The Manipulated Villainess

In a private room of a luxurious restaurant, Nicole and Aston were having dinner with Leon and Shara.

"I heard that Yang Apparel was launch successfully. Congrats, Nicole." Shara said to Nicole who was sitting opposite to her.

"It's just the beginning but thank you." Nicole raised a glass of wine and took a sip of it.

"How is your step-mother these days? Despite being one of the strongest potential candidates for the Presidential election, she is too quiet these days and from what I heard, there are strange rumours about her." Leon said with a confused face.

Both Aston and Nicole were equally curious. What was the rumor Leon talked about?!

"What do you mean?" Nicole asked after briefly wondering about it.

"I have some acquaintances among the politicians due to my father. They told me that Garcia Han is considering to withdraw but nothing is confirmed." Leon explained.

Nicole quickly turned to Aston with a surprised face and the latter also did the same.

"I was also quite surprised when Leon told me. Do you know anything about this?" Shara asked.

Nicole shook her head. "I haven't met her these days. She told me that she would come and look at the house but she cancelled that too. Besides, she never told me to visit the main mansion these days."

"I think something is not right." Aston promptly said. "She is not the type to easily withdraw. Besides, she is still one of the people's favourites despite all the bad rumours. Her reputation also greatly improved again lately."

"I will meet her and try to figure out," Nicole said but deep inside, she was feeling quite troubled. Garcia Han changed in behaviour greatly bothered her these days and now, she might withdraw from the election? That's nonsense! She worked for years to climb to the top!

"Okay! Enough of Garcia Han. Let's talk about us." Leon suddenly said and turned to Aston. "You are so busy these days." He remarked.

"Don't even get me started. I'm miserable enough." Aston make a dismissive gesture and shook his head.

Shara's chuckled at her brother's reaction. "If it's that tiring, then you should just quit."

Aston's face brightened up at her suggestion. "That's what I think."

Leon helplessly shook his head and Nicole chuckled. "Then many women will be left heartbroken all around the world." She commented.

Leon glanced at Shara with a displeased face. "Whenever I complained about my career, you always told me just to work harder. Are you playing favourites?"

"Then will you quit pottery if I told you to?" Shara asked, turning to him.

Leon's response came as swift as lightning. "No."

"Then why are you complaining?" Shara sighed and shook her head.

Leon sighed in defeat and continued with his dinner while Shara slightly chuckled.

Aston turned to Nicole and asked, "What about you? Do you think I should change my career? I'm still young."

"That's up to you." Nicole simply replied without much thought and this made Aston frowned a bit.

After they finished dinner, Leon and Shara left with Leon's car while Aston was preparing to drive Nicole home.

"Does your step-mother still bother you?" Aston asked Nicole while driving the car.

"I still think that it's strange. She even offered to order her men to stop watching me and she really did. I can't understand her." Nicole said with a puzzled face. Then she suddenly turned to Aston. "I think I should check on her tonight. Will you drop me off at the main mansion?"

"Alright but you should still be careful. Don't underestimate her." Aston calmly said.

When they reached the main mansion, Nicole gets off of the car.

"I will wait for you. It's late and you already sent your car back home." Aston said, staring out of the car window.

"You rarely have a night off these days. I think you should go home and rest. I can manage myself."

"You won't be that long. I will wait." Aston insisted and Nicole finally agreed.

Just a minute after Nicole left, Aston noticed the presence of a car a few metres behind him. He takes a look at the car through the mirror repeatedly.

Why do he have a feeling that he was being watched? Was it a paparazzi or an enemy? Then his phone went off. It was an unknown number but he still answered.

"Hello?"

"Aston Kang."

The actor sighed when he heard a familiar voice. "Cassandra Lim, I see that you still haven't given up on making a deal with me."

Cassandra laughed from the other line. "I expect at least a proper greeting. Why don't you come over to my car and have a serious talk?"

Aston raised a brow when he heard her. "So it was you? Are you even tailing me now?"

"I'm not that patient, Aston Kang. If you refused to come, then I'll come. What if your lover comes out and sees me with you? You won't want that."

Aston hangs up the call without saying anything. Then he gets off his car and went over to Cassandra's car and settled on the backseat with her.

"You still haven't changed a bit, Cassandra. All you do is threatening others." He bluntly remarked.

Cassandra let out a little laughter. "But it works well this time. I never thought that the weakness of the Pacesetter will be the Chairwoman of Yang Group. It's very interesting."

"Listen to me carefully, Cassandra Lim. If you ever dare to touch her or even go near her, I will bury you and your whole Moyan Gang. I swear that." Aston said in a deadly low voice, looking at her right in the eyes.

"Don't worry. As you know, my love life is a mess. So, I have no intention to mess up yours as well." Cassandra said with a little sneer.

Aston scorned at her. "You still have no shame. You're the one who creates the mess and Nathan is the victim. Don't you still get it? You should stop dreaming, Cassandra. This is my advice as your former friend."

Aston tried to gets off and turned to the door but...

"What if I said that I have no involvement in the murder of Nathan's father? Will you listen to me then?" Cassandra muttered which made him halted. All the proud and confident demeanor of the Moyan Gang boss was now gone!

Aston fell silent for a while and then said, "It won't make a difference. Your father is still the one who makes that happen." He still doesn't look at Cassandra at all.

"Must a child bear the sins of their parents? I deem that unfair." Cassandra replied in a low voice once again.

Aston was reminded of the time when people pointed their fingers at him, saying that he was the son of Ethan Min the traitor. The sour faces, the insults and curse; all were deeply rooted in his mind! Must a child bore the sins of their parents? No. That's what his conscience told him.

"I don't understand you, Cassandra Lim." He said as he turned around again. "Even if you were innocent in that matter, you already betrayed Nathan way before that. You're the one who hid your identity and approached him. Then you made use of his feelings for you to destroy his gang for your gang benefits. Did you already forget?"

"I never once forget that," Cassandra said. "I was young and naive at that time but - "

"Nathan cut ties with you after that but he never hates you, not until his father's death. You should be grateful just for that alone." Aston promptly said, interrupting her.

"I'm Nathan's friend, so I'll never risk my friendship with him to help you, the one he loathes the most. Rather than coming to me, go to Nathan and see if he could believe you. Who knows? If you are honest to him for the first time ever, he might give a thought. But I can't guarantee anything." Aston paused and added, "Because the pain you give him was too much. It's a miracle that he is still alive."

He glanced at Cassandra for a while and when she remained quiet, he turned to the door and gets off the car.

For the first time, his strong opinion of her wavered. Did she really love Nathan? But she already caused him too much pain and the pain was beyond what one could imagine! However, the proud and confident Boss of the Moyan Gang could be shut up by such talk? It made him felt more puzzled.

Even after Aston left, Cassandra was still in a daze. Nathan never hated her after she betrayed him? That was news to her! He always distanced himself from her ever since he finds out her identity. Besides, that night, he even said about how she betrayed him.

She still remembered the first time she met Nathan a few years ago. He was a lively and playful man who always smile. She approached him with a purpose in her father's order and hid her identity.

Ever since he realized that she was a daughter of the Moyan Gang Boss, she never witnessed that carefree smile again. The smile he wore on the day they first met was long gone and she also knows that most of it were her fault. She killed that smile.....