Chapter 272: Aniston’s Intuition
Chapter 272: Aniston’s Intuition
The car drove all the way to the estate entrance. When the security guard saw the vehicle approaching, he was about to come over and ask for an invitation, but after seeing the two women inside the car, he immediately forgot about the invitation altogether and revealed a flattering smile.
“It’s Miss Aniston. Please, go right in.”
After saying that, he hurried back in a few quick steps and opened the gate.
After getting out in the parking area, the two women reacted exactly the same way Eric had the first time he saw City of Freedom. They stood there together for a while, taking in the villa, before finally walking inside side by side.
Pushing open the glass doors, they saw a hall of more than six hundred square meters filled with staff dressed as waiters and chefs busily moving about. Seeing the two women arrive, nobody reacted much.
The party had not officially started yet, but as Eric’s girlfriend, the girl naturally felt she ought to arrive a little early.
After waiting for a while and seeing no one pay attention to her, the girl became somewhat irritated. She even forgot Nicole was beside her and clicked toward the kitchen in her high heels. Upon entering, she happened to see a middle-aged man in a suit discussing something with Drew.
The girl lifted her chest proudly and walked over arrogantly.
“Hey, how are the preparations coming along?”
Drew raised her head and glanced at Aniston in her white evening dress, then smiled slightly.
“This lady arrived rather early. The party hasn’t started yet, but you can rest in the living room for an hour first.”
Seeing Drew treat her like a guest, Aniston instantly became furious.
“You little bitch, don’t forget who you are. Be careful or I’ll have Eric throw you out.”
“I’m sooo scared,” the girl said with a face full of “terror,” patting her little chest theatrically. Then she changed expressions as if flipping a page, revealing a sly smile as she said fearlessly, “Go ahead if you’ve got the ability.”
Aniston glared fiercely at Drew several times before turning toward the middle-aged man in the suit.
“Are you the person in charge of this party?”
The middle-aged man smiled and nodded, pretending not to hear the argument between the two girls.
The two women before him were both close to Eric Williams. He dared offend neither of them, so he extended a hand toward Aniston.
“Hello, Miss Aniston. I’m Will Clark. Do you have any instructions?”
“I don’t like where the buffet tables outside are placed. Move them for me.”
Aniston casually found an excuse.
Before Will Clark could respond, Drew immediately said, “Mr. Clark, don’t forget I’m the one paying today.”
Will Clark looked back and forth between the two. As a party manager, he often encountered disputes among different members of a host’s family. In such situations, he usually pushed the matter toward the person with actual authority.
And in this estate, the only true owner was undoubtedly Eric.
Thus, Will Clark very smoothly said, “I think it would be best if the two ladies discussed this with Mr. Williams.”
The two girls glared at Will Clark together. He merely shrugged, saying nothing, clearly displaying an attitude of: Do whatever you want, but I’m not carrying it out.
Helpless, the two girls exchanged a look. They both knew their limits. With so many people present, neither could possibly escalate the conflict and embarrass Eric.
Finally, Aniston spoke.
“Half and half.”
“Rock-paper-scissors,” Drew immediately followed.
Aniston clenched her fists, seemingly recalling certain memories, and instantly shook her head.
“In your dreams. Let’s go find Eric.”
Drew curled her lips.
“You were the one who started this. More than a hundred guests are invited tonight. If you make trouble and embarrass Eric in front of all those people, hmph…”
Aniston was not Drew. If their positions were reversed, the utterly reckless little girl probably would not care about making Eric look bad. But Aniston did not dare do that.
Unwillingly glaring at Drew, Aniston asked, “Where’s Eric?”
Drew shrugged and said without even blinking, “No idea. There are more than thirty rooms here. Go search one by one yourself.”
“You…”
Aniston almost could not stop herself from rushing over. Glancing at Will Clark standing nearby with lowered eyelids, pretending nothing was happening, Aniston asked, “Mr. Clark, do you know where Eric is?”
Will Clark smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“Miss Aniston, I’ve been in the kitchen the whole time. I really don’t know.”
Aniston stomped her foot angrily and turned to leave.
…
Nicole watched Aniston head toward the kitchen. Meanwhile, she leisurely wandered around, admiring the villa’s interior style. After standing beside the floor-to-ceiling windows for a while looking out at the sea, she turned and was about to head upstairs when she accidentally noticed a tightly shut door nearby.
Curious, Nicole pressed the button beside the door.
“What is it?”
Eric’s voice immediately came from the speaker above the button, startling Nicole.
“Uh, Eric, it’s me,” Nicole quickly said toward the speaker.
“Oh, come in.”
As Eric’s voice fell, the door automatically opened. Nicole curiously looked at the staircase descending to the lower level before walking in. The door silently closed behind her.
Following the spiral staircase down to Eric’s studio, she saw him sitting at the desk reading. Looking around, she found the place arranged similarly to the study she had once seen in Eric’s Beverly Hills villa.
Taking a few steps toward the wall covered in papers, Nicole searched for something to say.
“Eric, I didn’t expect you still haven’t changed this habit.”
Eric put down the book in his hand, reopened the window, turned off the fluorescent lights, then said to her, “Why should I change it? I like it this way.”
Nicole wandered casually around the room with her hands behind her back.
“I really envy you. You can do whatever you want.”
Eric smiled.
“As long as a person doesn’t always want too much, they can also do whatever they want.”
“It’s not that easy.”
Nicole shook her head, walked over to Eric’s desk, and lightly propped herself up with both hands before sitting on the large desk. Crossing her legs, she kicked off her high heels and casually swung her pale bare feet.
Watching the woman’s series of seemingly casual actions, Eric raised a brow and asked, “Jennie came with you, right?”
“Of course. She’s outside right now. Maybe arguing with Miss Barrymore.”
Eric subconsciously glanced toward the door, then realized that since nobody had come to notify him, the two girls probably had not truly started fighting. Besides, he trusted both girls to know their limits and not argue openly in front of so many people.
With that thought, Eric relaxed and sat back in his leather chair, tilting his head to look at Nicole seated on the desk.
The woman wore a red one-shoulder evening gown that perfectly displayed her figure. A red silk scarf was tied around her neck, and paired with her vivid red lips, she looked incomparably alluring.
Seeing Eric once again looking her over with that highly aggressive gaze, Nicole immediately felt somewhat uncomfortable. At the same time, she realized her current posture was somewhat inappropriate and wanted to jump down from the desk.
But certain thoughts in her heart stopped her movement.
Instead, she slightly raised her chin and pushed out her chest.
“Did you stuff something in there? Why do they look bigger?” Eric teased after a moment.
The woman rolled her eyes at him but provocatively said, “Why don’t you touch and see?”
Eric had never been someone who liked to stand on ceremony. He reached out, hooked both of the woman’s long legs, and pulled Nicole into his arms.
After a rustling flurry of movement, Nicole’s somewhat resisting voice sounded.
“No, don’t take it off. What if someone comes in?”
“No one can enter without my permission,” Eric explained.
The woman in his arms immediately stopped resisting.
The bright red evening gown was quickly lifted entirely away and tossed onto the nearby sofa, followed by a small piece of fabric.
Her pale naked body was pressed facedown onto the desk. The cool touch made Nicole let out a soft hum involuntarily. Turning her head, she looked resentfully at the man behind her, only to feel a pair of powerful hands fixing her waist in place, followed immediately by a burning intrusion.
…
After failing to seize control from Drew, Aniston left the kitchen in frustration, only to realize Nicole had disappeared.
She asked several staff members, but no one had really noticed anything. Finally, a waiter pointed toward the staircase leading upstairs.
“I just saw Miss Kidman head over there. She may have gone upstairs.”
Aniston thanked him and walked toward the stairs. She also noticed the tightly shut door leading to the lower level, but unlike Nicole, she was not curious about it and simply headed upstairs instead.
After wandering around repeatedly for quite some time, circling nearly the entire villa, she still could not find Nicole’s whereabouts, nor could she find Eric.
A strange feeling gradually arose in Aniston’s heart.
Unwilling to give up, she searched again, even knocking on many doors, but received no response at all.
Returning to the hall, Aniston once more asked the people preparing for the party where Eric was.
“No idea. Mr. Williams may be in one of the rooms.”
“Miss Aniston, this is our first time here too.”
“Sorry, Miss Aniston. Maybe you could look outside? The estate is pretty large. Perhaps Mr. Williams is somewhere else.”
“…”
After asking everyone and still failing to learn Eric’s whereabouts, the girl stomped her foot gloomily and muttered, “Seriously, building such a huge house. Is this hide-and-seek or what?”
Though she grumbled like this, she still walked outside.
With both Eric and Nicole nowhere to be found, that strange feeling inside her grew stronger and stronger, yet subconsciously she refused to think in a certain direction.
Although directly asking Drew would have been the simplest method, unless absolutely necessary, Aniston was extremely unwilling to deal with Drew at all. Verbally sparring with her was impossible—she was completely outmatched by the little girl. She preferred simply fighting directly instead, because she was at least somewhat stronger in that regard.
But today’s occasion clearly was not suitable for getting physical.