The party opened its doors at seven in the evening, and Archer’s villa was gradually filled with luxurious cars one after another.
The villa was exquisitely decorated, and the sound of piano pieces echoed through the hallway gracefully. All of the guests were dressed poshly and elegantly while they made their way into the venue in small groups.
Gavin, Archer, and Raymond stood in the hallway as they welcomed the guests with bright smiles on their faces.
After some time, Gavin checked the time and asked, “Why isn’t William here yet?”
“I just gave him a call. He’ll be here soon,” Raymond replied.
“I see,” Gavin nodded and went back to greeting the guests.
Meanwhile, at William’s villa, he had leisurely begun to prepare himself as Michael glared at him and said, “What are you doing? Isn’t this party important for both your wife and mother-in-law? Not only you’re not there to help them, but you’re here slowing things down too! Aren’t you worried that your wife would be mad at you?”
“Oh, for God’s sake. Don’t pretend that you are doing this for my sake, I know that you’re just eager to see Abbie. I won’t stop you if you want to head over first, though. I have plenty of time. My wife would be patiently waiting for me at the party anyway.”
Michael couldn’t do anything about him, so he had no choice but to sit down and wait. William picked up his phone and glanced at the time, and at the same time, Bobby gave him a call, “Mr. Howard, everything is ready. You can come over now.”
“Alright!” William adjusted his tie and placed the blazer on his arm as he walked out leisurely. Michael followed behind him and asked, “Look at you, all dressed up. Planning to secure yourself a young lady tonight?”
“You know me too well,” William replied and they continued to bicker as they made their way to the door. Seeing them, Bobby got out of the vehicle immediately and opened the car door for them. They got into the car and headed over to Archer’s villa.
Bright city lights whizzed past them along the way to the party, and as they got nearer, beautiful twinkle lights could be seen along the streets. Taking this in, Michael couldn’t help but exclaim, “It looks like your father-in-law is spoiling your wife! I remember that these streets by the beach don’t have lights as pretty as these. He must have spent a lot of money to have those impressive lights set up.”
William replied calmly, “No, you’re wrong. He’s spoiling his wife instead. Besides, Valeria has me pampering her. There’s no need for him to do that.”
“Look at you, being protective of your wife! You would hit the ceiling if Archer doesn’t love his daughter. I know you too well!”
William laughed but paused as he suddenly remembered something, “Michael, Natasya is back.”
“What?” Michael looked at William in confusion.
“I remember that Natasya liked you, right? You should give it a shot to reignite the spark between you two.”
“Cut it out, would you? Natasya is not my type, and she is not interested in me, alright?” Michael replied while waving his hands.
“What? Who is the lucky guy, then? I vividly remember that she was always following you around.”
William sighed and continued, “I’ve always thought that something was going on between both of you. Have I gotten it wrong? Why would she be this friendly with you if she’s not interested in you? Could it be that she’s using you to get close to Richard?”
“That’s possible, but I’m certain she is not attracted to me. What were you thinking, William?”
The car came to a halt as they were talking and Bobby opened the car door for them. William stretched his long legs and came down from the car, followed by Michael. After getting down from the car, William glanced at the golden house plate in front of Archer’s villa. Just then, the sound of a car engine could be heard as they prepared to make their way into the villa.
A sweet voice rang out, “Michael!”
At the call of his name, Michael turned around to see Natasya, who was wearing a custom-made dress, paced herself gracefully out of the car.
It would seem rude if Michael did not return her greetings, so he nodded politely and asked, “Ms. Anderson, when did you come back?”
“Today!” Natasya smiled charmingly as she walked towards Michael. Her eyes rested on William, who had his back faced against her, and asked Michael, “And this is?”
“This is William! Have you forgotten about him?” Michael asked.
William turned his head nonchalantly and looked at Natasya, who was dressed beautifully in a marvelous dress.
Natasya smiled shyly when she saw that William was looking at her and said, “Hello, William.”
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Anderson,” William raised his eyebrow and gave her a charming smile. William was good-looking to begin with, and that smile of his was enough to make women go mad for him. Natasya’s heart fluttered, but she did not lose her composure.
Raelyn was a few cars behind them and her mind went haywire as soon as she saw William.
Besides having dashing features, William happened to be the president of Wolf Group too, so Valeria did hit the jackpot when she had gotten married to him. If there were sparks between William and Raelyn’s daughter…
Wait, what was she even thinking? William’s mother’s death had something to do with her, and he had even sought revenge for Valeria by putting Declan in jail with a death penalty. Not only that, he had also destroyed everything she and Declan had accomplished in the business world. As they were arch-enemies, there was no hope between William and her daughter.
Then, Raelyn composed herself and walked elegantly towards William and Michael.
Raelyn had initially thought that William would extend his greetings towards her, considering she was Devon’s wife and Archer’s sister.
However, William ignored Raelyn completely and glanced in the direction of Richard’s parked car. He then said, “Michael, Richard is here! Who is that beautiful lady next to him? Let’s check it out!”
Raelyn’s elegant composure was almost out of the window when William had deliberately ignored her for some woman.
Raelyn would have cursed the hell out of William for being uncultured and ill-mannered if he wasn’t the president of Wolf Group.
As she had known his identity, she had no choice but to suppress her anger to not get into trouble.
On the parking lot, Richard opened the door like a gentleman after parking his vehicle for Braelynn as she got off the car in her dazzling outfit. William grinned as he saw them, “Wow, President Saunders! You’re looking good tonight.”
Michael came over behind William and chimed in, “Richard has good taste. I remembered saying that not everyone can rock this outfit. However, Braelynn, you are destined to wear this dress!”
Braelynn looked at Richard awkwardly as she asked, “Didn’t you say that this dress was chosen by Ms. Brown?”
“Ms. Brown asked me to choose it for you,” Richard lied through his teeth as he continued, “If you don’t believe me, ask William. He was the one who gave me the money to buy you the dress.”
“Yes, Valeria asked Richard to pick out a dress for you,” William replied without thinking twice while Michael grinned as he knew what was under their sleeves.
Meanwhile, Natasya felt discontented as William and Michael had neglected her and had gone over to Richard and Braelynn instead.
However, there was nothing Natasya could do, as Braelynn was undeniably gorgeous in that tailor-made dress. Natasya had intended to win the hearts of powerful men tonight, but she was a little defeated before the real game had even begun.
She felt pessimistic all of a sudden, as Braelynn was already a threat against her. Then what about Valeria, the spotlight of the night? Would she have the chance to outshine Valeria?