Chapter 5
The entire VIP lounge fell into a dead silence before erupting into laughter.
The reporters gazed at me with mockery, waiting to see me embarrass myself.
“Following a big star was definitely the right call. This is way better than any drama, She actually dared to impersonate the daughter of the Parrish family.”
“Well, it’s understandable. After all, she just had a breakup…”
Antonio gazed at me. “Grace, I had no idea you aspired to be an actress. Did you hire these people as extras?”
Some paparazzi could no longer hold back their laughter. They kept gossiping and were eager to see how things unfold.
No one recognized my father, which was understandable. Ever since my mother passed away, he had withdrawn from the public, even having someone else attend shareholder meetings on his behalf.
The people in this room weren’t influential enough to have ever seen the true power behind the Parrish Group.
My father stepped in front of me protectively, frowning as he asked, “Are you hurt?”
Antonio scoffed. “Enough already, we’re all acquaintances here. Drop the act.”
His gaze landed on my father’s hand on my shoulder, and he found it
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particularly offensive. His words turned even nastier. “Grace, I heard you climbed into an old man’s bed just to get back at me.
“How much did he pay you? I’ll double it.”
Antonio’s arrogant and untouchable demeanor reminded me of a particular negotiation when his new film project was stuck due to budget constraints. The producer stormed out for the third time over the visual effects budget. I had quietly retrieved the jade pendant I had worn for fifteen years and taken it to an underground pawn shop. The appraiser had offered me 1.5 million.
My mother placed it around my neck on her deathbed.
“When Grace finds someone she loves, this will be your dowry.”
How had I ever been willing to sell such a priceless treasure?
I did that only because Antonio had told me he never wanted to lose to his rival again.
So I spent the money to buy him trending promotions, suppress hate campaigns against him, and shield him from his competitors‘ smear
tactics.
I had even been at his service to meet his sexual desires.
I had even sold my mother’s keepsake at a disgracefully low price, just for the sake of him.
Yet what did I get in return? A restless job all year round and his arrogant attitude.
On top of that, I was slandered, humiliated, and made the scapegoat for countless scandals.
When something came too easily, they wouldn’t cherish it.
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Even now, after we broke up, he still wouldn’t stop insulting me.
200 V–shers
Yet how could my father tolerate that? A man who had always held the power of life and death in his hands would never tolerate such disrespect toward his daughter.
Suddenly, the roar of a helicopter echoed from outside the glass window, and twelve black–suited bodyguards appeared in the room.
My father gestured for the guards to take Antonio away.
However, before they could lay a hand on him, Antonio suddenly started shouting like a rogue. “What is this? Extras attacking people now?”
The paparazzi’s cameras clicked wildly. Not wanting them to capture my father on film, I pulled out my phone and called our family’s real estate
agent.
“What’s the address of Antonio’s new company?
“I want that property. After tonight, I don’t want to see any irrelevant people there.”
I hung up. Antonio looked at me in disbelief.
“Grace, are you insane or just delusional? How can you possibly buy it?”
But the next second, his phone rang.
Seeing the caller ID, he raised an eyebrow and deliberately put it on speaker, eager to humiliate me.
Yet the panicked voice on the other end made him freeze completely.
“Antonio, we have a problem. Someone just came by and said the land won’t be sold to scandal–ridden celebrities. They’ve revoked the deal and ordered us to vacate immediately. They’re coming to inspect the property
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in person.
“Antonio, whom are they talking about? The ribbon–cutting is tomorrow, yet now we can’t have the property. We can’t even get compensation. They just told us to talk to you… do you know who they are talking about?”
The VIP lounge fell silent.
Antonio set up this press conference in the best five–star hotel in Seattle because he knew that I wouldn’t dare cause a scene here.
At that moment, the hotel’s manager rushed in, looking panicked.
Ignoring everyone else, he headed straight for my father and me before bowing deeply. “Mr. Parrish, Ms. Parrish, I had no idea you were here. Please forgive us for what is happening here…”
