Gael Keane’s gaze was locked on Vesper Grayson. His voice was gentle and refined, yet it held a subtle, manipulative edge.
"Vesper, as long as you’re willing to beg me, I’ll help you."
Back then, Vesper Grayson had been the unattainable goddess of their school, admired and desired by countless people.
He had been one of them. He had even mustered the courage to confess his feelings for her in front of everyone at the bustling school gate.
But faced with his impassioned confession, she had remained completely unmoved, bluntly rejecting him in front of everyone and turning him into the school’s laughingstock.
He’d even heard that three years ago, she’d looked down on the powerful head of the Hawthorne Family, fleeing in the middle of the night and leaving Northolme for good.
And in the years since, having offended the Hawthorne Family, the Grayson Corporation had been struggling, its progress stagnating at every turn.
He dreamed of knocking this goddess off her pedestal and making her his.
So when Vesper Grayson contacted him on her own initiative, he knew his chance had come!
Vesper Grayson’s eyes turned cold, her red lips twisting into a sneer. "Gael Keane, don’t humiliate yourself. I didn’t like you three years ago, and I don’t like you now!"
"Fine, Vesper Grayson! If that’s how it is, then don’t blame me for forgetting we were ever classmates!" Gael Keane snapped. Seeing Sean Chandler walk in, he quickly waved him over.
"Mr. Chandler..."
Gael Keane greeted him obsequiously, hurried over to whisper something in his ear, and then Sean Chandler’s gaze slowly landed on Vesper Grayson’s face.
The young woman’s fair, exquisite face was ethereally beautiful under the crystal chandeliers, a truly arresting sight.
Even Sean Chandler, who rarely spared women a second thought, felt that this woman was a celestial beauty, a rare sight in the mortal realm.
She was indeed a rare, ethereal beauty.
"Mr. Chandler, my sister..." Gwen Grayson paused. "I have no idea what sort of underhanded means she used to sneak in here. You can’t let her ruin your cocktail party tonight."
Sean Chandler narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t stupid. These two were trying to use him.
"You managed to get in, so why couldn’t your sister?" Sean Chandler’s sharp gaze swept over them. "What do you think this place is?"
Meeting his intimidating gaze, Gwen Grayson’s face stiffened, and she shot a helpless look at Gael Keane.
Gael Keane had originally planned to leverage the business relationship between their families to get Mr. Chandler to throw Vesper Grayson out.
He would then play the part of her savior, waiting for Vesper Grayson to yield to him.
But now, seeing Mr. Chandler’s displeasure, he didn’t dare say another word.
"Mr. Chandler, I suppose we misunderstood," Gael Keane said hurriedly, pulling Gwen Grayson away.
"Hold on."
Sean Chandler stopped him.
"Mr. Chandler?"
Gael Keane turned back, looking at him cautiously.
"You two had better not cause any trouble for me, or else..."
He didn’t finish, but the warning was unmistakable.
With that, he turned and strode toward the second floor.
He pushed open the door to a private suite, saw two figures sitting on the sofa, and greeted them with a smile. "Cousin, Elias."
Since returning to Northolme, Jared Hawthorne had rarely attended any functions, much less shown his face in public.
Sean Chandler hadn’t held out much hope when inviting him to tonight’s cocktail party, so he was surprised he had actually shown up.
Jared Hawthorne leaned back into the sofa, legs crossed, his posture one of relaxed elegance. "Sean, congratulations. With this new wine on the market, your future looks promising."
He raised the wine glass in his hand slightly.
Sean Chandler beamed. "Thanks, Elias! I’m just happy you could grace me with your presence. If you like it, I’ll have a few cases sent over to you tomorrow."
"You silly kid, can’t you tell he’s just being polite?" Noah Nash chuckled. "He looks down on that wine of yours. You just keep it and sell it yourself."
"Cousin, Elias hasn’t even said anything yet!"
’Is my wine really that bad?’
After all, it was the product of his own meticulous research and development, the culmination of new brewing techniques.
He was holding this party today to promote the debut of this very wine.
Noah Nash’s lips curled into a smirk. "And how does it compare to the wine in my cellar?"
"Of course it can’t compare to the wine in your private cellar, Cousin..."
Sean Chandler’s thoughts drifted to what had just happened in the main hall downstairs.
"Cousin, I saw an incredible beauty when I came up just now. I don’t know which family she belongs to. I feel like I’ve never seen her in Northolme before."
Noah Nash reminded him impassively, "You have a fiancée, you know. Don’t go chasing other women. When you’re forced to kneel in the ancestral hall, don’t think I’ll be there to plead your case."
"I wouldn’t dare. It was just... her own sister was deliberately giving her a hard time, even trying to use me to get her thrown out." Sean Chandler chuckled. "Good thing I’m an only child. None of that backstabbing nonsense in my family."
Among the wealthy elite, siblings were capable of the most despicable acts in their fight for opportunities and fortune, sometimes even fighting to the death.
Just then, a commotion broke out downstairs.
Sean Chandler walked out to get a better look at the main hall.
Noah Nash lit a cigarette and followed him to watch the show.
He rested a hand on the second-floor railing and glanced down nonchalantly, but then his gaze froze.
Well, now—
’Isn’t this a familiar face?’
He turned to Jared Hawthorne and raised an eyebrow. "Elias, looks like your little kitten is in trouble."
Jared Hawthorne’s dark eyes narrowed. He rose to his feet, slow and unhurried, and walked over to join them. Looking down at the main hall, the look in his eyes gradually deepened.
The beauty stood gracefully amid the clamoring crowd, calmly looking down her nose at the disheveled woman on the floor.
"Sister, if you’re going to stage a fall to frame me, shouldn’t you choose a more appropriate time and place?"
"Vesper Grayson, you were just afraid I’d beat you, so you deliberately tripped me to humiliate me!" Gwen Grayson accused her furiously, her eyes red as she put on a heart-wrenching display of being wronged.
In contrast, Vesper Grayson, who looked down on her with cold detachment, appeared overly calm and aggressive.
Someone in the crowd recognized them.
"Those are the two daughters of the Grayson family. The one on the ground is the younger Miss Grayson, and the one standing is the elder Miss Grayson. They’re half-sisters."
"I heard the elder Miss Grayson rejected a marriage alliance with the Hawthorne Family three years ago and fled Northolme overnight. How does she have the nerve to come back?"
"She’s probably afraid the younger Miss Grayson will inherit the family business, so she panicked and came running back to fight for her share."
"Didn’t the younger Miss Grayson just say that the elder Miss Grayson deliberately tripped her to make her look bad in public just to win against her? Even if she’s desperate to get ahead, she shouldn’t bully her own sister, right?"
"The elder Miss Grayson may be beautiful as a fairy, but who knew she had such a venomous heart. Truly, you can know someone’s face but never their heart."
"The younger Miss Grayson has worked diligently for the company for three years. The elder Miss Grayson comes back and immediately tries to steal the fruits of her labor. Her motives are despicable!"
"’Elder Miss Grayson’? Please. I heard President Grayson was never legally married to her mother. That makes her, at best, an illegitimate daughter of the Grayson Family..."
"So that means the younger Miss Grayson is the one with the real claim to inherit the Grayson Corporation."
Hearing the murmurs around her, Gwen Grayson lowered her gaze, desperately fighting the smile that threatened to form on her lips.
’Three years have passed. Everyone in Northolme has seen my dedication to the company. Who the hell does Vesper Grayson think she is, waltzing back in here and trying to snatch the Vice President position from me?’
Her hard work over the past few years was plain for all to see!
Vesper Grayson’s expression was frosty, her eyes cool. "Gwen Grayson, do you really want to make a scene so big you can’t clean it up? Do you really want to humiliate yourself like this? This little performance of yours isn’t just a disgrace to you, it’s a disgrace to the Grayson Family. If Dad were to find out..."
"Sister, I know Dad dotes on you. No matter what, he’ll always be on your side. I don’t want to fight with you, but I’ve worked hard for this company for three years. Can’t you stop making things so difficult for me the second you come back? Must you fight me for everything?" she cried, her eyes red, the very picture of weakness and despair.
His heart aching for her, Gael Keane helped Gwen Grayson to her feet and pointed an angry finger at Vesper. "Vesper Grayson, you were spoiled and domineering back in school, and after all these years, you haven’t changed one bit! How much longer are you going to bully her?"
The way the two of them played off each other made Vesper seem all the more wicked and petty.