Chapter 43: The Event

Later that week, the annual Global Media Symposium was held in the grand ballroom of the city’s most exclusive luxury hotel.

It was a formal corporate event attended by the most powerful executives in the entertainment and financial sectors.

In a VIP corner of the ballroom, a tense standoff was occurring.

"Do you have any idea who I am?"

Cassandra stood up from the velvet lounge chair, crossing her arms tightly.

"Cassandra, wasn’t it? You just introduced yourself a moment ago, didn’t you?" Harper replied, swirling the champagne in her crystal flute.

*This Cassandra woman must really have a few screws loose,* Harper thought to herself, unimpressed.

"You! I am Chairman Sterling’s personal secretary!" Cassandra snapped.

Harper raised an eyebrow, a mocking smile touching her lips. *Chairman Sterling’s personal secretary, eh?*

"Does your Chairman’s wife actually know you’re attending this exclusive corporate symposium with your dear Chairman Sterling today?" Harper asked.

"What’s that got to do with you?!" Cassandra shrieked, her face turning crimson.

"You’re right, it’s not my business at all," Harper said with a wave of her hand.

She glanced over her shoulder at the armed private military contractor standing in the shadows. "Ghost, take her back to Chairman Sterling and tell him he shouldn’t let every stray dog off its leash at a gala. If it bites someone important, he’s the one who’ll be held entirely responsible."

"Yes, Ms. Harper!"

This time, Ghost gave Cassandra no time to react.

He stepped forward with terrifying speed, grabbed her by the belt of her designer dress, and hoisted her straight into the air like a piece of mislaid luggage.

Ghost remained unfazed by her screaming, his eyes scanning the dense crowd for the man who had brought Cassandra to the symposium: Chairman Sterling.

Ghost quickly located Chairman Sterling holding court near the ice sculptures.

He strode over with long steps, still carrying the squirming Cassandra, and dropped her directly beside the Chairman’s shoes.

"Chairman Sterling," Ghost said, his voice a deep rumble. "My superior has a message for you: ’You shouldn’t let every stray dog off its leash. If it bites someone, you’re the one who will be held responsible.’"

"Who the hell was that?!"

Chairman Sterling asked furiously, looking at the other executives around him.

After a long moment, a junior executive in the crowd spoke up hesitantly, pointing a shaking finger across the ballroom. "I think I saw him come from that direction, Chairman. It’s significantly less crowded over there in the VIP alcove. I think only Jude Lawson’s elite group went to sit there for a bit. Now, the only one left in the alcove is the young female executive who came in with them."

Chairman Sterling turned to the speaker, his eyes narrowing. "Are you sure?"

If that was actually the case, then this young female executive was certainly not someone to be trifled with lightly.

"If you’re concerned about the optics, Chairman Sterling, you could go over and see for yourself," another CEO chimed in, swirling his scotch. "Didn’t you say your daughter has quite the intimate relationship with that young Wall Street titan of the Lawson family?"

Hearing them explicitly mention his daughter and Jude Lawson in the same breath, Chairman Sterling proudly puffed out his chest, his anger replaced by immense pride.

That supposed Ivy League connection was his ultimate trump card, the very thing that allowed him to feel a cut above everyone else in this crowded ballroom.

Chairman Sterling’s imposing group of executives looked like they were spoiling for a corporate fight.

In direct response to the approaching threat, the seven armed members of Ghost’s private security detail, who had been blending into the crowd, suddenly materialized out of nowhere and formed a circular ring around Harper.

"Are you the woman who just had an unprovoked run-in with Cassandra?"

Chairman Sterling hadn’t forgotten that it was specifically on this woman’s orders that a bodyguard had just dragged his secretary over to him in front of his peers.

Harper had just done a quick search on her encrypted phone for key figures at the Sterling Media company, so she’d seen Chairman Sterling’s online profile. She knew the arrogant man leading the group at the front was its Chairman.

"Has Chairman Sterling come over here to hold me strictly accountable for my actions?" Harper asked, remaining seated in her chair.

"I am the one who brought Cassandra here tonight," Chairman Sterling declared, ensuring the surrounding crowd heard him. "Even if you have some tangential business connection to Jude Lawson and his financial circle, that gives you no right to be so incredibly insolent to my personal secretary."

"However," Chairman Sterling continued, adopting a magnanimous tone, "seeing as you’re still very young and inexperienced, I’m willing to let this entire matter drop right now if you just stand up and apologize to Cassandra."

Hearing Chairman Sterling’s absurd words, Harper simply stared at him over the rim of her champagne flute as if he were a complete moron.

"Chairman Sterling, what is the exact meaning of this? Did you bring this whole crowd over to my alcove to cause trouble for my President?"

Before Harper could even say a single word in her own defense, Jude Lawson’s voice cut through the ballroom from behind Chairman Sterling’s entourage. Everyone hurriedly turned to look.

"Mr. Lawson!" Chairman Sterling beamed, his anger vanishing as he stepped forward to the billionaire. "I’m Chairman Sterling, and my daughter is Vanessa Sterling. I’d like to take this public opportunity to thank you so very much for taking such intimate care of my daughter while you two were at Harvard Business School together."

Harper slowly lowered her champagne flute, shooting Jude a skeptical look that clearly said: *You took care of Vanessa Sterling at school?*

"Chairman Sterling, I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding on your part," Jude said. "I wasn’t particularly close with any female students during my university days at Harvard, let alone in a financial or social position to ’take care’ of anyone."

Chairman Sterling was dumbfounded.

What the hell was happening?

At home, his daughter Vanessa had always claimed that Jude Lawson had looked after her quite well while they were studying in Cambridge!

How could the billionaire now be saying he wasn’t close to any female students?!

"Mr. Lawson, my daughter’s name is Vanessa Sterling. She told me you were always very kind to her when you were studying abroad!" Chairman Sterling said, trying to jog Jude’s memory of his daughter to save face. "Vanessa never lies to me!"