust after seeing Victoria's reaction. You want her to fall for your tricks, but you don't want her to have a happy life. You are a truly evil person, Victoria. If Curtis the Cripple were evil, you'd be worse."
Ella asked Curtis, "Am I right?" after she said that.
Instead of answering her question, Curtis showed a glum expression.
Ella grunted softly as she stared at him and said, "I'm trying to help you."
Melissa thought to herself, "Mrs. Hodges, why do I get the impression that you're putting him down? And you're insulting both Victoria and Curtis at the same time!"
Victoria's face betrayed her rage, and those women who accompanied her couldn't help but laugh behind her back.
The boss of Le Charme, a man in his early fifties, walked up to them at that very moment. He was wearing a vintage-style suit and a pocket watch made of shiny gold. He said slowly to the group of people, "I can only accommodate one more table today. Would you like to have dinner together?"
Victoria's expression changed dramatically. She had heard that the restaurant's owner, Ben Kelly, was a snob who catered exclusively to the wealthy and powerful.
Being a snob was not a bad thing in Ben's eyes. In fact, he was a little smug about it, as evidenced by the gold pocket watch he always wore around his neck.
"No, we're not dining together," Victoria replied, her eyes twinkling. She appeared to be confident that she would be the winner.
Ben made an "oh" sound and gave a teasing expression. "I'm sorry, but I can only accommodate one more room of guests before calling it a day. Why don't you discuss who gets to come in?" he said.
"That won't be necessary! We're going in!"
"That won't be necessary! We're going in!"
Curtis and Victoria said in unison, which was unusual for the two of them.
"Curtis, are you serious? Are you serious about competing with me?" Victoria asked, laughing contemptuously
"I don't mean to compete with you," Curtis said, straightening his gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. He rubbed one of Adeline's hands and said to Victoria with a smile, "But I promised my wife once that I wouldn't let her lose as long as she was married to me!"
"You're nothing but a cripple, Curtis! Do you have anything that will help you win? Don't forget that my husband now leads the Riley Group!" Victoria said as she gave Ben a meaningful wink.
Ben, being the astute businessman he was, smiled and nodded to show he understood her meaning.
"But I'd like to point out that "acting chairman" and "real chairman" are two different words for two different positions."
Victoria said while giving Curtis a vicious glare, "Why are you so mean to me? We're family, aren't we?"
Curtis's eyes behind his glasses turned grim. He asked, "So what? Do you consider me a member of your family? Did it ever occur to you that we were a family when you hired online trolls to spread rumors about Adeline on the Internet today?"
Adeline, Melissa, Ella, and those wealthy women were all shocked when they heard his words.
Victoria was embarrassed after being caught red-handed, but she defended herself by saying, "I have no idea what you're talking about! You made stuff up because you just wanted to pin the blame on me!"
Despite her protests, it was evident to everyone that she was embarrassed.
"Hey, Victoria, you're the one who brought us here for dinner! You promised that if we mentioned your husband's name, we would dine at Le Charme without hitching. Honestly, can we have dinner here tonight or not?" A woman asked.
"We can! I will most certainly bring you guys in!" Victoria replied. She turned to Ben and said, "You can make the call since you're the boss. Who would you like to invite over for dinner? People all over town know you have high standards for your guests, so we'll show everyone who can meet those standards today."
"Well. I'd like to invite Mr. Riley to dinner at Le Charme." Ben said this while rubbing his gold pocket watch.
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