I’m Someone Else

Chapter 23

“I’ll kill you!” Ophelie teared up. She disliked Thomas because of his taking Olivia away, and his piercing her with the brooch didn’t help his case. Is he trying to kill her? The panicked Ophelie didn’t notice her sister’s changes.

“Shut the f*ck up!” Thomas had enough with the girl. Shut up if you have no idea what’s going on. You’re annoying!

“Hey, you can’t—” Ophelie felt a chill run down her spine. It felt like death would come for her at any moment. Color drained from her face, and she shut up.

“William, keep an eye on Nate until I come back!” Thomas told William before rushing off with Olivia in his arms.

“Wait for me, Thomas! I’ll drive!” Sean followed behind him closely.

“That’s your company’s president, Izzy. Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?”

Izzy was still in shock. Everything had happened at a breakneck speed. Before she realized what was going on, Olivia suddenly showed up, and then Nate stabbed her. Even as they spoke, she was still processing it.

“Take this Nate guy away, Gerald.”

Gerald was already on it before William ordered him. A pair of guards came up and took the petrified Nate away.

And then William looked at the remaining people coldly. He would not let them off the hook just like that. After all, he heard all the insults they hurled at Thomas. That was not nice of them. I’m furious! I should teach them a lesson. “And call the cops. These people tried to start something at our place, and they’re not getting away with it.”

That angered everyone.

“What are you talking about? We didn’t start anything!”

“Yeah! It was Nate and his lackeys who did this, not us!”

“We’re paying customers, not troublemakers. Get that right!”

“Is that so?” William laughed. “Oh yeah, that reminds me. Gerald, check their bill and make sure they pay before you call the cops.”

“Um…”

The crowd froze. Wallace was the one who paid for the bill every time they had gatherings in hotels. He was the GM of another hotel, so he knew Gerald. Besides, their employees would frequent each other’s hotels. Sometimes, Haven’s employees would get sick of their own dishes, so they would have their meals at Wallace’s hotel. It was normal in this industry. Every time they had a gathering, the bill was on Wallace’s tab, not theirs.

But things were different now. Wallace had been taken to the hospital, so he couldn’t pay for them. The meal they had would cost a five-figure sum at least. That was hefty for them.

Gerald came back with the bill a while later. He was friends with Wallace due to the line of work they were in, but their friendship ceased to be when William told him to dish this punishment out to these people.

“Whoa, you guys sure know how to drink. Five bottles of wine that cost twenty-eight hundred each, and adding that to all the food you ordered… That comes up to a total of twenty-eight thousand.”

There were fewer than twenty of them in this group, which meant each of them spent at least a thousand on this meal. The highest-earners of this group only made twenty-eight hundred a month.

This meal alone cost them half of their monthly salary. Of course it hurt their wallet.

They looked behind them, but the guards were already keeping an eye out for them in case they tried to run. They had no choice but to pay up.

“We can leave after we pay, right?” Melissa asked.

“Of course not.” William wouldn’t let them go that easily. After all, he had made up his mind to teach these people a lesson. “Don’t forget, you tried to start something here.”

“That’s a lie!”

“We didn’t do anything like that!”

William pouted. “Really? Alright, two questions for you. One, why are you guys here when you didn’t reserve this room? Two, your friend called Nate and his lackeys over, didn’t he?”

“Um…” The crowd was dumbfounded. They couldn’t possibly answer that, or it would be incriminating.

“Gerald, call the cops and let them figure it out.”

“Yes, sir!”

If they were taken away, there was no way they could come out unscathed. They could push the part of the blame on Wallace, at least for the Nate part, but they couldn’t deny gathering in someone else’s room just to watch the show. That would make them accomplices.

Izzy came up with an idea, and she said, “Hold it!”

“You got any ideas, Izzy?”

Izzy looked at Howard. “We’re friends, Howard. You can’t just stand by when we’re in trouble. Yeah, I know we mistreated you, but there’s no need to do this to us.” So what if you’re friends with these people, Thomas? You’re still just a driver in my company. Once I get out of this, I’ll destroy you!

“Yeah, Howard. You’re friends with Thomas, and Thomas is his friend. He’ll let us go if you help us out.”

“Please help us out, Howard.”

After Izzy made her case, Melissa, Aaron, and everyone else pleaded with Howard as well.

William stayed silent. He would teach these people a lesson no matter what, but he wanted to see what Howard would do. Will he help these idiots, or will he stand by Thomas? If he’s not going to help them, then I’ll just go on with my plan. But if he does help them, then I have to refuse him. There are some things I won’t tolerate, after all.

Howard shook his head. “None of you ever treated me nicely in any gathering. Nobody even came to chat me up. Don’t deny it. I asked for help when I needed to find a job, but nobody lent me a hand. I had no choice but to become a mechanic in the end. Not only did you not help me, but all of you would also laugh at me just because my job doesn’t pay me well. William’s teaching you guys a lesson because you were harsh to Thomas. I get to talk to him because I’m Thomas’ friend. Do you think I would help you guys out after you dissed my friend?”

The classmates despaired, for they lost their last hope. They didn’t help Howard when he needed them most, so he was not obligated to help them when they needed it either.