Officially, the Kleinberg Family’s previous head granddaughter, Sera, was now the head of the family. But everyone knew who really pulled the strings – it was the Alex standing right in front of them.
They genuinely believed that if Alex wanted, he could probably destroy every single powerful family left in the city.
Alex got bored fast. These fancy family parties were always the same old thing. So predictable, so dull. Absolutely nothing new ever happened.
Parties overseas were slightly better. Maybe not groundbreaking, but at least sometimes they got a little wild.
Henry himself only popped over for a quick toast before Alex basically shooed him away.
The front yard was loud and crowded with people kissing up to Henry. Alex grabbed his drink and wandered off towards the backyard, hoping to find a quiet spot to chill for a bit before making a polite exit. Leaving too soon after arriving would just be rude.
The backyard featured a big outdoor swimming pool. Standing right at the edge was a woman in a very chic dress. Her arms were crossed, and she seemed to be lost in thought, staring at something in the distance.
“Hello there,” Alex said politely, holding his glass.
“Ah!” The woman jumped, clearly startled. She hadn’t expected anyone else to be back there. As she spun around, her foot slipped on the wet edge. She lost her balance and tumbled backward right into the pool with a loud splash.
Alex jumped back just in time. If he hadn’t, she probably would have grabbed onto him and dragged him in with her. Even so, the splash sent water flying, soaking his clothes.
Alex just stood there for a second, stunned.
Well, that’s a first, he thought numbly. Never had a woman get me completely soaked with water before. Usually, it’s just my fingers…
The woman scrambled out of the pool pretty quickly. Her clothes were totally soaked, sticking to her skin and showing off her amazing curves.
“You alright?” Alex asked.
She shook her head, pushing wet hair from her face. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
‘Hmm, it’s late at night at the Wade Family’s pool,’ Alex thought, glancing around. ‘Everyone celebrating Henry’s birthday is out front. So why is this woman hanging out alone back here? Could she be Henry’s secret girlfriend?’
He’d met Henry’s actual wife earlier; she was busy playing hostess out front with the guests.
‘Wow, Henry is pretty gutsy!’
“So, are you… uh… Henry’s girlfriend?” Alex asked, trying to sound casual.
The woman shook her head, looking a bit disappointed. “No, I came here hoping to talk business with Mr. Henry Wade.”
‘Talk business?’ Alex looked around again. ‘Way out here by the swimming pool?’
He sized up the dripping wet, clearly mature woman, suddenly intrigued. “If you’re here for business, shouldn’t you be in the front? Henry and all his business contacts are up there.”
She shook her head again, giving a small, sad laugh. “I wasn’t actually invited. I sort of snuck in.”
‘Ah, okay, makes sense now,’ Alex figured it out instantly. The deal fell through. ‘Henry probably told her no, but she’s persistent and decided to crash the party.’
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry I splashed you,” the woman said, instinctively covering her chest, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. “My hotel isn’t far from here. Maybe you could come over and grab some dry clothes?”
“You’re soaked too,” Alex pointed out, accepting her offer easily.
The woman led him out through a hidden back door. Alex hadn’t even known the Wade mansion had a back entrance.
“So, what kind of business did you need to discuss with the Wade Family?” Alex asked, genuinely curious now. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.” What kind of deal was so important that she’d risk sneaking into Henry’s birthday party after already being turned down?
“It’s about international trade,” the woman explained with a sigh.
“I’m from the Dawson family,” she continued. “Our families… well, we’ve had some friction lately. It’s made Mr. Henry misunderstand my company quite badly.”
Just mentioning it seemed to make the woman, Ashley Dawson, incredibly angry. She looked like she wanted to find that jerk Eric and personally inflict by some serious pain on him.
“I had already talked about this deal with the Wade Family before,” she explained, frustration clear in her voice. “Everything was going great, we were basically just waiting for the right moment to sign the papers.”
“But then that idiot named Eric,” she spat the name, “had to go and get Henry’s father killed because of his screw-up! And then, to make things worse, my own father—I don’t know what he was thinking—decided to risk totally angering the Wade Family just to bail that no named bastard out of jail!”
“So, he got out,” she finished bitterly, “but my business deal? Completely dead in the water. And that deal was really, really important for my company.”
Alex paused, processing this.
‘The Dawson family?’ he thought. ‘Wait a second… is she the eldest daughter? The one who’s supposed to marry Eric?’
He took a closer look at her. ‘Nah, doesn’t seem right. She looks a bit older than that.’
Eric was barely in his early twenties. This woman, while clearly taking amazing care of herself, she had the lean body of someone who worked out regularly, not an ounce of fat on her waist, definitely wasn’t a twenty-something girl. She had a sophisticated, grown-up vibe that no amount of makeup or fancy creams could completely hide.
“Do you happen to know Eric?” Alex asked casually.
“Why? What’s he to you?” Hearing the name that clearly infuriated her, Ashley voice turned sharp and suspicious.
“Oh, no connection at all,” Alex answered quickly. Her strong reaction told him everything he needed to know: she definitely didn’t agree with the head of her own family about supporting Eric, that supposed ‘main character’.
He remembered reading stuff like this in those webnovels: usually, in families with these old arranged marriages, only the grandpa who made the deal actually liked the ‘lucky protagonist’. Everyone else in the family hated the idea.
‘Looks like she fits the pattern perfectly,’ Alex thought.
He added coolly, “I just happened to see him trying to ‘save’ someone on the street the other day. When people started doubting if he knew what he was doing, he started yelling that he was the future son-in-law of the great Dawson family, and questioning his skills was like insulting the entire Dawson family.”