Chapter 74
Sophie’s POV:
As Sophie made her way to the stairs, the crowd began to clap. She couldn’t help but feel a since of gratification and accomplishment as she made her way down.
‘See, everyone loves me! Who cares that I’m not some stupid genius! I’m a thousand times better
than Clara!‘
As Sophie made her way to the bottom of the stairs, Jason walked up extending his hand for
hers as if she were a princess in a fairytale movie. Everything was perfect. Amongst the crowd however, many of Sophie’s classmates sneered under their breaths.
“Am I tripping or is her date her sister’s boyfriend.”
Sara Reamer, one of her previous classmates said under her breath.
“Boyfriend? I heard they got engaged after she turned 18.”
Another classmate chimed in.
“Eh. That’s classless.”
Another classmate named Laura Johnson scanned the room before speaking.
“Speaking of which, where is Clara? Do you guys think she’ll show up?”
Sara scoffed.
“Hell no. I mean would you show up to your stepsister’s extravagant gala to celebrate her doing what everyone else did this year…graduate high school?”
The girls all began to chuckle,
“Sara you’ve got a point. I mean it’s not like she was an honor student.”
“Honor student! Please, she barley gra-”
Before Laura could finish her sentence, Sophie showed up arm in arm with Jason with a smug expression.
“Well, well. Hello ladies, thank you so much for coming to my gala.”
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The women all smiled faintly at Sophie hoping she hadn’t heard their gossiping. Although they couldn’t stand Sophie, it was no secret her father was one of the most powerful people in Glendale. Nervously, all the girls nodded.
“A–Absolutely, we couldn’t dream of not coming.”
Laura said nervously as she smiled at Sophie.
Your dress is so beautiful Sophie, you and Jason look amazing tonight.”
Another one of the girls commented while dawning a fake smile. Sophie could see right through all of them, she knew they had been gossiping moments before she arrived. It was no secret that many of the girls at Bartrum disliked her.
‘They’re all just jealous! Whatever, who needs friends when I can have flunkies.‘
Sara suddenly spoke snapping Sophie out of her thoughts.
“By the way Sophie, where’s Clara?”
The girls all looked in surprise at Sara, they had no idea she’d be bold enough to ask.
“Excuse me?”
Sara smiled innocently and repeated herself.
“I was saying, where’s Sophie? Afterall, she is you sister. I thought she’s de be here for your ‘big‘ night‘, and surly Jason wouldn’t come without his fiancé.”
Sara spoke with a smug undertone, ‘let’s see how you explain this Sophie.‘ But Sophie smiled energetically. Walking closer to Sara, she released her arm from Jason and held Sara’s hand.
“Sara, my sister isn’t here because I didn’t want her here, as for Jason, he is MY fiancé. I don’t appreciate you calling my fiancé someone else’s, Mistakes like this are unforgivable. Your father, doesn’t he own the supply chain that that creates the measuring glasses my father’s biochemistry company uses?”
Sara’s eyes began to bulge as panic streaked through her body. Sara’s father was CEO of a fiber glass company that specialized in measuring and medical glasses. JGP was his largest client, if he lost that contract because of her, Sara would never forgive herself. Smiling nervously, she began to backpaddle.
“I–I wasn’t aware, W–Well congratulations! I always said you and Jason made a far better couple
than him and Clara.”
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The other girls couldn’t believe it. She was the one that started all of that trouble and now she was sucking up. Sophie smiled with triumph, a smug snicker across her lips.
‘That’ll teach to play with me Sara, do it again and the only thing your daddy will be able to sale is
trash cans.‘
Sophie and Jason walked away leaving the women all speechless. Across the room, Ethan and Owen saw the whole thing.
Ethan‘ POV:
Ethan watched the whole scene unfold from the other side of the room. A slight chuckle on his lips.
“Seems the little bastard child has spunk.
Ethan looked over at Owen as he sipped his champagne. Owen seemed less than impressed.
“I don’t know, she thinks a little too highly of herself if you ask me.
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Ethan chuckled. No arguments there. Sophie relished undeserved praise compliments of her parents, while Clara was barley acknowledged. After being at the gala for over 30 minutes, Ethan decided now was time to approach Jameson.
“Shall we?”
He smiled at Owen as he began to walk in Jameson’s direction. Owen chuckled.
“What was the point of even coming here, you already knew she wasn’t going to show and I already paid you for the bet.”
Ethan laughed loudly.
“Purely for entertainment. It’ll be fun seeing what ridiculous excuse he comes up with.”
As Ethan and Owen made their way across the room, Edward spotted them growing closer. In a panic, he made his way over to Jameson.
Prior to arriving at the gala, Edward told himself he’d stay at IGP if Jameson could get them out of this mess. He wasn’t sure how that would be possible, but he wasn’t ready to throw away over 20 years of dedicated work.
Ethan noticed Edward warning Jameson of their arrival. He could see the nerves in Jameson’s face
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spark up. With a silent chuckle he finally reached his destination. Jameson tried to maintain his cool, extending his hand, he greeted Ethan cheerfully.
**“Chairman Taylor, so glad you were able to join us this evening. Please, allow me to
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introduce you to my wife Anna.”
Anna blushed as she bowed to Ethan.
‘What a pleasure to finally meet you Chairman Taylor! My husband has spoken so highly of your brilliance.”
Anna dawned a perfect smile as Jameson tried to make small talk, but Ethan curtly cut him off.
“I don’t mean to be rude Granger but where exactly is your daughter?”
Before Jameson could answer, Sophie and Jason walked up arm and arm. Sophie looked at Ethan with admiration in her eyes, never had she seen such a handsome man.
“Father, who’s this?”
Before Jameson could answer, Ethan turned to face Sophie and Jason, seeing them arm and arm, his eyes darkened.
Disgusting.
With a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, Ethan introduced himself and Owen.
“Oh! Chairman Taylor! What a pleasure it is to meet you! Thank you so much for coming to
celebrate me this evening. I-”
Before Sophie could finish, Ethan cut her off.
“I didn’t come to celebrate you Ms. Granger, to be honest, there’s nothing to celebrate, I find
this entire event a bit ridiculous.”
“Now wait a minute chairman!”
Jameson stepped closer, his eyes reddening at Ethan disrespecting his daughter. Ethan looked over at Jameson completely unfazed,
“Chairman, you told me Ms. Rouleau would be here. I’ve now waisted over an hour of my time
and she still has not arrived.”

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