My Million Dollar Boyfriend

Chapter 33

"Florence!" Charlotte shrieked, embracing Florence in a hug. "It's been a long time since I've seen you!"

"Hello, Charlotte," Florence smiled awkwardly as he tried to push her softly away from him.

"Why hello," Claude greeted with a taunting grin as Charlotte shot him a glare. He wrapped his arm around Florence as his smile turned more ominous. "Let's keep our hands to ourselves, alright?"

She rolled her eyes and broke the hug. "Sure," she smiled annoyed and gestured to them to come inside her parents' villa. "What brings you two here?"

"It's about the recent drama," he started and sat down at the coffee table full of pastries and a large teapot in the middle, decorated with flower petals. "Yesterday after I met with Noah-"

"Oh before you start-" Charlotte turned to the maid behind her. "Can you pour some tea for us?" The maid nodded as she thanked her with a smile. "What were you saying?"

"Well, yesterday after I met with Noah, I-"

"Wait!" Charlotte said and shoved a pastry in Florence's mouth. "You HAVE to try this! It's tastes just like the one you liked back then-"

"Charlotte!"

She got startled when Florence raised his voice and took a step back. She quickly put on an apologetic smile and sat down. "My apologies," Charlotte said. "What happened when you met your friend?"

Florence sighed as Claude clicked his tongue when Charlotte said that Florence and Noah were friends. "We know who caused the drama," he said as he opened his gallery. Claude smirked as he watched Florence glance back at him when he saw that Claude took a bunch of pictures of him when he was asleep. He cleared his throat and showed Charlotte the picture from the CCTV camera. "Do you perhaps know her?"

Charlotte had a knowing look in her eyes when she saw one of her friends on Florence's screen. "Yes, that's Tiffany," she replied and looked puzzled at him. "But what does she have to do with this?"

Claude looked at her with a flat expression as he grabbed a cupcake from a tray. "That friend of yours is the reason why he's in this shit," he said as he looked indifferently at Charlotte's shocked face. "Does that surprise you?"

Charlotte looked down at her lap. "Well, yes. I never thought that she would do something like that," she whispered. "Are you sure it's her?"

"Call her," Claude dared as a small smirk played on his lips. "Call and ask her if she really did it or not. If it isn't her, we'll leave you and her alone."

"And if it is?" she asked.

Claude's smirk twisted into a fake smile. "We'll see what happens," he replied and Florence rolled his eyes at Claude's behavior.

"He doesn't mean any harm," Florence sighed, glaring at Claude. "But can you call Tiffany for me?"

"Of course," Charlotte said and dialed her number. She put the call on speaker. After a few rings, Tiffany answered as Florence and Charlotte looked nervously at each other while Claude's attention was on the cupcake he was eating. "Hey, Tiffany!"

"Hi, Charlotte! What's up?"

"I just wanted to ask you something real quick, do you have time?" she asked.

"Of course, ask away!"

"Okay, so have you heard of the scandal concerning Florence?"

They heard a laugh coming from Tiffany. "OMG girl of course I heard of it! Chloe and I were the ones who came up with the idea and gave it to TMZ to start his downfall," she cackled as Florence stared quietly at Charlotte's phone.

"But why did you do that?" she demanded.

"BECAUSE!" Tiffany yelled and took a deep breath. "Because Florence left you for a MAN! A good-for-nothing rascal who doesn't even have a social status! How are you letting your fiancée run off with someone like that? Especially a man?!"

Charlotte glanced at Florence who didn't change his serious expression. "...I'll call you later Tiff," she said as normally as possible.

"Alright! Bye!" Tiffany hung up and the room went quiet for a while.

Florence exhaled deeply and stood up. "If you don't mind, I'll use the bathroom before we go," he said and looked with a warning glare at Claude.

Claude raised his brow. "What?" he asked as he put the teapot back. "I won't say anything weird, I promise."

With one last look at Claude, Florence went to the bathroom. When he wasn't in sight anymore, Claude glanced at Charlotte and scoffed. "Pretty thoughtful friends you have," he spoke as Charlotte turned her gaze to him. "But was it really necessary to try and ruin his career? He just started acting, I'd be a waste if anything happens to his role because of this scandal," he sighed dramatically as the grip on Charlotte's teacup grew stronger.

"It's not as if I knew about it," Charlotte replied, softly biting her lips. I still find it ridiculous that Florence would leave me for someone like you, but that does not mean I would ruin his life over something like that.."

"Would you ruin my life instead?" Claude asked seriously as Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows with a worried expression. His dead serious eyes turned playful. "Just kidding! Only Adrian would do that... I think."

"What does Florence even see in you?" she sighed, putting the teacup down with a disapproving look.

"Well, I'm hot, sexy, and amazing?" Claude boasted and chuckled at Charlotte's flat expression. Claude pushed a cookie in his mouth. "Besides, didn't you already know he's gay?"

Charlotte sighed before making a sorrowful expression. "I knew from the start. When we were first engaged, I had someone run a background check on him. That's when I found out he had been dating guys before and only guys," she said, staring at her reflection from the cup. "The only reason we were engaged in the first place was because of our families. Though it's not like we were forced to do so, if we really didn't want this engagement, we could have declined. Thinking back on it now, Florence should have just declined. I on the other hand accepted because he seemed like a reasonable partner, but as time passed, I started falling for him." She looked back at Claude. "Still if being with you makes Florence happy, who am I to judge. All I ask is that you'll never break his heart."

"As if I was ever planning on doing so," Claude scoffed.

"By the way, what were Florence's previous boyfriends like-" He was saying before he got halted by the sound of Florence's footsteps coming closer. He turned to Charlotte with a smile. "Forget what I asked," Claude said as Florence walked in. Claude got off the chair, his smile not faltering. "Thank you for the tea, Charlie," he smiled as Charlotte and Florence frowned at her nickname.

Charlotte tried to hold back a small frown. "It was my pleasure," she said with a small smile. "And don't forget what I told you," she said.

He turned his back to her as he wrapped his arm around Florence's shoulders. "Of course~," Claude smirked.

A/N it's been a depressing week because I failed all my classes and some shit that happened yesterday night. And because of that, I wasn't really in the mood to write another chapter. On the bright side, today was my last day at work and yesterday my proofreader and I found out that my story is in the novel picks section on the community page of Tapastic! I was wondering why I've been getting so many subscribers and it still amazes me how people actually read this. This discovery also motivated my proofreader to finally continue the cover, so we'll get a new cover after 9(?) months of waiting. That's it for this week guys. I still have to wish my sister a happy birthday and don't kill mice

-Jerry Da Mouse