Chapter 45

Chapter 45 Title: The Banquet Part 1

Chapter Theme Song: Control By Unknown Brain, Rival FT Jex

[Xavier’s POV]

Luna sat there with her legs crossed, looking very smug and satisfied with her solution to my current emotional state. I almost choked on my water before I threw back my head and laughed. In fact, I was laughing so hard my stomach began to ache from the exertion.

“You should reconsider your day job, Luna. That was the funniest thing I’ve heard in awhile. And while I admit that I feel an attraction towards her, I don’t think that is the same thing as loving someone. You and I both know that I am not a person to fall in love so easily.”

Luna sighed and lazily leaned back on the couch.

“Sometimes a moment is all it takes to fall in love, Xavier. For research purposes, would you be willing to test the theory?” she asked with a raised brow.

“Test it?”

Just what the hell was she babbling about?

“Yes. Have you ever seen Iris with another man? You haven’t, right? When you do, remember what you feel during that moment. After you experience that, I believe you will understand yourself a bit better. If there is one thing that I know for certain about being in love, it’s that a man does not like sharing his woman with anyone.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as she continued to grin at me. Not being about to be under her scrutiny a moment longer, I stood up.

“Well, I’m sorry to cut our session short but I think that’s all the time I have for today, Luna. I have to get back to work.”

She chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry. I will be seeing you soon, Xavier.”

I rolled my eyes at her and left her office feeling slightly off balance.

***

A week had already passed since we had returned for East Coloa and the fire debacle had finally subsided. I could thank my hard working staff and Daniel for that. They had all been working tirelessly to get that whole shit show out of the news. In an attempt to get back into the public’s good graces, we established a school and named it after the child who had tragically passed away. Of course the family still resented us, but at least they saw that we were trying to make amends. Society saw and graciously recognized our efforts—not that the backlash had completely disappeared. However, accordingly to the recent polls, we had tipped the balance back into my favor.

My relationship with Iris was kept professional and we still hadn’t spoken of the kiss that we had shared. Since she never brought it up, I could only conclude that she wanted to pretend like it never happened. So that’s what we did.

I glanced over at her as I heard the soft clicking of her fingers stroking the keyboard. Her brows were furrowed in concentration and I couldn’t help but grin. As if feeling my gaze, she looked over. My heart did a little flip and my breath caught in my throat as our eyes met. I opened my mouth to say something, but at that moment Daniel came busting into my office.

That man and his damned timing! I slouched back in my chair, glaring at him as he came marching up to me with a red envelope in his hand.

“Xavier! Guess what? We have finally received an invitation to attend a party,” he all but squealed as he excitedly waved the envelope in my face.

“How exciting,” I said dryly.

“Oh, come on! Don’t be like that. This is just what we need. Everyone has been super stressed this whole week. It would be good for us to get out and relax. Besides, Mr. Gabriel has been gracious enough to invite us to his daughter’s engagement party despite our recent troubles.”

“Well, Gabriel has served the Dragon Party for the past two decades and he has definitely helped us out a lot. I guess it’s the least we could do,” I said with a dispassionate sigh.

Daniel smiled widely and his eyes lit up with excitement as he spoke, “Finally! Some fun at last. Now, tell me who you would like me to engage as your companion for the night? I could call the same modeling agency as last time.”

My eyes instinctively travelled over to Iris. She was still concentrating on whatever proposal she was typing up and was completely oblivious to our conversation. Turning my eyes back to Daniel, I quirked a brow and smirked.

“Why should I engage an actress or a model when I have Miss Young to accompany me?”

Daniel jumped out of his chair and screeched, “Not a chance! Iris has already promised to go with me. You will simply have to find someone else.”

I felt my chest tighten and it only grew worse as I saw the pleased look on Daniel’s stupid face. Throwing a hard glare over at Iris, I saw that she had finally turned away from her work and was watching us with an inscrutable stare. I guess Daniel’s outburst caused a loud enough racket to break her concentration on the work she was doing. Anyway, just when had they had time to even talk about going to the party together? And why the hell was I just now finding out about it? Wait, was this jealously? Dismissing the thought, I narrowed my eyes at Iris.

“Go on and tell him, Iris. Didn’t you already promise to go with me?” Daniel goaded.

I saw her eyes flick from me to Daniel before she gave us a slight nod.

“Sir, we did agree to go to the party earlier today. I am sorry for not informing you.”

Daniel grinned in triumph and then sailed out of my office with the promise to find me a suitable date for the evening. I stared after him for a few seconds before I turned back to Iris.

“Miss Young, come here!” I barked.

She shot out of her chair and came over to my desk. She had her eyes fixated on the carpet as she fiddled with her fingers. I had come to notice that she did that when she was nervous.

I studied her for a couple more moments before stating in my most authoritative tone, “I don’t remember giving you permission to accept Daniel’s invitation.”

At that, she lifted her eyes to meet my gaze with an enigmatic expression.

“He said that he didn’t have anyone to go with him, sir. I didn’t see anything wrong with accepting his kind offer to take me. Besides, he is an important figure in the company and it wouldn’t look good for him to attend such a party without a partner.”

I raked my hand through my hair and huffed in frustration. The damned woman was being straightforward, as always. I looked at her again and hardened my gaze.

“Well, you will just have to go back and tell him you can’t go with him because you are going with me,” I ordered.

“But, sir, I already promised to go with him. How—”

My hands came down onto my desk with a loud thud as I effectively cut off her protests.

“Are you my secretary, Miss Young, or his? You will do as I say. Besides, weren’t you still trying to impress me? This is your night to do so. Impress me however you see fit and I will admit that you have proven yourself.”

Iris’s shoulders slumped slightly in defeat. I grinned as I watched her consider my offer. The moment she exhaled in exasperation, I knew I had won.

Glaring at me she said, “Fine. But, you have to keep your promise.”

I nodded. She whirled around and left my office in search of Daniel. I chuckled as I pictured Daniel’s expression at the realization that I just stole his date. This was turning out to be a most pleasant day. There was nothing more satisfying than antagonizing my best friend.

***

The sun was setting as we pulled up to the entrance of USK’s top designer shop. I wanted to make sure that Iris looked her absolute best for tonight. Of course, she was resisting the whole way there. She kept telling me that she had more than enough appropriate dresses for the occasion, but that didn’t satisfy me. Tonight’s party would be full of the nation’s socialites. If she showed up wearing just whatever she could find in her closet, people would say that I didn’t know how to appreciate the closest of my staff and I was tired of the negative news. To that effect, I told her she didn’t have a choice but to pick out a new dress. Rolling her eyes, she stepped out of the car and walked into the store. I decided to wait for her outside. We were running late and I honestly didn’t care what she chose to wear—that woman looked breathtaking in anything. My phone rang, jerking my thoughts away from Iris. I looked at the screen and saw it was Cart. He was assisting me with the investigation of the fire and I had told me to contact me whenever he uncovered something new. I let out a tired breath as I accepted the call.

“Sir, we have been in touch with all of our informants and it appears that the plans were leaked from the inside. Also,” he hesitated and took a deep breath before he continued. “I think that the fire was premeditated. It… it looks like Wolf was involved, sir.”

I tightened my grip on my phone as I heard that bastard’s name. Too many of my nights were spent thinking about how I would kill that despicable blight on creation. Of course, my conclusion was always the same. Slowly, I would kill that fucker so slowly that he would beg for me to end his life. We had been playing this stupid game for far too long and now he had dragged civilians into our squabble. My voice came out harsh and raspy as I tried to control my anger.

“Understood. Keep investigating and concentrate on the employees in my building, but don’t approach them. If we have a leak from the inside, I will deal with them personally.”

After a few more words, I disconnected the call. This wasn’t the most secure of places to have this discussion and I needed to think. Who in their right mind would side with that psychopath? I mentally flipped through my employees and even the members in my party for any clues as to who could be the mole. But, no one came to mind.

[Iris’s POV]

I stared at my reflection as soon as the beauticians had finished. My skin glowed and looked refreshed. The signs of stress and a few sleepless nights were erased and I was convinced that the ladies who had worked on me were actual magicians. I looked nothing short of a glamorous model. The makeup that they had applied highlighted my eyes and made my lips look a little fuller than usual. With my hair in a messy, yet elegant, topknot, they had curled a few of the fallen strands that framed my face to perfection. I smirked as observed how the light blue satin mini dress showed off my toned thighs. Well, at least there was one good thing that came with the years of brutal physical training that Wolf put me through.

“I’m pretty sure I look just as good as that escort he had taken to the gala last year,” I mumbled as I studied myself one last time.

I froze. Was I actually comparing myself to one of his previous dates?! I gave myself a hard mental shake as I strode out of the dressing room. Thanking the staff, I grabbed my purse and exited the boutique. President Gray was looking down at his phone with a disgruntled expression. He didn’t seem to notice me. I cleared my throat and he lifted his gaze to meet mine. He stared at me unblinking and then raked his gaze over me from top to bottom. I felt my cheeks go warm and I briefly looked away.

“Is this suitable, sir? Or do I have to change?” I teased.

He grunted, gave a curt nod of approval and rather clumsily stumbled into the car as he muttered that we were running late. Well, would you look at that? Xavier Gray is speechless. Was that a look of admiration in his eyes? I smiled and crawled into the car after him.

***

The place was an absolute mad house! People were everywhere. Celebrities, reporters, political figures and even some of the president’s fans were lined outside of the five-star hotel that Mr. Gabriel had booked for his daughter’s party. The flash of cameras started to give me a headache and I couldn’t even bare to look out of my window. Glancing over to President Gray, I couldn’t help but be in awe of how handsome he looked in his dark blue suit.

“God of the nation, indeed,” I mumbled as I turned my focus to the front of the car.

When the car stopped, I took a look out of my window and my palms began to sweat. I hated large crowds and this place was slammed packed full of people. Instantly, I began to regret not coming with Daniel. Coming here with the president, reporters would take my picture and people would notice me. This was a disaster. I was used to hiding and keeping myself in the dark—away from others. Now, I was about to step out of this car with a fucking spot light on me. My hands began to tremble.

“Nervous?”

Hearing his question, I turned to face him. He was looking concerned and I felt his hand on mine. He gave it a tight squeeze and then excited the car. Coming around to my side, he opened the door for me. He looked down out me and smiled—a real and confident smile as he held his hand out to me. I took it and got out of the car.

Leaning down to my ear, he whispered, “I’m here with you so don’t worry. There is nothing to be afraid of.”

I felt the warm firm pressure of his hand on the small of my back as he guided toward the entrance. The crowd’s screams were deafening. I could thank the fan girls for the current ringing in my ears. They just wouldn’t shut up.

“Oh my god! There he is!” one girl screamed as she pointed in our direction.

“You are so handsome, President Gray!”

“We love you, Mr. President!”

“I wish I could have been your partner! Choose me next time!”

On and on it went until I felt like I was going to gag. I internally rolled my eyes as I tried to maintain a forced smile on my face. At last, we finally reached to front door of the hotel. But before we entered, he turned around and blew a kiss at the crowd. Screams erupted from the walkway and I saw a girl faint.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I uttered under my breath.

“What?” he asked.

I jumped as I was surprised he could hear me over all of that racket. His grip tightened on my hand and I glared up at him.

“Why did you do that? What if that girl gets trampled or something? The public would probably blame you for her getting hurt! Do you not see the repo—”

I clamped my free hand over my mouth to stop myself from talking.

“Shit! Me and my big fat mouth,” I thought.

When was this night going to be over?