Something was different. Was it in the way Elara looked down at him without a hint of emotion in her eyes, or in the way the eyes that used to hold so much adoration, care, and affection were empty? Andrew couldn't pinpoint it.
"Do you know them?" Alex raised his brows, surprised, because he had really thought the man didn't mean well.
Elara noticed how the tips of Beatrice's fingers were touching Andrew's face, dabbing the corner of his lips with her handkerchief with concern written all over her face, fake or real; she didn't want to know.
She shifted her gaze back to Andrew, who was looking directly at her.
As she looked at his brows that were starting to narrow, a smirk appeared on her face, not the kind of smirk that told him her plan of getting his attention worked, but the kind that told him she was about to say something he wouldn't like in public for real.
"Wait. I know her. She is Beatrice Maiden. She is recently featured in a drama by Producer Cohl," one of Xylon's men said excitedly.
Xylon looked at Elara's expression and found it odd. If it had been any random person who had dared to touch her and say such words, that person would've been lying dead meat on the ground, but the way she was looking at the man…
It was him—her ex-husband. Andrew Lloyd, the one George had mentioned and never allowed him to look into, the one Elara said he couldn't mess with because he was a business tycoon himself.
His gaze flickered to the woman by the man's side, who was practically hugging him in the name of looking at his wounds, and a scoff left his mouth.
So this was what made Elara snap out of her fantasy. Her husband got a mistress and was shamelessly flaunting the woman right before her.
"This man!" Xylon stepped forward to beat Andrew to a pulp, ready to avenge Elara's tears, when Elara held his hand, stopping him before he could take a step.
She shook her head at him, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Andrew and Beatrice.
"Miss Elara, what is the meaning of all this? I know you hate me and are envious of me because I am better than you in some aspects, but it doesn't mean you should take it out on Andrew. Why do you keep making things hard for him?" Beatrice asked.
The same man who had excitedly said her name as the upcoming actress earlier scowled.
"Better than our Miss Elara? Has popularity gotten to her head?" His words were loud enough for everyone to hear, and Elara stepped forward, looking down at the acting couple.
She had no intention of helping them, entertaining them, or letting them stay on her mind anymore.
Elara crouched down, sitting on her heels to come face-to-face with Andrew and Beatrice.
"You are better than me? Tell me how," Elara said, her confident expression leaving Beatrice struck for a few seconds.
Elara had tried to compete and show her worth to Andrew quite a few times, but she never had this kind of expression, the kind that said she didn't care about anyone.
Andrew narrowed his brows and stood abruptly, pulling Beatrice with him.
"Don't cross a line, Elara. There's a point at which I can bear your tantrums," Andrew said.
Elara, still crouching down, smiled.
She raised her hand in the air, as if asking him to take her hand and help her stand.
Andrew pressed his lips into a thin line. He didn't want to help her, not after her friend punched him like that and humiliated him. But at the end of the day, she was his wife, and her dignity was somewhat related to his, too, right?
His friends already mock her. The last thing he wanted was for them to find one more reason.
With a sigh, he stepped forward to take her hand, but as soon as he extended his hand towards her, he noticed five hands extending towards her at the same time.
Elara looked up with a bored look as Xylon stepped forward and helped her stand.
"Are you hurt, Elara? Why can't you stand on your own? Or is it because you want to pretend to be like Beatrice again?" Sean's words reached them.
Elara's gaze shifted to Sean.
She remembered how he was one of the people who kept humiliating her time after time, comparing her to Beatrice and making an invisible competition between them when it shouldn't even have existed in the first place.
Elara smiled.
"Mr. Sean Turner, I appreciate your obsession with me, always trying to get between the conversation and trying to become a vital part to catch everyone's attention yourself, but it looks like no one has broken it down to you, but let me have the honor of doing it…"
Elara licked her bottom lip before tilting her head, her hair moving to the side with a bit of action, making her look even more enchanting.
Elara crossed her arms around her chest before looking at Sean with pity.
"When you do it, you look really childish, like a child who has been neglected in their household and can't get over their obsession with always being the center of drama. I know things in your family aren't too well, but must you announce it like this?" She blinked her eyes after making her comment.
Trevor, standing behind the people and carefully observing, raised his brows.
Elara was seriously becoming fatal with her comebacks. The way she carried herself, with such confidence in poise, something around her screamed attractive. If she weren't his friend's woman, he wouldn't have thought twice before hitting on her.
It had been a long time since a woman caught his attention like she did.
Sean's face changed color at her choice of words.
"Elara!" Sean stepped forward, but before he could, Alex and Antonio stepped before her protectively, their expressions hard, ready to put anyone down who would dare to step towards her.
Seeing the sudden commotion in the club, the manager, who was informed about the high-class drama that the waiters and helpers couldn't interfere with, rushed to the site.
As soon as his gaze fell on Sean, the son of the major stockholder of the club, his pupils dilated.
He didn't know the drama involved their major stockholder, or he would've come earlier.
"Sir, is there something bothering you?" The manager asked.
Sean's dark gaze shifted to the manager.
"What kind of policy do you have? I came here to relax with my friends, but my mood is now ruined because of these people. Have them kicked out now," Sean said.
Elara narrowed her brows.
She wouldn't have minded leaving the club herself, but now that Sean said such words about throwing her friends away, she felt deeply offended.
The manager immediately turned to Alex and Antonio.
"Hey, what's the matter? Why are you here, causing the trouble? Do you not know who these people are?" the manager asked.
Alex scoffed loudly.
"We don't know who these are, nor do we care. Anyone who doesn't have manners to talk to a lady should be taught a lesson," Alex said.
"What did you say? Will you teach me a lesson?" Sean lunged forward to attack Alex, but was quickly held by his friends.
Alex raised his brows.
"If a stupid person comes across, wanting to threaten the safety of my friend, I don't mind teaching them a lesson," Alex said.
Sean nearly growled in anger, struggling to break free from his friend's hold so he could beat Alex, the man, because of whom Elara got enough guts to humiliate him in public like this.
Seeing the tension escalating in the club, the manager quickly asked his bouncers to come and take Alex and his friends out of the club forcefully.
The bouncers nodded, and one of them was about to grab Elara's hand when Andrew stepped forward and held his hand, stopping him.
"Not her. She is with me," Andrew said, glaring at Elara, as if telling her that if he hadn't been here, she would've been deeply humiliated by them.
However, before he could say a word to mock her, someone held her hand and pulled her close, making Andrew look at the new man with a mixture of anger that quickly turned to surprise.
Elara looked up to see who the person was, and to say she was surprised would be an understatement.
"Y-you?" She stuttered.