Snare of Love
Chapter 188: The Tortoise and the Hare

The annual party of the White Group was quite grand. Even the mayor of White City attended it. After all, the White Group had helped the city's economic development and contributed to this city a lot. After their car was pulled over, Dolores saw a huge banner in front of the hotel entrance. A lot of cars were parked in the parking lot, most of which belonged to the employees of the White Group.

Right then, Charles's assistant, Tom, trotted over and pulled the door open. He pushed the wheelchair with the driver. "Mr. White, the mayor has arrived."

Charles hummed indifferently. He looked back, and Dolores walked over. Tom was quite sensible that he stepped aside and let Dolores push the wheelchair instead.

She grabbed the handle and pushed Charles into the hotel.

In the lobby, a crystal chandelier extended from a high place, crystal clear, shining on the whole lobby.

The senior executives in the White Group were chatting with the mayor. Seeing that Charles arrived, they all consciously made a way for him. Charles put on a socializing smile and yelled before he reached to the mayor. "Sorry, I'm a bit late."

A waiter passed him by. Charles hinted at him to stop and picked up a glass of liquor from the tray. "Let me take three shots as the penalty."

After the first glass, he put down the glass and poured the liquor again. He gulped down the second one. When he was gulping the third one, the mayor finally spoke, "Although you must take three shots as the penalty, we all can understand."

He glanced through Charles's legs, full of implication.

Charles's expression didn't change at all. With a smile, he said, "We all know the story - The Tortoise and the Hare. But why did the tortoise win the race? I believe I might be that hardworking tortoise. I'm late, so I must take the penalty."

His words were full of implication - although he couldn't walk, he succeeded.

No matter who the one was, as long as he worked hard and succeeded, he was the winner.

On the other side, even a hare was born with excellent conditions, if he were too proud about his condition without working hard, what he would end up to?

After finishing his words, he gulped down the third glass without a frown at all.

The mayor was wearing a black Chinese tunic. The wrinkles on his face were the signals of the ups and downs he had experienced in his life. He laughed out loudly. The unhappiness, because Charles was late, had faded away immediately.

He liked Charles's wisdom.

Casually, he noticed Dolores who was behind Charles. He was stunned and then looked over at Charles, "Is this lady your girlfriend?"

All of them knew that Charles hadn't been married, and nor had he had any girlfriend before. If Charles were not a cripple, the mayor would love to marry his daughter to him.

Honestly, except that Charles couldn't walk, the mayor appreciated him a lot in terms of his appearance and capabilities.

Since Charles brought a date with him, the mayor subconsciously mistook Dolores as Charles's girlfriend.

After all, it was the annual party of the White Group today. Since Charles could bring the woman to all his employees, he must look upon this woman a lot.

Besides, Charles couldn't walk only. He wasn't physically asexual. He was a normal man and he also needed a woman.

Charles looked back at Dolores and said with a smile, "I..."

"We're friends," Dolores interrupted him before he could finish his words.

She didn't want to be tangled with him a lot.

However, neither did she want to embarrass Charles in front of others. She patted Charles on the shoulder and looked as if they were close friends. "He told me he doesn't have a date today, so he asked me to be his date. I can do nothing. As his close friend, I have to come here."

The mayor laughed out again. "I thought Mr. White, who has been single all the time, finally found his Miss Right. It turned out that I've misunderstood."

Charles smiled at him as socializing, casting a glance at Dolores in secret.

Dolores pretended that she didn't notice it. Although she agreed to attend the annual party with him, she wouldn't let him take control of the whole situation. She must hold the initiative in her hands. After the mayor talked to Charles for a few more minutes, he asked his secretary to give Charles a document.

The latter took it over, only to replace that the land he applied for last time had been approved. Charles wanted to set up a factory outside White City, located in another city directly managed by White City. Hence, he had applied.

The mayor certainly hoped that Charles could set up the factory in the territory of White City. In that case, it wouldn't only drive the city's economy but also retain the foreign population. With factories, workers were needed naturally. The economic growth of a city was always driven by local enterprises.

As the city mayor, for the future of his city, he had a heavy burden on his shoulders. Certainly, he wasn't willing to let go of a talent.

Outside the hotel.

Two black off-road vehicles were driving in. Boyce got off first. Seeing the car plate with five zeros of a car parked next to the pond, he peered into the lobby of the hotel. "The White Group does have its influence in this city."

Usually, the car with such a plate would belong to someone superior, like a mayor.

Matthew's black was slightly creased because he had sat in the vehicle for a long time. Boyce and he went out and looked for the clues today, but nobody had seen Dolores.

They didn't get anything after arriving at White City.

There were dark circles under Matthew's eyes. Since they couldn't replace her, he was quite anxious. He was worried that Sampson had transferred her away already.

"Let's take the stairs," suggested Boyce. If they went up from the staircase, they didn't need to enter the lobby, as the elevator was in the lobby.

They could go upstairs outside the lobby by taking the stairs.

In the past few days, since they had no clue about Dolores, Matthew wasn't in a good mood. When Boyce was with him, he was quite careful.

He couldn't help thinking about Armand, who was supposed to arrive. It had been a few days.

He wondered if Armand couldn't replace where they were.

Boyce had sent him the location.

If Armand arrived, they could share the pressure from Matthew.

If time went by and they couldn't replace Dolores's clues at all, Boyce would become anxious, let alone Matthew.

In the past few days, except for being with the kids, Matthew always looked like an ice sculpture - hard and cold. Boyce was always "frightened" when being with him.

If it weren't that there was no better hotel in town, Matthew couldn't stay here any longer. The hotel was way too noisy.

Boyce followed him into the staircase. "I've asked the hotel manager - just for today. They're holding the annual party of the White Group, so they should hold it in their own hotel." Matthew took a few steps and suddenly paused.

Boyce didn't pay attention. He almost bumped into Matthew. He shivered in fear and took a step back. "What... what's wrong with you?"

Boyce hoped that Matthew wouldn't scare him. He had been in a hard time when being with Matthew.

Matthew gripped the handrail, tightening. "Could she... not be here any longer?"

He wasn't certain, feeling that Dolores might not be here anymore. However, if he just left in this way, he felt that he would miss something.

Boyce couldn't answer this question easily.

They had limited clues. They relied on the phone call and followed it all the way here. They didn't get anything useful in the past few days. What could Boyce do?

He wished that Dolores could call Samuel again so that they would have new hope.

Buzz-

Suddenly, Matthew's phone started vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and swiped to answer. A childish and clear voice was heard. "Daddy, when are you back?"

"Soon."

"How soon is soon?" Matthew talked to his daughter while walking. "When you blink, I'll appear in front of you."

The little girl blinked immediately, wondering why Daddy hadn't shown up yet.

"Daddy-"

"Look here!"

A photographer took a camera and focused at the center of the lobby. Since it was the annual party of the White Group, a lot of excellent managers and employees were rewarded. Charles needed to take photos with them.

Dolores wasn't willing to take the group photos with them, but Charles looked at her and said, "You've promised to attend the party with me, but you are not willing to stand by me. Are you still my date tonight?" Dolores couldn't replace the right words to retort him. She could only bit the bullets to stand by him.

"Clack."

Along with the counting, the light of the flash reflected from the crystal pendant of the crystal lamp shone into Matthew's eyes, and he subconsciously squinted. He kept talking to his daughter, "Count to three, and I'll be there..."

While he spoke, he casually cast a glance downstairs...☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐