The grey-eyed waiter approached Ares, carrying a suspicious tray with a covered dish. The lower half of his face was covered with a surgical mask, but glinting on his index finger was a very distinct silver cross ring. Andrew’s ring! It was him.
Claire’s eyes went wide. "Andrew?!" she yelled, pointing an accusing finger right at his chest.
Apollo whipped his head around, leaped out of his chair like he had been launched by a spring, and shouted, "What the heck are you doing here?!" He glanced around at the guards in the room. "Who let this loser in? Don’t you all want your jobs anymore? I had specific people I said were not allowed inside and he was one of them."
Andrew ripped the mask off, revealing his face. "That’s why I had to find another way into this party. This was the only way I could get a word in with Mr. Ares Ashford. Do you think I enjoyed playing waiter?"
Claire narrowed her eyes. Given her current relationship with Andrew, his intentions were not good when he sneaked into the party. But she couldn’t order the guards to throw him out because this was not her party. All she could do was wait and see how the Ashfords intended to deal with it.
Apollo gestured at the guards with his fingers. "Throw this trash out. If one or two of his bones are broken along the way, I will reward you."
Ares raised his hand. "That won’t make the problem go away Apollo. He will just find another opportunity to corner me. I am not the kind of man who puts off his problems." He frowned, looking thoroughly unimpressed by Andrew’s presence and conduct. "And who, pray tell, is this nervous wreck?"
"Claire’s ex," Apollo hissed, glaring daggers. "A loser who cannot accept that she chose me. He refuses to leave us alone. He tried to assault her recently and he is fighting those charges. I think it’s about time we took out a restraining order against him.
Instantly, the Ashford family dynamic shifted from a pleasant dinner party to a pack of rabid wolves guarding their territory.
Claire’s eyes flicked from Andrew to Apollo. For a second, she wanted to tell Apollo that they were not a ’we.’ He was starting to sound like Maddy.
Wilder muttered a lethal curse under her breath. "I am going to murder him with my bare hands."
Andrew started sweating bullets. "That is not true, I did not assault her, she assaulted me! Claire is not who you think she is!" He touched the stainless-steel dish on the tray he was carrying and tried to slam it down in front of the patriarch.
"Poison!" Wilder shrieked.
Apollo and Wilder bolted across the room simultaneously like Olympic sprinters, diving to intercept the tureen. Guards also rushed in, arriving faster than Wilder.
"It’s not poison; it’s for Mr. Ares!" Andrew yelped, backing away as security guards pulled guns, surrounding him like a pack of velociraptors.
A crowd formed slowly, hurling curses and accusations. Many fists were balled, eager to deliver swift justice.
Realizing he was completely cornered and about to be beaten into a fine paste by a group of very angry Ashfords, Andrew cracked. In a desperate, dramatic move, he screamed, "I am taking something out of my pocket that explains why I am here."
Andrew reached into the pocket of his trousers and retrieved something. He hurled it straight up into the air.
Hundreds of glossy, colorful photographs rained down gracefully from the ceiling, fluttering softly like sad autumn leaves before landing all over the banquet hall floor.
Gasps echoed across the room. People scrambled to look at the photos scattered by their feet.
Security tackled Andrew to the ground, pinning him flat against the expensive rug. Even with his face squished into the carpet, he kept screaming at the top of his lungs: "That bitch is a wayward woman! She slept with multiple men for cash! I caught her red-handed multiple times! She is not worthy to enter a family like this! You can’t let her into the Ashford family!"
Wilder delivered a clean, professional-grade punch right to his jaw.
Apollo followed up with a left hook that sent Andrew straight to dreamland. Total silence fell over the room as Andrew went limp, lights completely out.
Grandpa Ares slowly turned to his secretary. "Be a dear and guide the guests out. The party’s over but they can enjoy the amenities of the club, all expenses on us. Not one word of this absurdity will spill out. And if it does, our stand is clear. We support Claire. The Ashford group would not have attempted to poach her dozens of times every year if her morals were problematic."
The guests nodded. That single statement from Ares cleared up most of their doubts. Some seemed to recall the sea food they had been gobbling down before Andrew created chaos. One woman decided to leave with her food.
Suddenly, another did the same thing, and then another. Britney and Kaida called the waiters to move the food back to the kitchen. It would be warmed and packed for the guests.
While everyone else was in shock, Claire was sitting calmly, casually sipping her juice like she was watching a mildly entertaining soap opera on TV. "I am sorry for all this. It’s not my fault, but I am the reason your party was ruined," she said to Ares.
Ares looked at her, let out a low chuckle, and shook his head. "I like your nonchalant nature in the face of chaos. You will accomplish great things with such an attitude." He sighed, picking up one of the photos from the table. He squinted at it for two seconds. "Honestly, you don’t even need a forensics expert to know these photos were doctored. Amateurs."
Paisley clenched her fists so hard her knuckles turned white. "How can a man be so pathetic as to try and ruin a woman’s reputation because he can’t have her?"
"A boy from a rich family who thinks he’s untouchable!" Wilder said, "This is not the first time he’s harassing my girl."
Ares frowned. "What family?"
"The Jones." Apollo said, "They own one small hotel and somehow that makes them think they are untouchable."
Hugo crossed his arms, glaring at the door. "Grandfather, the Jones family actually does business with us. They have a vegetable farm in the South which supplies our hotel in George city. Their contract expired three days ago, and they sent a proposal requesting a renewal."
Ares’ didn’t even hesitate. He pointed a finger at Griffin. "Cancel it. Permanently." He then pointed down at the floor littered with Claire’s fake pictures. "And make sure the Jones’ pay for the emotional damage of disgracing Claire and ruining my day."
Griffin nodded firmly. "Yes, Father."
Ares’ phone chimed and he picked up the call eagerly. "It’s my wife," he announced like an excited child.
Five seconds later, that smile vanished as he ended the call and looked at Griffin. "Your mother says someone should let the Jones family know winter is coming."
The Ashfords sniggered.
"What does that mean?" Wilder asked eagerly.
Claire whispered to her. "That the Jones family should face financial ruin. Their businesses should be bankrupted."
Ares grimaced. "Lorna watches a lot of Asian dramas. You have your Knitting club; she has her Cultured Dairy club. They meet and discuss their dramas over milk tea. She couldn’t make it here today because she broke her hip. But she was watching everything on livestream."
Wilder rolled her eyes. "That’s a stupid name for a club."
Ares’ phone rang and he answered eagerly again. Ten seconds later, he looked at Wilder and said, "Errr....Lorna says your club’s name is the most stupid."
Everyone was silent for a while. All aunts, uncles, cousins.... even Claire and Wilder.
Then, Wilder suddenly burst into laughter. "Finally, a normal person in this family." She pointed at Ares and said, "you tell her, the only thing cultured in that club is the bacteria. They should rename it the Crying Over Korean Billionaires Society."
Ares gasped loudly. His phone started to ring, somehow shrieking louder than before. Some of the Ashfords were laughing and others were leaning forward eagerly. Andrew and his theatrics were long forgotten.
Claire stood up, dusting off her dress, and offered a polite nod. "Well, thank you for the lovely evening, everyone. I’m quite tired, so I think I’ll head home now, and I will take my grandmother."
Grandpa Ares gave a warm nod. "Great idea. Maybe these two should never meet."
Claire could not have agreed more. The last thing she wanted was to see a granny fight.