The Prince and His Involuntary Bride

5. Fired Over Protocol

As soon as Tim’s body went flying down on the floor, Stella and Poly sighed in relief but soon their eyes went towards the door where Charlie and Edward were standing by the door and looking at Celeste with a mixture of horror, disappointment and fear covering their faces.

Celeste gasped out loud looking at her boss standing right next to their guest, who was one of the most prestigious persons not just in the room but also in the country.

Trailing right behind Edward, Jin entered inside the booth and looking at Celeste standing in front of a scared waitress and the dancer, with Tim laying on the ground, Jin finally felt his fears come true, as he noticed Celeste’s sorrowful expressions and she mouthed him.

“I screwed up!”

Reading her lips, Jin felt the ground beneath his feet spin making his head rush and take a few steps back, to hold on to the dancing pole table, for support to maintain his balance.

He could see his wife refusing to birth his child, just because of the mishap that had occurred in the room and him failing to protect Celeste, whom he knew was soon going to lose her job.

On the contrary, Charlie was keen enough to notice the change of silent message between Celeste and Jin once again and he realized that the two had a weird way of communicating with one another.

Edward was simply standing with a poker expression covering his face, demanding an explanation front Celeste regarding to what he was witnessing right in front of his eyes.

“Are you going to tell me what happened or what?” he grunted at Celeste, making her shake up slightly at his horrendous tone.

“I came in to the room and saw him trying to force Stella... Poly pushed him away and he tried to hit her, so I only jumped ahead and try stopping him but then he tried to hit me so, I had to punch him down...”

She gestured her fist and pumped it lamely in to the air, making Charlie’s eyes go wide.

“You knocked him down with a punch?” he asked, blown away by the woman’s strength, but again he had witnessed it first hand when she had previously bumped in to him and also made him fall right on to his back.

Celeste only nodded her head at him, “How could you... why would you punch a guest?” Edward almost yelled at her, holding his anger back but Celeste only shrugged her shoulders at him.

Tim groaned slightly, gaining back his senses and Celeste stepped away from his disgusting existence and extended her hands back to hold Stella and Poly behind herself and to make sure that no one tried to hurt them.

“You... you f*****g whore...” Tim groaned, getting up on his feet but dwindling back and forth as he tried to make sense of his surroundings, looking to his left and right, as Celeste’s punch had shaken him up and he still didn’t know which way to look and where she was standing exactly.

“Where is Prince Harold? Do you have any idea that he has left because of your incompetent hosting!” he yelled at Celeste, who shook her head, unaware of the fact that Harold had left.

Listening to the fact that Harold had left, Jin felt like his soul was finally on the verge of escaping his body and he took a few steps back to sit down on the seat, pretty assured that he would never get to see his son, whom Rose was never going to pop out of her womb.

Charlie jumped forward, in order to speak in his brother’s behalf and protect the poor hostess from getting yelled at.

“Actually, my brother left to attend to some personal matter, it simply has nothing to do with the club or its staff.” He spoke up and Celeste looked at him with a thankful gaze, actually grateful for him at that moment.

“This b***h!” Tim turned towards Charlie, listening to his voice, “She hit me.” he complained to Charlie, who felt actually happy to see the blue bruise and the swollen cheek of that bastard.

“It is fine. You shouldn’t have tried to...” Charlie tried to tame Tim but Edward decided to take control of the situation.

“No! this is a problem that had occurred at our end. We will handle it.” He told Charlie and stepped ahead towards Celeste.

“You need to apologize.” Edward told Celeste, who felt offended by his words.

She was taken aback by Edward’s audacity whereby he was asking her to apologize.

“He was trying to hurt a dancer and one of our waitresses, I simply stepped ahead and prevented him from hurting anyone, why should I be the one to apologize?” she put forth her defense and Edward felt irritated by her high held attitude.

Even Poly and Stella stood by Celeste, who were just as traumatized by the entire event.

“It doesn’t matter. He is still our guest and you hit him. You need to apologize...”

“I will not apologize.” She stood by her words and Edward felt challenged that not only was Celeste turning down his command but also refusing to follow his club’s protocol, which was the first and the foremost important thing for Edward.

Jin stood up from his seat, looking at Celeste with concern.

He knew that she was a woman of principles and no matter what happened in her life, she always stood by the right thing, which was one of her best virtues and one of the most admirable things about her personality.

He knew that Celeste could face complicated consequences for her actions but even he didn’t want her to back down on her principle and bow down in front of an asshole like Tim.

“I am giving you a last chance to apologize to our esteemed guest! They are our guests and we are supposed to honor them and serve them. That’s what the protocol says.” Edward warned Celeste, who simply looked at his face, with a square and a fierce expression covering her face.

“Stella is a dancer that I have called here on my assurance and Poly is my worker, both of their security is my responsibility as well. Anything or anyone who threatens their safety, shall be handled accordingly. That’s also what the protocol says.”

Charlie was blown away to see the courage and bravery that the woman was exhibiting in front of her boss and refusing to step back from her principles but he thought that things were getting way too out of his hands and he needed to stop the owner of the club from firing Celeste, even though he knew that she wasn’t going to get to keep the job for a long time because of her refusal to listen to her boss.

“Mr. Brighton!” he called out Edward, making him turn towards him. He deliberately used Edward’s name, in order to form a personal bond with him and make him feel respected in Charlie’s eyes. Being a Prince with an influential reach, Charlie knew letting people know that he knew them, would always create an impact on their minds, making them listen to him.

“It fine! It was a mistake on our behalf as well. You don’t need to have her apologize.”

Edward was simply nodded his head and turned towards Celeste, still mad at her for refusing to listen to him.

“What?” Tim yelled out loud, looking at Charlie, feeling affronted. “How can you say that she doesn’t need to apologize. Not only she needs to apologize but also beg in front of me for forgiveness.”

“Tim! It is fine... you were wrong to begin with as well. So, let this go...” he shrugged his hands and waved at Celeste, signaling her to move out of the room, “Let’s talk about this together, okay?” he smiled at Tim, determined to handle him in his own way and Jin and Edward were the first one to move out of the room, followed by Stella and Poly, while Celeste stood back, having them escorted safely out of the booth, making sure that they are not left behind.

Seeing Celeste escorting her server and the dancer out, with her back facing him. Tim’s blood boiled in his veins, making him jump ahead and leap forward, extending his fist out to hit Celeste’s back.

Celeste turned back just in time and was shaken to her core to see the fist flying in to her direction but Charlie jumped in just in time and held Tim’s wrist with his one hand while he locked his entire body with his other hand.

“Huh? Quite fierce attacking a woman from the behind?” he chuckled at Tim’s merciful condition, while Tim tried to break free from his grip.

“If you are going to fight with a woman half your size, then at least have the guts to do it from the front.” He lowly mumbled the insult at Tim’s face and turned back to look at Celeste.

“You should just leave him to me.”

Celeste only nodded her head and rushed out of the booth, feeling incredibly disturbed by the fact that she was grateful for Charlie who jumped in just in time and protected her, not just from Tim but also from Edwards as well and just as she had thought of the devil, Edward stood in front of her with a grave expression clouding his face.

“You should leave! Leave your coat and your name tag behind. We will let you know if we decide to have you back or not.” he told Celeste, who was well aware of the fact that those were the only expected words that were perfectly fitted for Edward to state.

She took off her coat and name tag, simply not arguing with Edward over anything, which took him slightly by surprise that Celeste was not even arguing or trying to defend herself.

Seeing Celeste’s honorable behavior, Stella decided to take a stand for the woman, who defended her and even attacked her assaulter.

“We are leaving as well.” Stella announced her decision, walking towards the second booth and calling out all of her dancers out, who immediately rushed out on her command and stood in front of Edward.

“What? What are you doing?” Celeste mumbled at Stella, knowing very well that she was going to risk her entire group’s night and let it go to waste for nothing.

“You should know that you are breaching your contract and you shall not be paid anything for your services tonight.” Edward informed her and Stella only shrugged her shoulders at him.

“You are punishing someone who protected me and my girls. We are very honorable, whether you believe it or not and anyone who has our back, we have their back, till the day we die. You can keep your stupid and filthy money to yourself. We came here for Celeste anyways and we are going to walk out of here, if she is fired.”

“I quit as well.” Poly stated out loud, making Celeste’s eyes go wide.

“Are you crazy?” Celeste rushed to her side and held her friend’s shoulders.

“Don’t be absurd. You still have your loans and debts to pay! You can not quit.” Celeste decided to knock some sense in to her friend but Poly was beyond enlightened to have a friend like Celeste who would do anything to protect her and keep her honor high and intact.

“I don’t care. Debts can be paid off but a friendship like ours never can be.” She told Celeste with a satisfied smile and Celeste knew that she couldn’t possibly do anything to make Poly change her mind.

She had a loud lump of guilt wallowing in her heart as Poly was also going to lose her job because of her.

“Your colleagues are going to lose their jobs and the dance troop is not going to be paid for as well. Just because of your pride and ego! If you are to listen to me and apologize to the guest right now, I will let go off all of the catastrophes that have occurred at your hands tonight and everyone will get to keep their jobs and I will also pay your dancer friends.”

Celeste looked up at Edward with complete bewilderment, amazed by his audacious words and realizing that to him, it wasn’t a matter of his club’s reputation anymore because even though Prince Charlie told himself that Celeste didn’t need to apologize, Edward still persuaded Celeste to bow down. She grasped that in fact, it was a matter of his own ego. He just wanted to see his workers, always bowing down to him no matter what propaganda, he had to succumb to.

She felt disgusted that she once felt influenced by the man, to whom she thought that everyone listened to and obeyed, because of his persona and hard work, but instead he seemed like a swindler who only abused his power to make people follow his commands.

Celeste decided to break free of his rules and to not to give in to his power.

“I stand by my decision and I will not apologize to anyone for what I have done.”

Celeste’s words made all the dancers, Stella and Poly both feel proud of her decision and choice.

“Fine! You have decided it for yourself, so you can walk out of this place, all I care for.” Edward announced his decision, of not succumbing in to the labor pressure and Poly only threw her waitress’s coat down and held Celeste’s hand,

“Let’s walk out.”

She stated with a proud smile and dragged Celeste out of the club through the back door, along with the other dancers.

Edward stood back for a moment, watching as Celeste walked out on him.

He felt agitated and thrown down by her.

No one in his life had ever had the courage to hold themselves that high in front of him nd he felt like a huge blow to his esteem.

He breathed like a bull, blowing air in anger, as he made his way towards his office.

While Jin, who only shook his head and went towards the VIP section that was filled with the other guests, deciding to take control of the situation.

Jin had a small smile of pride settled on his lips that Celeste didn’t give in to any kind of pressure.

He knew that even his wife would be happy to learn what Celeste did and she would be proud of her as well.

Just as he walked around, making sure that everything was alright, his phone buzzed with a text and he picked it out of his pocket to see who had texted him but seeing his phone’s screen, his mouth opened wide with shock as he eyes bulged out in sheer fright.

On the other hand, inside the VIP booth Charlie pushed Tim down on the couch and passed him down some water.

“Drink it or throw it on your face, for all I care but get a grip of yourself.” He told Tim, who threw a daggering gaze at Charlie.

“You... you f*****g asshole, how dare you disrespect me like that. Do you think you can treat me that way and get away with it just because you are a f*****g prince? Do you know who I am?”

Charli only held a sweet smile over his face, as he looked at Tim.

His eyes showing no deep emotions, while his face reflecting out to be the epitome of politeness.

“Don’t you know who you are?” Charlie asked Tim, counter insulting him in a clever manner.

“You bastard...” Tim charged forward to attack Charlie but Charlie only held his collars, shaking the man out of his drunken state and making him look right in to his eyes.

“Don’t you ever take me as a fool, who would tolerate your f*****g ass like my brother does.” Charlie informed Tim, his eyes no longer carrying that innocent look but instead clouded with pure obscurity and ambiguousness, that could make one soul’s turn in to sand, with just one look in to the pool of darkness.

“I know all of your dirty works! I know which ministers you have bribed and I know who works on your payroll, I also know about your tax invasions and the fact that you have bought shares of stocks of your own companies under several paper companies. You are the most corrupt businessman in the world and the only reason we enjoy fundings from you is because of the good that they bring to us, not because we care about you. So, get your head out of the gutter and get this thing clearly in your head that always know everything about everyone.”

With the Charlie perched down, matching his fierce gaze with Tim and looking at him with a much softer look now covering his eyes, that shook Tim’s entire soul, as he realized that Charlie could go from almost killing him to acting like a complete angel.

Charlie patted Tim’s cheek a bit too harshly and smiled at him.

“Get your s**t together and get out of this place.”

Straightening up, Charlie adjusted his coat and threw a final smile at Tim, walking out of the booth and leaving him completely baffled.

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I can already tell that a lot of you have already began hating on Edward and I don't blame you guys for that, I kind of don't like him as well :P 

Hope you guys enjoy these many updates and get a glimpse of what this story is going to be about and how wild, it is actually going to get :D

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