Chapter 10

Emily's POV
I realized today that Andre's girlfriends were like items for sale in the supermarket windows, they all had a shelf life.
Andre didn't introduce me to anyone by name, and I took the reception as an opportunity to come for a free dinner.
"God, you're finally here. Do you know how long we've been waiting for you?" We had just entered the hall when a man with champagne greeted us, "Wow, is this your new date? Where did you find such a beauty?"
When Andre first saw me in my dress, he had the same amazement in his eyes and stayed in place for half a day before coming forward to take me in his arms and kiss me tenderly on the face. "Emily, you're so beautiful, you'll definitely be the most beautiful lady tonight."
Although I had heard countless such compliments, I felt overjoyed when I heard Andre compliment me like that.
"Your selection criteria are getting higher and higher, can this girl stay with you for three months?"
"I guess yes, it's the first time I've seen such a beautiful girl."
These were celebrities that I had only seen on TV before. I was a little nervous. But in their eyes, I was just a girl who was temporarily in Andre's good graces.
They had no qualms about discussing in front of me how long I could have a shelf life with Andre, and that made me feel uncomfortable. Even if I was like those girls, there was no need to discuss these things in front of me.
Andre didn't answer the guys' words. I took his attitude as acquiescence.
He led me to the table where the food was set and turned to his business partner for a chat. "Emily, wait for me here. Have some food. I need to go do something and I'll be back later."
Andre turned and disappeared into the crowd.
"Emily! Why are you here?" A familiar voice sounded behind me, and I turned around to find that it was actually Emma and Dylan.
"How do you deserve to be in a place like this?" Emma shouted, her shrill voice attracting people around her. I knew she was getting jealous of me again, so I tried to stay away from her.
"Don't go away! Security, where's security? There's a thief here! She must have sneaked into the reception for stealing, get rid of her!"
"I'm not! Emma! Don't slander me, I came in with someone!"
Emma's face looked twisted. Every time she met something related to me, she always acted very crazy. I saw a lot of people gathering this way.
I didn't want to be surrounded by them with Emma, which made me feel very humiliated. I couldn't understand why Emma, a lady carefully cultivated in high society, could have such an ugly side.
"Someone? Who? Where is he? Where is he? Emily! Just stop lying, who would bring an illegitimate daughter to a party?!"
"She's right, I don't think I've ever seen this girl at a party before."
"She can't really be a thief, but the clothes she's wearing look pretty expensive. She wouldn't have bought an expensive outfit to steal something and sneak into the reception. That's not worth it."
"Maybe her dress is a fake, Emma said she is an illegitimate daughter, how can an illegitimate daughter afford such an expensive dress."
"She's actually an illegitimate daughter? She looks beautiful, much more beautiful than Emma. If she's a bastard daughter, can I just take her away without fear of retribution from the others?"
People gathered here, and they looked at me and whispered. These gentlemen and ladies who came to this reception all knew each other. No one wanted to believe me because I had never been at any of the receptions they had attended.
Where was Andre? Why wasn't he back yet?
I looked around, yet I didn't see Andre's figure.
"Your lies have been exposed, Emily! Security! Get her out of here!"
The smile on Emma's face looked smug. As she shouted, a security guard came towards the place. It would be a shame if I was really thrown out. It was obvious that I had come with Andre, but no one wanted to believe me.
"What's going on? Who are you kicking out?"
Andre finally came back. The crowd that had gathered didn't dare to stop him when they saw him and consciously made a way out. He walked up to me quickly.
I had never been so relieved to see Andre as I was at the moment. It's really lucky that he came back in time, otherwise I really didn't know what would have happened.
Under the eyes of everyone, Andre walked up to me and wrapped his arms around my waist, then he looked around and said in a cold voice, "Emily is my date, who are you to kick her out?"
Emma had frozen when Andre appeared. She didn't expect the man I was talking about to be Andre, and her face instantly turned pale when she was chastised by Andre like this.
"No, Mr. Vincent, it's not like that, I just..." she tried to explain something, but lost her mind again the moment she saw me, "I just thought how could a man of your stature bring an illegitimate daughter to the reception?"
Dylan kept tugging on her arm not wanting her to say more, but was slapped open by Emma.
"Stop talking, are you crazy?!"
I heard Dylan whispering in Emma's ear. Dylan was also very shocked that I would be with Andre, but he had his senses.
"Get off me! Why can't I talk?" Emma angrily shook off Dylan's hand. She was hoping that her words would make Andre disgusted with me and abandon me.
"Mr. Vincent, you don't know that her mother is a slut, a home-wrecker who destroys other people's families, and Emily is a bitch who knows how to seduce men. She has had sex with many men. She is just as cheap as her mother, you can't be deceived by her appearance!"
Emma thought that Andre didn't know who I was, so she made up some malicious lies to turn me into a whore. But she forgot that a man like Andre doesn't care about the identity of his female partner.
Andre knew exactly what had happened to me and Hellen. He knew everything about me, including how many boyfriends I had had. So Emma's behavior ended up being ugly in his eyes because of jealousy. He didn't like it when people insulted me like that.
"Security, get this shouting lady out of here!"
"No, no! Mr. Vincent, you can't do this to me, Mr. Vincent! Let me go, you guys! Let me go! You lowly security guards. Do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is? How dare you do this to me! Let go of..."
The security guards who heard Andre's command were much faster than earlier. They stepped forward and dragged Emma towards the door, no matter how much she struggled as well as threatened they didn't let go until they threw Emma outside the door never to hear her voice again.
"Is that the daughter of the Brown family? Is she actually a lady!"
"Yes that's her. She was spoiled by Mrs. Brown. You don't know that Mrs. Brown was like that when she was young, but she was wiser than her daughter and knew what not to offend."
"That woman? She was nothing like a lady when she was young, more forceful and domineering than a man, and I don't know how Mr. Brown could stand her."
"He couldn't stand it so he found someone to give birth to an illegitimate daughter. But her daughter is really stupid, her name is Emma, right? Who does she think she is to order Mr. Vincent? That's the biggest joke I've heard this year."
"Her father, Mr. Brown, is just a minor role, a girl from a down-and-out family, I don't understand how she has the courage to say something like that."
The voices of these people were not too small, and all the whispers were clearly heard by me. They had been discussing me in the same way when Emma had just slandered me as a thief. Now that Emma had offended Andre, they were taunting her with words, even adding Bella and Toby to the joke.
"Emily, you don't have to care about that woman's words."
Andre looked down at me with concern as if he hadn't heard those people talking. Of course I knew I didn't have to care about Emma's words. I didn't take people's insults to heart.
"I'm fine Andre, I was just thinking about how I was kicked out of Brown's house a month ago when I went there to ask her mother for help, just like I did today. Now it's actually Emma's turn to get kicked out because of me."
Andre laughed.
"Hey, Emily, are you gloating?"
"Of course."
I did feel happy and cheerful that Emma had been kicked out. I had always been the one who was bullied by her without any chance to speak, and then it was finally her turn.
"Thank you, Andre, you're always there when I most need help."