Chapter 412 William and Hayden (13)
"Drugged?!" Hayden's brow furrowed, her face a mix of shock and disbelief. "You're saying on the masquerade night, Nikolai had someone drug my drink?!"
"Yes!" Isabella nodded. "You are not still unaware, are you? Where did you go after leaving the masquerade early?"
—Masquerade, Nikolai, drugged drink.
Hayden's mind raced back to that night, and everything clicked—the reason William had suddenly appeared and bumped into her, spilling almost all the drink from her glass.
So that was it...
If it hadn't been for William that night, would she have already fallen prey to Nikolai, that scumbag…
A surge of fury instantly ignited within Hayden's chest.
If Nikolai were in front of her at that moment, she would have crippled him herself.
"How did you know about Nikolai drugging me?" Hayden asked Isabella, trying to keep her emotions under control after piecing everything together.
"I found out this afternoon, a slip of the tongue from my dear," Isabella said, a look of concern spreading on her face as she observed Hayden's darkening expression. "That night, Nikolai didn't get to you, did he?"
Hayden shook her head. "No, the wine spilled. I didn't drink it. I left early because I saw Nikolai and lost the desire to stay."
"Thank God, thank God!" Isabella breathed a sigh of relief, cursing fervently, "Nikolai, that pig-headed buffoon thinking he could marry you? He's like a toad lusting after swan meat. No, he's worse than that. The Johnsons are nothing without your family's influence. Who knows, they might've ended up in jail already."
Hayden frowned, gripping her glass tighter, her teeth gritted as she nearly spat out each word, "Rest assured, I'd rather die than marry that pig, Nikolai."
"Don't talk like that. Why should you die for the Johnsons? They're worse than dogshit; stepping on them is a stench. You need to take down Sophia and her son and reclaim everything that should belong to you and Jocelyn." Isabella took Hayden's hand, encouraging her.
"Easier said than done," Hayden let out a bitter laugh. "Daniel is not only Sophia's son but also Raymond's, my brother. Clearly, Raymond favors sons over daughters. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to Sophia to have a son after having two daughters with my mother."
Looking down, Hayden chuckled ruefully, "How can I take down Daniel? That would be like destroying Raymond, too. As long as Daniel exists, Sophia holds Raymond's heart."
"What are we going to do?" Isabella asked, sharing Hayden's urgency. "Maybe you could find someone to plant something on Raymond for Sophia, you know, to..."
Cutting off Isabella before she could finish, Hayden shook his head, "Sophia is no fool. She's worked hard for what she has today, and she wouldn't just ruin herself—ruin the Johnson family. Besides, if Raymond—or Sophia, for that matter—found out I was behind it, Jocelyn and I would end up completely sidelined at home. I might as well be thrown out on my ear by Raymond himself."
Biting her lip, Isabella considered this and nodded. "You're right. That bitch Sophia. She wouldn't have been able to seduce Raymond or bear him a son if she didn't have some smarts and tricks up her sleeve. She's made the Johnsons strut around like they own the place."
Ding!
Suddenly, a text notification sounded from Isabella's phone.
She quickly checked it—a picture message from an unknown number.
"Damn!"
In a flash, Isabella was fuming, her eyes ablaze with anger.
Noticing her distress, Hayden took the phone from her.
The screen displayed a handsome man stepping out of a car, a stunning woman on each arm, heading toward the lobby of a five-star hotel.
And this was no stranger—it was Isabella's fiancé, Henrik Andersen.
Who would have thought? Henrik, the pinnacle of affection, had always been tender and attentive toward Isabella. The couple was often seen indulging in public displays of affection.
Hayden had always believed that Henrik only had eyes for Isabella.
But here he was, Henrik, revealed as a creature driven by his primal urges.
Ding!
Before long, Isabella's phone sounded another alert. The same number sent another photo. Hayden opened it, and Isabella leaned in to view it.
Upon seeing the second photo, Isabella's eyes reddened with rage, tears starting to swirl in their depths.
"Hayden, Henrik, he... that bastard!" Isabella couldn't control her tears as they fell, trembling as she looked at Hayden and asked, "What am I supposed to do now?"
"What to do?" Hayden scoffed as he looked at Isabella, who was tearful. "You still don't seriously want to marry Henrik, do you? Clearly, he's been playing you all along, singing one tune to your face and another behind your back."
Isabella immediately shook her head and wiped the tears from her face, "No, I won't marry him. I won't go through with it."
"That's right," Hayden said with a sinister smile, pocketing Isabella's phone, "Come on, let's go catch him in the act."
In the blurry background of a photograph, she unmistakably recognized Nikolai's oafish silhouette.
This time, she was going to avenge her best friend and give Nikolai a good thrashing.
"Uh-huh," Isabella nodded, grabbed her purse, and left the restaurant with Hayden, heading for the hotel...
...
Because the opportune moment could not be missed, and time was of the essence, Hayden still hadn't bought new shoes.
Fearing that someone might tip them off, Isabella didn't ask her driver to take them. Instead, the two hailed a taxi and urged the driver to speed toward the hotel.
On the way there, Hayden considered that if only she and Isabella showed up at the hotel, Henrik and Nikolai might not even let them in.
So, she had to devise a plan to make Henrik open the door for them without suspicion.
After a moment of thought, she dialed a number and made a call.
The restaurant was quite far from the hotel, probably selected by Henrik to avoid Isabella's unexpected appearance, willing to take the risk of confrontation.
However, Henrik overlooked one crucial thing—Isabella was not short on cash.
To catch them red-handed, Isabella handed the taxi driver a wad of pounds, and he drove like the wind. What was supposed to be an hour's drive took only half the time, and safely, they arrived at the hotel.
Once they arrived, the escort Hayden had arranged, along with two highly skilled bodyguards, was already waiting in the hotel lobby.
With the escort and the bodyguards in tow, Hayden went straight to the front desk to book the presidential suite on the top floor of the hotel; then, led by the suite's butler, they headed up to the top floor, where the suite was located with unassailable legitimacy.
Access to the five-star hotel's presidential suite wasn't something anyone could waltz up to.
At the top floor of the hotel were the four exclusive Presidential Suites. Upon reaching the pinnacle, Hayden immediately dismissed the suite butler. They headed straight for Henrik's suite with Isabella, the bombshell companions, and their bodyguards in tow.
Approaching the suite door, Hayden gave the sultry ladies a brief instruction before she and Isabella, along with the bodyguards, stepped aside, allowing the bombshell to ring the doorbell.
Inside, the men and women were living it up, but the doorbell ring brought their revelry to an abrupt halt as the men tensed up and exchanged wary glances.
Henrik, in particular, looked more than guilty; he was visibly shaken.
"Nikolai, check who's out there," Henrik ordered after a moment of panic.
Nikolai was visibly annoyed but still wrapped himself in a bathrobe and strode toward the door.
Behind him, the remaining two men and five women watched quietly, not daring to make a sound.
At the door, Nikolai peered through the peephole and was thrilled to see a foreign beauty outside, winking flirtatiously at him. She was even hotter than the ones inside, and he couldn't help but grin.
Without a second thought, Nikolai swung the door open and peeked out, greeting the stunning visitor with a beaming smile, "Well, hello there, gorgeous, you..."
Bang!
"Ahh!"
The words had barely left his lips when Hayden and Isabella's highly trained bodyguards burst forward, kicking the door wide open. Both women followed closely.
With a loud cry, Nikolai, sent sprawling by the force of the kick, ended up flat on his back, his bathrobe flung wide open, exposing far more than intended.
The commotion caused a shockwave among the men and women inside.
