章 136: Chapter 136 - Floored

"Hello, Estelle how are you?" Her voice was pinched clearly holding back any anger.

"Ahh yes Toni, surprised to see you here." Though I am not fully familiar with how wealthy ladies interacted to me it felt like a duel. And 'Estelle' though she said fewer words, seemed to have the upper hand already. It would not be easy for Toni to make her submit.

"Why yes I just came down to show my daughter-in-law around and spend some quality time together. Considering she will be married into the family, I must show her the ropes." She patted my arm lovingly and even gave me a tight side hug.

She must have hated the idea of losing to this woman more than anything as she set aside our differences to make it seem like we were cool.

"Oh how lovely." Again Estelle did not say much but she seemingly was enjoying the reaction Toni was exhibiting. "Yes, yes, it is so nice to have a daughter in law around. Someone to take care of you yet also keeps you company."

I suddenly felt like a dog. Just some pet that is fun to keep around the house but not really a 'real' member of the family. It felt degrading. She was using the fact that Dean Cortez was still single as far as people knew and flaunt what she did not have.

"I am sure it is." Whatever nerve Toni was hoping to hit seemed to have been a dud. Estelle looked unaffected and unbothered. However in that moment I noticed an empty seat right next to her own.

Each of the women were crowded around her so it seemed odd that one seat would be open next to her. If I were her friend, I would want to be kept close. Yet no one moved to that seat.

Small clacks of footsteps sounded off and a person turned the corner from one of the hallways in the building. The flash of red hair instantly caused goosebumps to pucker on my skin. Celeste D'Angelo had walked in.

"Oh.." She pulled up right into the empty seat and the question I asked Felix way back during Rachels engagement flashed in my mind. 'No. There is no way. How could a stuck up princess even want to be with that mess.'

Here is the thing Dean realistically, was a very handsome man. His tall muscular build and devilish good looks made him be a real nice piece of eye candy.

However his devilish looks also meant a devilish personality. He is known for being a hardcore partier with no bounds or restraints. He does as he pleases and considers no one. That is, if was anyone but Celeste.

"She was the only one he would listen to. I think she was made to be his opposite to keep him in check." Felix would share snippets of his past to me but while he would be vague on other stories, he was super opinionated and vocal about some aspects regarding Celeste and Dean.

I did not believe him until I met them. And the rumors about them were accurate. Celeste was an ice queen who was hard to crack. As for Dean, he was a pain in the ass among other more colorful descriptive words for him.

They had to be in some type of secret relationship. Because aside from that what else could explain why was she hanging around his mom?

"Celeste honey come take a seat. They just popped up and stopped by for a quick chat." Estelle happily waved over Celeste and as suspected, she took the seat closest to her. The way she behaved with her would have made you think she was a beloved daughter in law.

Estelle held onto Celestes hand and was warm and affectionate towards her. A complete difference to how she was treating us. She seemed to genuinely like Celeste which made me think something was going on between the two families.

"Celeste.... what are you doing here?" Toni physically took a step back as though she got hit with something. She was floored by seeing her here.

"I am a VIP member to this club, so I frequent here every so often. As for right now, today is a book club event so I joined in." I then noticed the books behind and next to each woman present.

"Isn't she great! Having Celeste around is like having a daughter around. She is just perfect to spend time with." She laid it down THICK how much she loved Celeste and the other women followed suit.

Toni finally caught on to what was happening and decided to cut her losses.

"I see." She then made a show of checking her watch. "Well as much as I would like to stay we must run, our men will be back soon." She waved everyone off and gripped my hand with gorilla strength until the car door slammed after we got inside.

"Damn it all!" Her neck and chest flushed red from anger and she was actually breathing as though she ran a marathon.

We sat in silence while she hit her head on the steering wheel. It dawned on me that the whole point of why we were there was to make Estelle kneel and admit to why she was not coming.

"Why did you not bring up the wedding?" Toni stopped banging her head and turned to face me slowly. "If I did that would kill my social life like that." She snapped her fingers in my face. "If I admitted that she declined to come, those other women would have done the same even if they RSVP'd that they would come."

"Think about it. Those other ladies have no clue she said no. So why would I announce that? How did you even get a degree from such a prestigious university if you act like that. Think! I chose to not bring it up especially since there is too many variables."