Chapter 159 - Arrest

The next day, Chlarice proceeded with her schedule as if the confrontation between her and James did not happen.

As a professional actress, she knew how to pretend to look good and act she was doing well in the camera even though she was not feeling okay deep inside.

Every time she would remember yesterday's incident with James, she could not help but get hurt and angry at the same time. She kept on blaming everything to Elle.

She did not think that the consequence of her act would be fatal. She kept on thinking about how James was able to know her plan of hurting Elle.

She pondered what happened to the person she hired. She never heard any update from that guy since yesterday.

She was nervous if something went wrong on her plan but there was no way she could verify it. So she just decided to go on with her daily schedule since her career was her priority right now.

She had shows and guesting for today for the promotion of her new movie. Now she was in a studio wearing her charming smile, living up the reputation of Nation's sweetheart.

She was attending a morning talk show wherein she would do some interviews and promote her upcoming movie.

"Hello people, welcome to our Morning Talk Show with Alice. Are you excited about today?" The host said as the filming started.

This was one of the famous programs every morning which was hosted by the famous MC Alice, a live show. 

"Without further ado, let's invite here on stage our special guest for today, our Nation's Sweetheart, Chlarice." The moment she was called Chlarice immediately went on stage.

She looked stunning with her hair and makeup which complimented her white floral dress. She wore her sweet and charming smile that could make gentlemen fantasize and fall for her.

They did some greetings before they proceeded to her interview. The host asked her a few questions regarding her daily lives, current shows, and the highlight was about her upcoming movie entitled Jenny.

"Can you tell us about this upcoming movie of yours Ms. Chlarice? What is so special with this movie?" the host asked her.

"As the title goes, it is about a girl named Jenny. This is about her adventure, her struggles in life before she can climb on top and become a successful musician, or a singer rather." Chlarice answered softly.

"This movie is very special since Jenny's story is like a mirror of my life. The hardsh.i.p.s I went through before I became successful in this show business. I will sure many new artists will be inspired by her story. This movie will tell us to dream big and to work hard to reach for our dreams."

"Wow. That's nice. I think everyone will be waiting for that movie. We are excited to see again on screen together with your new leading man. Do you agree with me?" The host said enthusiastically as she turned to ask the audience in the studio. Everyone answered the host.

"Okay, since we are all excited for the movie of our Nation's Sweetheart... we prepared something for all of you. Let us all watch the movie trailer on the screen."

After the host said that, everyone focused their attention on the screen. After a few seconds, the opening banner of the movie Jenny played on the screen.

Everyone was anticipating to see the movie trailer but to their surprise, instead of a movie trailer, pictures of Chlarice with different kinds of degrading words.

[ Nation's Sweetheart?! Never!! Chlarice is a b!tch ]

[ She is an insecure and jealous witch! ]

[ She is a criminal. ]

Everyone gasped in surprise seeing those things flashed on the screen. Even the hosts and staff were dumbstruck that they were not able to react.

Then seconds later, they heard a familiar voice coming out from the screen.

"Hello... have you finished the task already? Send me the picture of her disfigured face so that I will deposit to your account now the remaining amount."

The moment Chlarice heard her own voice saying those words, she was shocked beyond belief. She immediately became pale and her body trembled from fear and nervousness.

Everyone could not believe what they were witnessing right now. The voice kept on playing so many times. They were puzzled about what was happening right now.

'Is someone trying to play a prank on Chlarice? But who would do this?'

After the staff recovered from the shock, they immediately cut off their live show which was currently airing even though it was too late since thousands of viewers already saw those images and heard the recording.

The host immediately apologized to Chlarice who looked so shaken about what just happened a while ago. Chattering and whispering could be heard in the audience area.

Everyone had different reactions evident to their faces. Others pitied Chlarice but some were giving her an indifferent and accusing look. They already created speculation and own interpretation in mind.

Seeing the way people look at her, Chlarice wished that the ground would just swallow her up and disappeared from their sight.

Chlarice's assistant and her friend Therese came to her rescue as they helped her stand up and guided her to leave the studio immediately.

As they were exiting the studio, Chlarice phone started to ring. It was a call from her manager. She had not yet recovered from that shock when she heard another bad news.

"Chlarice, I just finished the meeting the agency. I am afraid to say that the sponsors and investors to your projects backed out. They said they were unhappy with you. Some producers also changed their minds and planning to remove you on their shows."

This piece of news was another huge blow for Chlarice. After hearing that, her grasp on the phone loosened causing her to drop it. She almost fell as she felt her legs became weak. Fortunately, Therese and her assistant were there to catch her.

They were trying to comfort Chlarice when the police approached them. When Chlarice saw them, it seemed that her heart stopped beating. She knew that she really f*cked up so big this time.

"Miss Chlarice, I am Police officer Kim. We would like to invite you to our police precinct. You are the prime suspect for instigating someone to kidnap Elle Claveria." Police officer Kim showed her the arrest warrant.

"You have the right to remain silent anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

Chlarice did not know how she would felt right now. It seemed like heaven turned against her in just one day. She had no choice but to go with the police.

She was silent the whole time. She was shocked and afraid.  She wanted to run away but she could not move. Her body froze and lost all her energy. Her mind went blank. 

She could not believe that all of these were happening to her right now. She wanted to regret it but it was too late. She did not know if she could handle this. She felt like she was going crazy right now.

'That b!tch! She was the reason for all of these. I will kill her. I will.' 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*** At the Police Precinct***

Elle just finished giving her statement to the police. Erick also accompanied her as he promised. The three culprits were also there.

Erick wanted to punch those men knowing that they were the ones who tried to hurt Elle but since he knew he could not do that and it's against the rule, he controlled himself from doing it.

Now for the first time, he wished he was not a police detective so that he could do whatever he wanted and beat those guys.

Elle could feel his agitation and fury so she tried to console him as she held his arm.

"Hey, everything is fine now. Stop looking at them. You will just ruin your mood." Erick turned to look at her when he heard her voice. He just nodded and smiled at her.

After a while, Chlarice together with Police officer Kim arrived at the precinct. Since Chlarice was cooperative at the beginning, they did not put handcuffs on her hands.

The moment she saw Elle inside, her eyes became red in furry and all her negative emotions began to surge out.

And when he saw the guy whom she hired, she knew that her life was already doomed. She just lost everything today.

All her misfortune started when she met this woman. Thinking about all the incidents happened to her since yesterday until today, she had the urge to hurt and kill her.

Chlarice reached her breaking point and lost her sanity. She suddenly snatched the gun from the policeman beside her. Everyone was unprepared for her sudden action.

"You b!tch! This is all your fault! I will kill you today!" Chlarice shouted as she pointed the gun at Elle. Seconds later the sound of gunfire was heard inside that precinct.

Bang!

"Ah!"

Fortunately, Erick was quick to react as he immediately dashed forward and grabbed Chlarice's hand, successfully changed the direction of the bullet as it was shot towards the ceiling.

Chlarice whimpered as Erick twisted her hand for her to loosen her grip on the gun, and Erick was able to snatch the gun from her.

Erick's eyes darkened as he pushed Chlarice away causing her to fall on the ground as he shielded Elle behind him. The police officers quickly restrained Chlarice.

"I did not think someone like you would stoop so low as this and to hire someone to ruin someone else's face because of your jealousy and insecurity. And now you even try to kill her." there was hostility in his voice.

Erick threw Chlarice a cold stare that made her spine chilled and shivered from just the stare alone.

Elle and Officer Kim were astonished to see this kind of expression from Erick. This was the first time they saw him like this. Even the other people inside could feel the cold and terrifying aura emanating from him.