A Love Trap
Chapter 158 The Frame

"I can't calm down. It's my engagement ring. I can't believe I lost it..." It looked like Lena was about to burst into tears.

She seemed to hardly be able to keep the tears from flowing down the corners of her eyes.

"Don't worry. It might have just dropped on the ground," said someone.

"No, no, no! I looked everywhere. It's not on the table or the floor," said Lena.

"Wait, is it possible that someone might have picked it up? Perhaps someone has taken it?" one of the girls suggested.

Immediately, a few of them started to agree with her. One echoed, "That's very possible! One of the service staff might have picked it up and given it to the manager. We can check with the manager to see if someone handed a ring in."

A girl sneered, "Who would be silly enough to hand an expensive ring from the ground to someone else?"

The girls around looked at each other and agreed with her. It was an expensive ring. It was probably worth millions of dollars. No one would be able to resist the temptation of keeping it. It was highly unlikely that anyone would return it to its owner or hand it to the manager. Caroline glared at Lena who was very distressed and sneered, "I think you might have lost it yourself. Why don't you check the surveillance videos rather than make such a big deal right now."

Lena was worrying about her ring. She didn't have the spirit of starting a fight with Caroline, so she ignored her.

However, Teresa couldn't stand her taunting. She wasn't pleased with Caroline's attitude toward Lena.

"Caroline, can you just shut up for a minute? For goodness sake, can't you see that Lena is worrying herself half to death over losing her engagement ring? We don't expect you to have the heart to help. But, can you at least just shut up and leave us alone?" said Teresa. "This is a free country. I can do whatever I want. What I do is none of your business. Oh, and for your information, I was trying to help! Staring aimlessly at the ground and crying isn't going to make your ring magically appear. So quit weeping. For crying out loud, go and check the surveillance videos!" argued Caroline.

"Checking the surveillance videos will make it into a big deal. Lena is trying to solve the problem efficiently! Why do you care or worry? It's not your ring. You can at least respect others and keep your suggestions to yourself?" bickered Teresa.

"Teresa, just who do you think you are? How dare you talk back to me! Let me remind you! You are nothing but Lena's little bitch," barked Caroline. She glared at Teresa with extreme hatred in her eyes.

Caroline couldn't stand Lena's pitiful expression. She knew it was Lena's way of drawing sympathy and attention to herself in particular from men. In Caroline's eyes, Lena would barely live through the day without having a man's attention.

Lena and Caroline had two completely different personalities. Caroline was stronger in character and way more independent than Lena. It wasn't hard to understand why they didn't get along with each other.

Teresa didn't expect that Caroline would be so blunt. She sat rigidly and was rendered speechless.

It was true that she came from a middle-class family and followed Lena everywhere. However, what Caroline said was just awful and had hurt her deeply.

"Her little bitch? What the hell are you talking about? Lena and I are best friends! You think everyone treats their friends as you do. Don't you? Look at the girls behind you! They're your little bitches, aren't they?" Teresa pointed her finger at the girls behind Caroline and fought back.

The girls that Teresa was rudely pointing her finger at didn't appreciate her comment. They glared at her with daggers in their eyes.

Lena cursed how stupid Teresa could be under her breath. She was glad that she never told Teresa anything important, otherwise Teresa might have ruined everything for her.

"All right, everyone! Just calm down! The most important thing right now is to help Lena to look for her ring!" a girl spoke up and made a point. The tense atmosphere had gradually eased off.

"Lena, who did you last see before your ring went missing?" one of the girls asked.

Lena pretended to contemplate. After thinking for a moment, she pursed her lips and said, "I think the last person I saw was my sister. We were chatting over there. However, I just looked away for a moment, and then she was gone. I looked around for her, and I realized my sister had already left. My ring went missing then as well," Lena recalled.

Suddenly, something had occurred to Lena, which seemed to frighten her. She covered her mouth dramatically with both of her hands, and her eyes were as wide as saucers. "You can't suspect my sister!" gasped Lena.

"I didn't. I just thought she might know something about your ring because she left at the same time when the ring was lost," explained the girl.

"No! It can't be my sister who took my ring. She told me she didn't like Raymond anymore..." Lena stopped mid-sentence while she was expressing her strong belief in Ashley. Then, suddenly she took a deep breath and said uncertainly, "I believe my sister, she wouldn't do such a thing..."

Lena had put on such a good act, and with the way she spoke, the other girls couldn't help but feel sorry for her. They were now even more convinced that Ashley was the one who took the ring.

"Lena, you should stop trying to cover for your sister. Do you believe that she would be as considerate as you are? And treat you as well as you have been treating her? She's probably jealous of you. That's why she stole it," scoffed Teresa.

"But..." Lena wanted to speak for Ashley, but someone had interrupted her.

"All right! There's no point in our guessing. Let's just replace Lena's sister and ask her! Lena, do you know where your sister is?" asked a girl.

"Right, Lena! Give her a call and ask her directly!" another girl said.

"Okay," Lena nodded and agreed. Lena took her phone out and dialed Ashley's number.

Ashley wasn't that far away from them. She could see that they were all discussing something.

Though she wasn't close enough to hear what the conversation was about, her hunch told her that something terrible was heading her way. In which case, it would definitely be associated with Lena.

Ashley didn't know why she felt that way. She credited it to her strong sixth sense.

Shortly after, Ashley's cell phone rang, which dragged her thoughts back to reality. She looked at the screen and raised her brows.

"Hello? Ashley, is that you?" When Ashley picked up the call, Lena's unique feeble voice came through the phone.

"Hum," responded Ashley.

Lena didn't rush to say anything. It seemed like she was preparing herself for a serious conversation. Ashley didn't have much patience towards Lena. She didn't want to waste her time with her, so she asked, "What do you want? If you have something to say, spit it out. If you don't, I'm hanging up." "Lena, why don't you ask her? If it's too hard for you, I will do it for you then. Give me the phone..."

Ashley heard another girl's voice on the other end of the line. Then she heard a hissing noise. Finally, an unfamiliar female voice spoke on the phone.

"Hello? Are you Lena's sister? Can you please tell us where you are? Lena has something very important to discuss with you. Would you mind coming over?" The woman on the phone asked politely.

"You can just tell me on the phone what it's about," responded Ashley.

"I understand that you might be busy, but this is very important for Lena. It's hard to explain it on the phone. Can you please come over? We will wait for you at...." Ashley was not in the least bit interested in Lena's little games. She interrupted the girl and didn't wait for her to say where they were.

"Sorry I can't. I don't have the time."

There was no way that Ashley was going to go there. Lena had most certainly set up a trap for her to walk into!☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐