Chapter 139



Joel stopped dead in his tracks and looked suddenly at the lobby attendant. He repeated, “What do you mean, you’re not going to let him bother me?”.

The lobby attendant was very astute. Seeing Joel’s reaction, something immediately occurred to him and he replied, “Yes, that’s right. Mrs. Smith just told us not to let the lady in the lobby in. She said it was her instructions.”

He lowered his head. What he said next sounded like he was claiming credit, but he was actually filing a complaint. He said, “We don’t have a rule like that at the Prism Club, but Mrs. Smith said it was an instruction from him, so we had to do what he asked us to do, of course.”

Instructions from him…

Joel’s friendly expression faded and he said dispassionately, “It’s not Mrs. Smith yet.”

The lobby attendant made a startled face and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Smith. I have always addressed her as Mrs. Jones, but she demanded that we change the term today…”

Joel didn’t look angry. However, when he turned around and saw Tanya, his eyes darkened a bit.

Just as the lobby attendant was about to say something, Joel looked away from Tanya and said distantly, “We’ll leave it at that then.”

For some reason, he didn’t feel like letting her in and going to her dinner date.

The lobby attendant gaped at him.

For over ten years, he had always been adept at reading people’s body language and had never been wrong. Had he been wrong this time? Hillary was clearly acting like a donkey in a lion’s skin, and yet Mr. Smith was giving his tacit approval of her actions now?

He withdrew his gaze and became much more respectful. “Very well, Mr. Smith.”

In the doorway.

Tanya waited idly for the valet to bring her car around.

Suddenly, a few people approached her. “Hey, is that who I think it is, isn’t that Tanya?”

Tanya turned and saw a few people who used to hang out with Hillary walking toward her.

They were her high school classmates. Hillary and the Joneses were considered a moderately wealthy family, so they had all curried favor with her back then. But why were they here?

Were Hillary and Joel… here to have dinner with them?

Tanya clenched her jaw.

Joel had snubbed them when he and Tanya were sweethearts. Hillary had brought them over to say hello to Joel, but he hadn’t even bothered to pay attention to them at the time.

But now he was willing to have dinner with them for Hillary’s sake.

Heh.

People change, after all, don’t they?

As she inwardly mocked Joel, her former classmates began to tease her.

“Tanya? Are you thinking of going to dinner? Why don’t you ask Hillary, then?”

“That’s right, what are you doing standing here? Didn’t they say you were the champion of an international dance contest? Why aren’t you even able to get into a small club like this?”

“Man, what’s the big deal about being a world champion? Have you won any prize money? Have you spent it all?

Tanya’s eyes narrowed as she saw her being teased.

She scoffed, “Tsk, today I finally witnessed what it means to go charging someone’s cocktail party!”.

Her choice of words was too witty, so it took them a while to understand what she was saying. They were immediately angry, and one man among them even stepped forward and shoved her as he demanded, “Is that how you should talk, Tanya?”

“Exactly. Do you really think you’re so great just because rich people are polite and invite you to teach them how to dance after you’ve won a championship? Deep down, you’re still just a dance teacher! Oh, look at the situation you’re in now, why don’t you call the parents of some of your students and ask them to bring you in?”

“I probably can’t get them to do that! At least we can still get in thanks to Hillary, but what about you?”

“…”

Tanya was highly sought after among the wealthy. Given her current status, it was not difficult for her to get into the club if she wanted to; in fact, she could even easily get a VIP card. The problem, however, was that Joel had forbidden her to enter.

In all of New York, the Hunts were the only ones who weren’t afraid to offend Joel.

However, she didn’t want to upset the Hunts.

Tanya looked down. At that moment, the valet brought her car around. She walked around the group of people to the car, but just as she was about to get in, she was stopped again.

“Oh, hey, that’s an awesome car you drive! Only rich people can afford to drive a jeep like that.”

“Is this car a gift from the parents of one of your students?”

“I’ve heard that there are some dance teachers who use the excuse of giving dance lessons to fool around with the house masters instead…. Hahaha!”

“…”

His comments were getting more and more ridiculous, making Tanya’s gaze turn even colder. She couldn’t tolerate it anymore. She was about to step forward and teach the foul-mouthed man a lesson when a tall, slender figure suddenly approached.

He moved extremely quickly and grabbed the guy by the neck. Before anyone could react, he punched him in the face.

At the sound of a loud bam, the guy backed up a few steps and spit out a couple of teeth.

He lifted his head and yelled, “Who the hell…?”

However, when he saw Joel and the icy stare he had, his words stopped abruptly!

The people around them also gasped. They hurriedly stepped back and stammered, “M-Mr. Smith…”.

Joel’s icy gaze passed through them all. At last, he coldly commanded, “Get lost!”.

Scared out of their wits, they all immediately fled.

After they were all gone, the surrounding people began to point at them as they speculated among themselves. Someone was heard faintly commenting, “That woman is making a scene just because she can’t get into the club? How terrible!”

Joel strode brusquely toward Tanya. He grabbed her by the wrist and headed straight for the lobby entrance.

Then, turning to the lobby attendant, who was standing there respectfully, he said, “Remember what she looks like. From now on, no one will be able to stop her every time she comes here!”.

The attendant nodded. “Yes, Mr. Smith!”

Tanya’s expression changed a little when she heard what Joel said after being dragged by him inside the club.

Was that man out of his mind?

He was the one who wouldn’t let her in a moment ago, and now he was acting like a hero saving a damsel in distress?

Apparently feeling his emotions, Joel left the club without looking back after leaving those instructions.

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

On the Smiths.

Hillary, hearing the news from her cronies, no longer had time for dinner. He hurried to his house.

As soon as she walked in, she said, “I’m sorry, Joel…. I didn’t know my friends would do that….. I went to the garden this morning to thank Tanya, but not only did she not appreciate my gesture, she even hit me…”

Hillary held her cheek that was still red and lowered her head. She said pitifully, “When my friends found out what happened, they asked me out to the Prism Club, so I headed over. I really didn’t expect them to try to get back at me… and even use your name to stop Tanya from coming in…”

He raised his head with reddened eyes and said, “It was fortunate that you were there. Otherwise, Tanya would have suffered an injustice this time. I’m sorry, Joel…”

She had just said that when Joel calmly raised his head, scoffed and pointed to the things on the table.

Hillary was taken aback. However, her expression immediately changed as she picked up the things on the table.

They were actually evidence against her that Joel had found after conducting an investigation.

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