Chapter 147 - Setting The Plan In Motion

People usually tend to bring out their innermost thoughts and feelings when they lose control of themselves in the middle of their fit of pique.

In Bianca's case, all there's left to do is to pull the last straw. Winter has already been pushing her buttons for a while, considering all her recent failures that led up to Neil's crimes. 

Now, it's only a matter of time before she finally loses it and spirals into insanity - if she hasn't already, that is. 

Bianca had stolen and ruined a lot of things in her life. She persisted so long as she could. However, Winter would finally put an end to that. If it means dragging her down and stopping her, she will confront her no matter what the risks are.

'Tonight is that night....' Winter thought as she made her way to the lounge, looking for any sign of Bianca.

'I'll make sure that you're not going to continue the way you do things, Bianca.'

Right then, she felt someone touch her shoulder, making her come to a halt.

Taken by surprise, she turns around to see who it is, somehow expecting that she'll come face to face with Bianca. She has been bracing herself for her appearance now that she is all on her own. Knowing how impulsive she could be, she would probably come hunting for her head as soon as she had the chance - she won't just stay still and do nothing. 

But then, instead of Bianca, she saw someone she could not recognize. 

"Good evening, Ms. Middleton," a fine-looking gentleman in a black-and-white suit greeted her, much to her surprise.

"Oh, good evening as well," she greeted back a bit hesitantly, feeling the rise of a premonition.

"You appear to be alone. With how popular you are tonight, I thought for sure you're surrounded by a crowd. Mind if I join you?" 

"I'm not really by myself, and I don't think I have the time-"

"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself first. Pardon me. I might've weirded you out."

The stranger slightly bows down then, reaching for her hand. He kisses the back of it before he looks up to meet her gaze again - the gesture came as quickly as it was over, so she was not able to say anything. With that, she only stood speechless, somewhat astonished.

Now, though, Winter regretted staying motionless. Only Marcellus should be allowed to do something like that to her.

She studied the stranger's features one more time, but she still failed to recognize him, and not recognizing him made her feel even more unsettled.

"It's too bad, though. As much as I want to introduce myself to you, I believe we don't have much time left. So, let's just save the chit-chats for later."

What happened next was too fast for Winter to comprehend, and before she knew it, she already found herself feeling lightheaded before falling unconscious.

---

August and Violet were thrown off guard after they learned about Winter's strange disappearance.

The plan should go like this - she will wait for Bianca to appear while they also wait for Marcellus and Victor to come. Some of their back-ups were watching over her from a distance just in case something bad happened to her again. But then, not even half an hour since she was left to her own devices, they lost sight of her all of the sudden. 

"It caught us off guard. We were just watching over the Young Miss as she made her way to the main lounge, but out of nowhere, it was like she vanished into thin air," was the alarming report that was passed onto them by one of her surveillance at that time.

Right now, August is trying to analyze the current predicament along with Violet.

They have already met up with the others. Their meeting place is located at the VIP hub on the upper floor of the banquet hall. 

"Vanishing out of thin air, huh?" he muttered under his breath, teeth gritted and brows furrowed together.

"But that'll be too reckless of Ms. Bianca - if she's the one behind this, that is. This whole place has surveillance cameras, after all. There'll be evidence against her. However, what's stranger was that the people who're watching over Winter at that time had failed to respond to the situation," she pointed out, deep in thought. 

While the others are busy discussing their next course of action, they continue to pore over the situation. Yet, eventually, August can no longer stay still and wait around. Every second counts at this point. Winter might be in danger even at this very moment. 

"Sorry, Ms. Violet, but we'll have to split for now. You guys follow the plan. Tell Mr. Lexington that I went to look for Winter," he told her, finally deciding to stir his stumps.

"Huh? Are you going to look for Winter on your own?" she asked him, taken aback.

"Yeah. I'll take care of it. Just focus on the other preparations."

With that, August went ahead and took flight, leaving Violet and the others behind.

---

Winter woke up to find herself lying on a bed in some room.

She was struck confounded and thrown into a panic  - even more so when the realization that she had been taken away settled in her. Again and again. It seems like she'll have to get used to it from now on. 

However, Winter is able to pull herself together faster this time - no matter how many times she gets dragged away by force, she will break free and stand back up again. 

'The door is locked, which isn't really surprising. For now, I'll just tell everyone about my current situation,' she thought, going with that option at the moment.

She pulled out something from the pocket of her dress and began to walk around the room. It didn't take too long for her to set things up. It's what she's supposed to be doing later tonight for the main highlight of their plan.

'But this is an emergency. I have to do this countermeasure regardless of how early it is.'

As soon as she finished preparing, she heard the door creaking open. She steeled herself, not wanting to waver. With that in mind, she sat on the side of the bed - still and placid, and waited for her perpetrator to show up.

"Oh, Bianca," she breathed with a frown, not at all surprised anymore.

Winter had a feeling that the man who took her there had something to do with her. However, she didn't expect that Bianca would show up instead of him. 

She strode forward with a cold-hard, steely expression - a scowl tugging at her bright, red lips, venom in her hooded, glinting glare. 

"It's been a while, little sis. Are you having fun lately...?" Bianca started, voice thick and vehement.

"You've got yourself a man now, it seems! Oh, how great that is! You must've had all sorts of fun with him~!"

As Marcellus said earlier, Bianca was already at the edge even before she could confront Winter.

She can tell that she's no longer in her usual composure. That kind of says a lot about how this evening might've been rough on her so far. She's always demure and complacent, after all. Unless she's at her limits, she'll keep up her facade for as long as she has to.

"Were you that desperate, dear sister? So, tell me. How were you able to seduce a man like him? Did you turn into a slut? I mean, he was a massive flirt not too long ago. Surely, someone as plain and boring as you could not get him easily. You're just a pathetic little loser who has no good qualities..." she scoffed before cackling out loud.

"Wanna make a bet? I say, he'll dump you in less than a month."

From one insult to another, Bianca kept rambling and mocking Winter.

Even still, she was not reacting the way she wanted her to. She looked apathetic the whole time.

'This cheeky bitch. Why isn't she saying anything?'

She poured scorn on her - even brought up their parents again, but she did not respond. Though her silence only ends up peeving her even more, she soon has an assumption that she is up to something. 

In this situation, she just seems too calm - too confident.

"Oh, already running out of slurs to say...?" Winter then snorted out of nowhere, smirking at Bianca.

"You asked why I was so desperate? Oh, please. Between you and me, you're the one who's already losing it."

At that, she snapped.

No one is going to get away from insulting her like that, especially a nobody like her. This piece of garbage doesn't even deserve to breathe the same air as her. 

"Just what the hell were you planning this whole time? What? Gonna take revenge or something?" Bianca snarled disdainfully as she stepped closer to her, practically spitting at her face at this point.

"Revenge? Oh, no, that's not really the word for it..." Winter said coolly, looking back at her as if she was some lowly thing. 

"All I want is to take back what is rightfully mine."