Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 173: Holding On To the Diamond

Chapter 173: Holding On To the Diamond

"Yesterday, I got a call from The Daily Beacon..." Joe looked at Talia. His fingers were tightly interlocked showing the stress he is in and his neck veins were popping out showing he was mad.

Talia could see that he was angry. However, who is the recipient of his anger was unknown. Was he angry at himself or at Rachel?

It took a minute for Joe to compose himself, "They asked my permission to publish an article about you, with the input from ’sources close to you’... " he looked at Talia and Talia who was petting Bear, paused and got serious. Arthur got alert too.

"The editor, who is a close friend of mine, knew you are my wife’s best friend and was a bit doubtful that I approved this article to be published... I was surprised since I didn’t commission anyone to write any article about you. But I didn’t tell her that and asked to hold from publishing the article until I give the approval. And the article... "

" It was lies? " Talia asked seeing Joe hesitating.

" Well... Not lies, everything was true but it was written in a way that would have shown you in a... bad light. It seemed like an ode to your greatness, explaining your great performance in University, your achievements in lifting up our firm, and managing it perfectly... It said you didn’t even let relationships and friendships stand your way and focused on your career... But the phrasing made you look like a snobbish narcissist, who is an over-achiever; unrelatable and boastful, emotionless and manipulative. It was implied and smart people who could read between the lines will know this is the intended meaning. But the most important thing was.... It spoke about your depression and your medications.. I don’t think you want to make that public, yet..." Joe spoke looking closely at Talia.

Arthur held Talia’s hand as he knew she was stressed. He knew she won’t like her private affairs to be aired in public; especially something like her battling with depression.

" So Rachel was the one who commissioned to write the article?" Talia asked. It was a good thing that Joe stopped the publishing of that article. It would have been a PR disaster for her. These kind of articles that are veiled as compliments do more damage than articles bashing someone. People can accept faults and sometimes relate to them, but no one will be able to relate themselves with an over-achiever and so they would naturally hate them.

"Becky... He already told me that Rachel is not...who she shows herself as and I dismissed her. How stupid was I?" Joe looked at the floor rubbing his temples. If only he believed his wife at first. But at least now he has proof that Rachel lies. At least now he decided to check Rachel’s credibility and she showed her true colours! And the words he heard Rachel speaking to her mother... Yuck!

But... It shouldn’t be too late now for me and Becky, is it?

"Well... Long story short, with enough proof I confronted Rachel and she spun an amazing web of lies. It is amazing how manipulative she is and how foolish was I to get manipulated by her for this long. But I have proof and now I know for sure, I’m the stupidest person in the universe. I fired her if that’ means anything... " he sighed.

Seeing Talia silent, he continued, "Talia...talk to Becky please... She blocked my number and I don’t want to appear in front of her out of nowhere, in case I spook her. Help arrange a meeting between us. Tell her I’m willing to do what she asked of me... Please..."

" You don’t have to beg, Joe," Talia felt uncomfortable being put on a spot. She believed him.

And she was a bit happy that Joe decided to throw Rachel- whom he knew from his childhood, for her, just because she is his wife’s friend. Joe knew that article will damage her and decided to help her. In a way she felt like she owed him one.

"Rebecca probably won’t attend the State Dinner... But I’ll try to speak to her about you. She’s gone too silent, it’s become worrisome, Joe. She smiles, laughs, but I can feel the big hole in her heart," Talia looked at Joe. She didn’t know how to react to that spark of hope he had in his eyes among the deep hurt and guilt he felt.

" Don’t get too hopeful, I don’t know if I can bring you up. I don’t want her to suffer more or worse I don’t want her to ghost me. She already thinks I’m too soft on you," Talia added. She definitely didn’t want to lose Rebecca for Joe. But she did want those two to get back together.

"I understand," Joe took a deep breath, placing his hands on his knee and stood up. That’s when he noticed the scuff slippers Talia was wearing. It was men’s design and was oversized for her. He naturally looked at Arthur’s bare feet and scoffed in his heart. He didn’t have to think hard to know that Arthur lent Talia his slippers to wear.

Was he ever this attentive to Rebecca? Probably not. She was the one who took care of him a lot. And so, he took her for granted.

I still need to learn a lot, don’t I? Becky, my angel... Please come back to me... I’ll take good care of you...

But it was a comforting thought for him to know that Talia was talking on his behalf to Rebecca.

That day in her room, probably his Becky brought up Talia’s name to mention this. And he, the extraordinary dunce he is, thought Becky was flaunting her connections.

Those girls... They have some kind of strong bond between them and they stand up for each other and stand together supporting each other. They are not about their status or usefulness for each other.

What is that type of relationship called again?...

Friendship! Isn’t that the true meaning of the word? Nowadays friendship means a lot different.

Joe, as someone who grew up among the political circles, had known only the loose definition of friendship.

’Never think that any one of them are our friends, Joe. They are allies for now...’ His father never failed to remind him.

That’s how it was. People used each other and threw them out like trash the next moment. The get up using someone as a ladder and then kick them down. That’s what he witnessed growing up. A dog eat dog world.

The one true genuine person he met was Becky. That bright girl with a smile of an angel and the heart of a Saint. So, how could she have made a wrong choice when it came to her best friend?

Ugh!

He couldn’t help but sigh involuntarily as he was bombarded with more guilt.

I am the stupidest person in the planet! Talk about losing a diamond while stupidly collecting stones! I broke Becky for that trash Rachel. But I can’t give up.

"See you at the Dinner," Joe nodded at Arthur and Talia and left the room.

"I’ll never let go of you, Fred," The moment she heard the door close, Talia said hugging Arthur. "Unless you really don’t want me. In that case, I will never appear in front of you, ever."

Arthur couldn’t see her face as she was burying it in his chest and he hugged her close. "I will never not want you. So you better keep that promise," he kissed the top of her head.

He rubbed her back seeing her still clinging on to him. He looked at the puppy now curled up on the rag, sound asleep.

For some reason, he felt a little nagging feeling in his heart. Everything seems to be fine. The one thing he wanted in his life - her love, is being showered on him abundantly and he could feel it.

The public in Esteria are slowly turning against the council with help of the amount of articles published in all outlets of the media.

Also he has more plans.

He heard news that Olivia is trying to get help from her other ’friends’. That woman seems to have connections with pretty influential people all around the world. When he tried to look deeply into her connections, he was summoned by Jerome and sternly warned not to look into those people.

It all seemed fishy but Arthur trusted Jerome. If he says that for the safety of Talia, he needed to back off, he will - no questions asked.

Arthur vaguely remembered his grandfather taking about a secret cabal that is so influential, the members control the politics of the world. The Cabal is so powerful every leader of the Nations, bows to the Cabal if they want to stay in power.

Of course, then he thought such a cabal would only exist in action movies or thriller series and didn’t think much about it. But judging by everything happening around, he now doesn’t think that cabal his grandfather mentioned is fictitious at all.

Talia heard the loud, incessant ringing of her phone and picked up her phone, letting go of Arthur.

"Ah, it’s the stylist... I have to leave..." she hurriedly ran to the bedroom where she left her shoes. She wore her pumps and ran to the exit. "Cordelia explicitly advised me not to anger the stylist. Ah... I’m late... I’m late..." she ran around, "I’m forgetting something... Fred, What is it?" her brain had stopped functioning and she asked Arthur.

"Him?" Arthur pointed at the puppy and he could not help but laugh seeing her running around like a headless chicken.

"Aww... Bear. Mummy didn’t forget you..." Talia really felt guilty and walked to the puppy. But he was sleeping deeply and she didn’t want to wake him up.

"Leave him here, I’ll take care of him until you get ready." Arthur offered.

She gets cuter when she gets flustered... My Iris, you’re so pretty!

Arthur couldn’t help but admire her as she gently placed a kiss on the puppy’s head.

" Bye, meet you at the dinner, " Talia waved her hand and ran to the door. Arthur wore the slippers she neatly left in front of him and walked to the door with a smile in his face.

As he was about to lock the door, he felt the door pushed open and before he could react, a warm smooch landed on his lips as her scent entered his nose.

"Bye," she waved her hand with a smile and he watched her walking with her heels clicking on the marble floor and her hips swaying.

A content smile formed on Arthur’s lips as his hand rubbed his chest that felt that sweet feeling that spread all over his body. It was as if his heart is pumping out honey all over his body.

This sweetness... This love she gives me... Waiting ten years for her is worth it!

Good thing I didn’t waste my time collecting stones and held on to the diamond I found!

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.