Chapter 1190
The thought of having to face Nina again at the summit made Jude want to throw himself out a window.
While aggressively signing documents, Seth suddenly paused and looked up at Jude. “Who’s attending the summit on behalf of Naylor Automotive Group?”
“Healy Naylor,” Jude replied.
Seth dropped his pen and said coolly, “I’ll be taking your place at the summit. I’ll go instead.”
Jude almost thought he was hallucinating. He actually walked over to the floor-to- ceiling windows to check if the sun had suddenly risen in the west.
The moment Noreen and Claire arrived at the summit venue, Padgett Novak’s secretary hurried over to escort Noreen to a private meeting room.
Noreen told Claire to wander around the venue, promising to find her as soon as the meeting was over.
Claire waved her off. “Go do your billionaire business. I’m a grown woman, I’m not going to get lost.”
With that, Noreen headed out.
Claire strolled aimlessly through the massive convention center. It was just as boring as she’d predicted. Every conversation she passed sounded like absolute gibberish involving market caps and algorithms.
Bored out of her mind, she found a quiet corner near the catering tables to eat her weight in expensive hors d’oeuvres while waiting for Noreen.
She barely got two bites into a pastry before someone walked up to her.
“Miss Chase! I can’t believe I ran into you here! I’m a massive fan!”
The speaker was a man in his forties. He was dressed respectably, but there was something greasy and unsettling about the way his eyes roamed over her.
Claire offered a polite, forced smile and tried to brush him off. But the man was relentless, aggressively demanding a handshake and a photo.
Not wanting to cause a scene, Claire reluctantly agreed to a quick selfie.
But the moment the camera flashed, the man slid his hand firmly onto her lower back, his fingers curling uncomfortably close to her hip.
Her skin crawled. She immediately stepped away. “Excuse me, but I’m done taking photos.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be like that! It’s not every day I meet my favorite actress. Just one more, it’s harmless!”
The man kept smiling, but his grip turned into a vice, refusing to let her pull away. He clamped his arm around her, pinning her in place.
“Don’t be so stuck-up, Miss Chase. We’re in public. What do you think I’m gonna do to you?” His voice dropped, turning sickeningly sleazy. “I reallyam a huge fan. Especially that spy movie you did rewatched I the scene where you flash your legs a hundred times. Absolutely stunning.”
“Let go of me!” Claire demanded, real panic setting in. This wasn’t just a fan-this was a creep.
She reached down to pry his fingers off her waist, but before she could, another hand shot out of nowhere.
The newcomer violently slapped the man’s greasy hand away.
Before Claire could even process what had happened, a strong arm wrapped around her shoulders, yanking her back into a protective, secure embrace.
Claire looked up and froze.
It was Wilbur.
His face was an mask of pure ice, his jaw clenched tight. The lazy, playful grin he always wore around a
her was entirely gone replaced by predatory glare that radiated pure danger.
The creep furious at being interrupted, spun around ready to throw a bunch But the second he saw who was standing there all the color drained from his face.
He practically folded in half. “Mr… Mr. Prescott!”
Wilbur’s eyes were dead. “Did you not see that she wanted you to let go?”
The man broke out in a cold sweat. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Prescott!”
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to,” Wilbur sneered.
Terrified, the man spun toward Claire and bowed repeatedly, babbling apologies.
Not wanting the situation to escalate into a media scandal, Claire quickly accepted the apology just to make him leave.
Once the man scrambled away in terror, Wilbur finally looked down at Claire.
His voice was quiet, but his dark eyes were locked intently onto hers. “Did you come with Noreen?”
“Yeah,” Claire murmured.
For some inexplicable reason, the air between them felt strangely distant.
It was tense, awkward, and heavily uncomfortable… and she had absolutely no idea
why.