Chapter 1643
[ 755 words ]
One of the strikingly handsome men at the table let out a dramatic sigh. “I never pegged our cold-blooded CEO for a hopeless romantic.”
The guy next to him elbowed him sharply in the ribs. “Shut your mouth. The man just knows how to treat a woman!”
And why wouldn’t he?
When you manage to lock down a brilliant woman years younger than you, you treat her like royalty.
Claire completely tuned out their teasing, though the very tips of her ears flushed a betraying shade of pink.
These guys were relentless.
As the dinner wound down, the group started throwing out ideas for the rest of the night, asking Dane and Claire if they wanted to head up to Mistral Manor. The private resort had endless options.
Bridge tables, billiards, private archery ranges-it was the perfect place to kill a few hours and decompress before heading home to crash.
These trust fund heirs definitely had access to darker, more illicit entertainment than the average person, but they also had access to vastly more refined options.
However, this specific circle-the ones Dane actually associated with-had solid morals.
They didn’t indulge in anything sleazy or low-class.
At worst, they played Bridge for aggressively high stakes.
And even if someone in their wider social web did dabble in the seedy underbelly, they knew better than to drag that filth anywhere near Dane.
Everyone knew he had zero tolerance for it.
Dane politely declined the invite for the afterparty, stating he was taking Claire straight home.
Claire had a grueling schedule the next day and genuinely couldn’t afford to burn the midnight oil with them.
The group wasn’t offended. They didn’t *need* them to tag along, and nobody took the rejection personally.
Honestly, dragging a hyper-disciplined workaholic like Dane to a party usually just killed the vibe anyway.
It was better for everyone if they just went their separate ways.
The drive back to Claire’s apartment was quiet and uneventful.
“I wonder how Silas Carl is holding up?”
Claire asked, leaning back against the leather seat. Dane’s intelligence network was infinitely more robust than hers.
But even Dane was in the dark regarding Silas’s current crisis.
“It’s highly classified. Until Silas actively reaches out to us, digging up intel through back channels is going to be nearly impossible.”
Claire figured as much.
“Are you free tomorrow night?”
Dane knew she was lecturing at the medical symposium during the day, but he wasn’t sure if she was roped into another networking dinner with the surgeons afterward or if her evening was clear.
“I shouldn’t have any formal plans. Did you want to do something?”
It was genuinely amusing how, no matter where they were in the city, she and Dane somehow naturally gravitated toward each other.
And these weren’t meticulously planned dates; they were pure, spontaneous collisions.
Claire could only chalk it up to some bizarre, undeniable magnetism between them. “There’s an exclusive jewelry exhibition tomorrow evening. Want to check it out?”
A jewelry expo didn’t seem like Dane’s usual scene, nor did he seem like the type to buy loose gems for the thrill of it.
“It’s being hosted by The Hayes Family. That guy in the floral jacket at dinner tonight? That was Logan Hayes.”
“He didn’t bring it up at the table, but he’s essentially using me to get an invitation to you.”
“He handed me my VIP pass, and then specifically handed me a second one with your name on it.”
Dane pulled the elegant envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it to Claire.
“You can go, or you can toss it. Don’t feel pressured either way.”
“His mother’s side of the family runs a jewelry empire?” At dinner, Logan had just smiled and given a polite wave during the introductions.
His aggressively fashionable outfit certainly tracked with the industry.
“Yes, the jewelry conglomerate is his mother’s legacy. It’s her family’s empire.”
“Logan is set to inherit the business side, while his older brother is being groomed for politics.”
Dane delivered the background intel with clinical precision.
InCabinda, if you wanted to do serious business, you eventually had to cross paths with The Green Family or The Churchill Family.
Even with The Hayes Family’s political clout, Logan was clearly eager to cement a commercial alliance with The Green Family.
But Logan had absolutely zero leverage or connections with The Churchill Family. That was, until Claire suddenly appeared on the board.
As the newly minted granddaughter
of
her Churchill dynasty, befriending
her was the ultimate golden ticket to
unlocking that empire’s resources
The luxury jewelry market was a brutal bloodbath. Securing reliable sources for raw
gems was a constant, vicious war.
Logan was almost certainly trying to
use a connection with The Churchill Family to bypass local bottlenecks and secure lucrative overseas mining contracts. fo FindNovel.net
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