Chapter 804: Isabella and Joanna

“Mother, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” Amalia Nosferatu asked as she answered the call from her mother, Levana Nosferatu.

Levana nodded with a sigh before saying, “Merle is dead; Stacey killed her.”

“What?” Amalia asked in surprise before adding. “I can’t believe she actually went through with it.”

“I warned you this would happen,” Levana said angrily, causing Amalia to give her mother an apologetic look before saying. “I know, but I never thought Stacey had it in her. Are you sure it was her?”

Levana nodded again while saying, “She sent a message with a video of Merle’s death and signed it with her name. On the plus side, the message only mentioned Rene and Tierney; it made no mention of you, though I still think you should return home.”

Amalia shook her head while saying, “You know I can’t mother; we’re in the middle of preparing for the Supreme Speaker Selection, and I can’t leave now. Besides, what safer place is there for me than the Universal Senate?”

***

Milky Way Galaxy, Earth.

It was unusual for any of the Blue Lagoon Club branches to be open to the public before evening; however, with enough money and influence, anything was possible, and since the manager of the New York branch was dealing with Isabella Flemming, he didn’t have the guts to refuse. Besides, she had offered to pay well over the normal price it would cost to close the club for a private party, so he figured Miss Hopkins wouldn’t mind.

Isabella sat comfortably in one of the plush chairs of the private bar area, sipping on a cup of coffee as she waited for her guest to arrive. Multiple individuals in suits were dotted around the premises, acting as her security detail, including Joanne McClain, who stood not far away.

“Joanne, why don’t you come join me?” Isabella asked with a smile as she turned to look at her.

Joanne glanced at her before asking, “Do you normally invite your security detail to drink coffee with you?”

“Well, no, but you're an exception,” Isabella replied.

“I’m only here to make sure the deal goes down without any issues; I am, after all, still contracted to Triple Trouble,” Joanna replied.

“All the more reason to join me,” Isabella replied while tapping the seat beside her, causing Joanne to sigh before she nodded in agreement and took the seat offered to her.

Almost instantly, a waitress appeared to ask for her order, to which Joanna replied, “Black.” After which the waitress nodded before leaving to fulfil the order.

“Why so uptight, Joanna? I highly doubt Grace Williams will offer us much trouble; she’s merely a trophy wife after all.”

Joanna turned to Isabella before saying, “I like to be prepared for all contingencies; we can’t be sure she hasn’t tipped off the other members of the Williams family about this meeting. It would be a good opportunity for them to try to eliminate you.”

Isabella chuckled before asking in a teasing tone, “Aww, what’s this? Are you worried about little old me?”

“No, I’m worried about this deal falling through; you're not the only one who wants to meet with Adam,” Joanna scoffed.

“Ah, but while my desire to meet him is family-based, I think your reason is more of a romantic nature.”

“Family-based?” Joanna replied as she ignored the jab. “You didn’t have any interest in him prior to figuring out how he can benefit your family.”

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“Well, you're not wrong, but you're also not right,” Isabella admitted before taking another sip of her coffee and adding. “I was, after all, unaware of him being my grandson.”

“Through marriage, he’s not even related to you by blood,” Joanna retorted, causing the other security personnel to try to decide if she was just that brave or stupid. No one dared speak to Lady Flemming that way, not even her own family, yet for some reason, Isabella didn’t seem to mind it.

“True, but family is still family,” Isabella replied before admitting. “Though I have been asking myself recently how I would have treated Adam if he wasn’t so special.”

“Killed him off, most likely,” Joanna replied just as her coffee arrived, slightly scaring the waitress, who quickly bowed and hurried away.

“That is a possibility,” Isabella admitted before adding. “But are you any different? Would you have shown Adam the slightest interest if he hadn’t become what he is now?”

“No,” Joanna admitted. “I probably wouldn’t even know he existed since he was just a normal young man about to head off to university.”

“Seems you've done your research,” Isabella said with a knowing smile. “I did much the same for all my suitors in the past before finally choosing my husband.”

“You only chose your husband because he was easy to control and had no ambitions,” Joanna replied.

“Well, that gossip isn’t wrong,” Isabella admitted. “What need would I have for someone from a powerful family when my family is already one of the strongest in the world, and I was never going to marry a member of the other four families, so why not marry someone who wont try to steal my throne?”

“Speaking of thrones,” Joanna replied as she shot Isabella a look before asking. “I’m assuming you want Adam’s help in stamping the other four families underfoot so that you can reign supreme.”

“A rather coarse way of putting it, but yes.” Isabella nodded before Joanna asked. “And why should he do that? From what I can gather from watching his streams, he has no interest in Earth since there is nothing here for him.”

“That may have been true in past, but now it’s different,” Isabella replied, causing Joanna to burst out laughing before saying. “Come now, Lady Flemming, I know you're not that stupid.”

As she said that, the surrounding security personnel all slowly reached for their weapons while Isabella frowned and said, “Our mutual connection with Adam grants you some liberties, Miss McClain, but don’t go too far.”

“Or what?” Joanna asked in return while opening her suit jacket slightly to show her pistol before adding, “If you want to threaten me, you shouldn’t have invited me to sit next to you.”

Isabella glanced at the pistol with a calm look before raising her hand to signal her security personnel to stand down. Joanna smiled at this before continuing. “This isn’t some two-bit novel where the main protagonist will happily be welcomed back into the family that abandoned him and try to prove his worth. The Flemming family may not have abandoned him directly, but you invited the father who did into your family, and to put it bluntly, you have nothing he needs. So I ask again, what possible motivation could Adam have for wanting to help you?”

Silence fell between both women as they drunk there coffee, though while Joanna thought, {Fuck, I really shouldn’t have pushed her that far. If she orders them to attack, I can definitely kill her and a few of them, but I’ll still die in the end.}

Isabella was thinking, {She’s smarter than I gave her credit for. It’s a shame I wont be able to persuade her to join the family; perhaps I should recommend that Adam take her as one of his lovers… wait, am I seriously suggesting that? When did I become ok with him having multiple lovers? The whole thing is barbaric.}

As the two women were lost in thought, Joanna suddenly heard something on her earpiece that caused her to stand up while saying, “She’s here.” After which, she moved back to her original position while the waitress reappeared and removed the partially drunk coffee.

A few minutes later, a beautiful woman with long brown hair entered the bar area and, after looking around, headed towards Isabella before stopping in front of her and saying, “Lady Flemming.”

Isabella looked up at her with a smile before making an inviting gesture to the chair Joanna had just vacated while saying, “Mrs Williams, please sit, join me.”

Grace Williams, Adam’s biological mother, nodded and took the seat before ordering an Americano as the waitress once again appeared.

There was silence between the two women for several minutes, and only after the waitress had returned with the coffee and departed again did Grace nervously ask, “How did you find out?”

“It wasn’t easy. Our initial investigation into your son failed to turn up anything, and it was only when we dug deeper did we learn of your connection with him,” Isabella explained with a smile.

“But why…” Grace began, only for Isabella to cut her off and ask with a small smile of amusement before saying, “Why did we investigate him? Heavens, Grace, you really did cut all ties with him, so much so that you don’t even know who he is. Your son is Adam Spencer, the same individual who threatened the five families and recently killed Nada Keita.”