"Who was she?" Lindsey asked.
"She's a very good friend of mine," said Alex, feeling a little sad that Kelly had gone.
Lindsey thought that there was more to their relationship than just friendship. She said to him, "Don't feel sad because of her. Do you want to hang out with me for a bit?"
Alex nodded and said, "Yes."
They took a last look at Jason, who was craning his neck to try to get a look at the scrapes on his back. Then, they climbed into a cab and drove away.
Jason was taken to the hospital where he was told that his injuries weren't serious. Once the doctor had dealt with his wounds, he was sent to the general ward. When David heard what had happened, he rushed to the ward to see him.
Jason said bitterly to him, "David, I'm sorry, I didn't get close to Lindsey. She hates me now and it will be impossible for me to win her over."
"What? I even lent you my new Ferrari. What happened?" David asked coldly.
"It's not my fault! There was this loser called Alex. He's friends with a rich lady in New York who drives an even better Ferrari than yours. It turns out that Lindsey also really likes that jerk. When I said a few negative things about him, she turned against me. And it was him that caused me these injuries," Jason said bitterly.
"Alex?" David was shocked. He remembered that Debbie called her boyfriend Alex in her diary. He found it hard to believe that it was the same man. He pondered for a few minutes, then stopped thinking about it. He asked, "You said he has a friend with a better Ferrari than mine? Who is she?"
"I don't know. Listening to their conversation, she seems to be a rich girl from New York," Jason said.
"New York?" He tried to think who she might be.
As he was thinking, his bodyguard, Tom Martin walked into the ward and said, "David, I have some information for you about the two people you asked me about. The Ferrari driver is Miss Kelly Phillips from New York, while Alex is a student of Richmond University. It's said that he has donated more than one and a half million euros to the university recently, but that he is actually poor. It's not known where he got this money from."
David thought for a moment and said coldly, "I've heard of the Phillips family. They're a reasonably wealthy family from New York. But they're not a particularly important family compared to mine. Forget her, but who is this Alex?"
Jason said, "David, that little loser is an obstacle. With him in the way, no one else will have a chance with Lindsey."
He thought again and replied, "If Lindsey is so hard to get win over, I won't bother trying."
Jason was slightly surprised and asked, "David, don't you want to sleep with Lindsey?"
David thought back to when he had announced that he was breaking off his engagement with Lindsey that day. He remembered her brilliant smile and it made his heart ache.
He sneered, "She's gorgeous, of course, I still want to sleep with her. But since scheming is clearly useless, we're going to implement plan B. I'm going to send someone to kidnap her tonight, take her to the hotel, and drug her. Then I'll go and have my fun with her. When she wakes up tomorrow, she won't have a clue what happened. All she'll find is a big empty bed."
Jason smiled and said, "Great plan."
David gave him a considering look. "I didn't realize it would be so difficult. Sorry, you got hurt."
Jason was really surprised when he realized that David was ready to take full responsibility for what had happened that day. He waved his hand and said, "Hey, don't worry about it."
David stared coldly at Jason and said, "You can rest assured that although I have taken the blame this time, I promise I won't forget it. You will owe me and I expect you to repay me in the future.
Jason thought, "He's apologizing now, but he clearly still wants something from me. But I have to be careful to make sure this working relationship doesn't go sour."
He said, "Listen, David, I take responsibility for today. But I hope that you'll remember what I tried to do, and help me with my business as you promised."
David said leisurely, "Yes, yes of course." Then he looked at Tom and asked, "Do you know where Alex and Lindsey are now?"
He replied, "They're hanging out together in downtown D.C. Your family does have a lot of hotels in that area."
David said coldly, "Okay. Order Fergus Plummer to help, and inform me the moment that he brings Lindsey to the hotel."
"Yes, Sir." Tom took his orders, and then rushed out.
**
Alex and Lindsey had been hanging out together in downtown D. C. for more than two hours, and the sky was already dark.
"Let's go have dinner. Then, I'll take you home," Alex suggested.
"Okay," Lindsey agreed. She was holding a few trinkets that she had bought. She had spent most of the day with Alex and was feeling very happy. They went to a pedestrian street where there were a lot of restaurants and bars. They found a particularly nice restaurant called The Playful Hare, which had colorful lights hanging across the door. They looked very beautiful.
They entered the restaurant together. It was dinner time and there were already a lot of people eating inside.
They sat down at a table and quickly ordered.
Alex suddenly spotted a beautiful woman sitting in the corner of the hall. She was dressed in a white antique dress with a white hat, a white face mask, and huge round sunglasses. Everybody found her disguise quite weird. Everybody at the restaurant thought, "Why is this woman hiding? who even wears a hat and sunglasses in a restaurant."
Alex couldn't see what she looked like. Her skin was pure white and her dress floated around her, which made her look like a fairy.
Lindsey followed his gaze and when she saw that he was looking at the woman, she said, "Don't stare at that lady. It's not polite."
Alex blushed and said, "I only glanced at her."
Lindsey laughed and said, "She's dressed like someone from a fairytale. She looks so beautiful."
While they were talking, the waiters brought the woman her food and she removed her disguise. Alex saw that she was a beautiful woman in her forties, with perfect features and a graceful appearance.
All the guests sitting around her were secretly watching her too. One of them accidentally put his cutlery into the ashtray and put the wrong end of his cigarette into his mouth. When he realized that it was the wrong end, he spat it out onto his plate.
Alex and Lindsey saw him and smiled at each other.
Their dishes were served and they began to eat. Then, they noticed that a lot of the diners were walking outside. It seemed strange.
Alex looked around and saw that several waiters were standing beside a few of the tables. He watched as one of the waiters whispered something to the guests. Then, the guests stood up and left.
Alex was confused. It was obvious that the waiter had asked the guests to leave, but he couldn't imagine why.
He wondered if they would also be asked to leave. He thought, "When the waiter comes, I'll ask him what's going on. I don't need to worry about it now. I'll just enjoy my dinner with Lindsey."
"Boss, come here," one of the waiters suddenly called out. He was standing next to the lady in white.
A few moments later, a man in a suit approached her table. Alex guessed that the woman was refusing to leave.
"Let's go and see what's happening," he said to Lindsey. They walked over to the lady's table. The waiter and the restaurant manager were arguing with her and didn't notice Alex standing behind them.
The manager frowned and said, "Miss, we have promised not to charge you for the meal. Would you please leave now?"
"I just want to enjoy my dinner. Please leave me in peace. I'll leave when I've finished my meal," the woman replied.
"I've asked you politely several times but you're refusing to listen. Do you assume that just because we're being polite, we won't make you leave?" the manager said angrily. Then he called, "Waiters, come and escort this lady out for me."
"We're coming, boss," replied the two waiters.
Alex felt that the manager was being completely unreasonable. They were planning to use brute force against the beautiful woman. He couldn't keep his mouth shut, and he said in a loud voice, "Hey, what are you doing?"
The manager looked at him. When he saw that it was Alex who had spoken, his face changed to an expression of surprise and fear. He took a step back, but quickly recovered and said, "It's nothing for you to worry about."
Then he said to the two waiters, "Why are you two just standing there? Please escort this lady out for me."
One of the two waiters grabbed the lady's arm and tried to lift her out of her seat.
"What are you doing?" Alex cried, as he pushed the two waiters aside and stood in front of the woman. He said to the manager, "How can you run a business like this? What are you doing? How can you treat your guests so rudely? If you run a restaurant in this way, it will close down in a few months."
When he had finished scolding the manager, he turned to the woman in white and said, "Miss, the service in this restaurant is so bad that we don't want to eat here anymore. Would you like to come and eat with us in a different restaurant?"
Lindsey took the woman's hand and said, "Yes, let's go and find another restaurant and have dinner together."
"Okay, let's go together," said the woman with a small smile. She stood up to leave with Alex and Lindsey.
But the manager stopped Alex with his arm. His face was gloomy and he said in a deep voice, "She can leave but you two have to stay."
"What? You can't make us stay. Get out of the way," Alex said. He pushed the manager out of the way and tried to leave, but the manager grabbed his clothes and said, "You can't go."
At that moment, a few young men raced in. The one in front looked strong and aggressive with a layer of stubble on his chin. He looked at Alex and said with a smile, "Now try and leave."