53 Chapter 53 – Party Celebrations and Suspicious. Symptoms
Evelyn couldn’t contain her giggles. Damian and I exchanged glances, both of us defeated by our own stupidity.
Damian, Owen, and Thea walked away together. I had no intention of remaining either. I simply turned my back and moved through the crowd, greeting guests and stopping for brief conversations with several of them.
“Show some respect to my daughter, Liam. She’s simply stating facts,” Clairemont quickly defended his precious princess.
“Chloe called me,” Evelyn replied. “And she shared some other interesting information too, Liam.”
“Because that unbearable daughter of his is here with him,” Damian replied, his irritation matching mine. “We’ll have to endure her presence tonight, Liam.”
“And you honestly believed getting completely drunk would win Hazel’s forgiveness or help you charm anyone else?”
“Liam, with so many influential people here, why are you wasting time with two insignificant employees and some random woman?” Isabella said, her gaze sweeping dismissively over Damian, Owen, and Thea.
Chapter 53 – Party Celebrations and Suspicious Symptoms
“Show respect to my friends, Clairemont!” I warned, my anger rising. “And where’s your wife? This isn’t some debutante ball,” I said with biting sarcasm.
Evelyn pressed glasses of orange juice into our trembling hands and raised an eyebrow. “How convenient!” Damian couldn’t restrain himself. His tolerance for those two had reached its limit long ago. We were already considering terminating Clairemont’s employment, but the ongoing audit forced us to wait. “If you’ll excuse me.”
“She won’t forgive me either, and that gorgeous woman I’ve been pursuing for weeks completely shut me down.” Damian whimpered from his corner of the couch.
The room was filled with employees, clients, suppliers, and close friends. Everyone
(53 Chapter 53 Party Celebrations and Suspicious Symptoms
had gathered to celebrate and honor Evelyn Reed for being such an exceptional professional.
“Here we go, gentlemen, one bucket each. If you make a mess on my clean floors, you’ll be the ones cleaning it up.” Fiona placed two waste baskets beside us, each lined with fresh garbage bags. Despite my suffering, I felt grateful for these two women who cared for us like we were still helpless boys.
Eventually, I stepped out onto the balcony, which was mercifully empty and cooled by a gentle breeze. A waiter approached offering whiskey from his tray. I accepted the glass and drank while gazing out at the city lights. When I returned to the ballroom, nausea hit me suddenly and everything began spinning violently, as if I were completely intoxicated. But I hadn’t consumed that much alcohol, though perhaps my body hadn’t fully recovered from last night’s excess. The room spun around me dangerously. I needed to find Damian immediately and ask him to drive me home.
By the time Damian and I recovered enough to function, the entire day had slipped away. We decided to head home since Evelyn’s celebration was scheduled for after work hours. Damian and I had promised to take her to dinner, keeping the party a complete surprise.
Damian stumbled through my office door, leaning heavily on Evelyn for support. She guided him to the couch beside me, and our office manager Fiona followed behind them carrying a silver tray. She took one look at us and couldn’t suppress her
amusement.
“Look at you two! What a sight you are, bosses. You’re grown men, not college freshmen. Her laughter echoed through the room as she shook her head at our pathetic state. “Miss Evelyn, I better fetch some buckets in case they need to be sick.”
“Maybe they’ll take pity on us.” Damian said with pathetic hope.
Clairemont approached our group with his insufferable daughter trailing behind him. Her immediately poisoned the atmosphere.
presence
Damian and I were engaged in conversation with Owen and his wife, a couple whose love and humor always entertained us, when I glanced over Owen’s shoulder and my mood immediately soured.
Each of us had our demons to chase away with liquor. So we’d gathered like wounded soldiers and gotten completely wasted. Now I was paying the price, feeling like death
63 Chapter 53 Party Celebrations and Suspicious Symptoms.
would be a welcome relief from this migraine.
I tried calling Hazel repeatedly, but every call went straight to voicemail until her inbox was completely full of my desperate messages.
My skull felt like it was splitting in half. The pounding in my head made me want to crawl into a dark hole and never emerge. This was exactly why I avoided drinking, especially not the way we had last night. We’d acted like a bunch of fraternity boys drowning our sorrows in alcohol.
“Only if they’ve lost their minds!” Evelyn declared, clearly enjoying our misery. “I heard Adrian’s in the same condition as you two. Did he have his own reasons to drink, or was he just following your lead?”
“I cannot stand that girl, Thea said, her face twisting with disgust.
“The only reason you still have a job, Fiona, is because you mother us better than anyone else, and Evelyn’s already abandoning us.” I managed to say, watching Fiona grin at me from the doorway.
“I’m living in my own personal hell, Evelyn.” I said, putting on my most pitiful expression.
“How did you find out?” Damian asked, squinting at her suspiciously.
“The only insignificant and random person here is you, Isabella Clairemont!” I shot back, having zero patience for her arrogance.
Liam’s POV
“Now open your hands. Time to cure this hangover. You’re supposed to be professional businessmen. What kind of example are you setting?” Evelyn scolded us like we were misbehaving children.
“Owen, how many guests was Clairemont allowed to bring?” I asked, my jaw clenching.
“Natalie wasn’t feeling well, and Isabella graciously agreed to accompany me. She also wanted to bid farewell to Evelyn,” Clairemont replied as if his daughter was beloved by everyone. The truth was that Evelyn despised her, always had, even during their childhood. Each day, I found myself tolerating Clairemont less and less.
“She’ll never forgive me, Evelyn.” I groaned, accepting my fate.
3/4
83 Chapter 53–Party Celebrations and Suspicious Symptoms.
That evening, we collected Evelyn from her apartment and brought her to the office under the pretense of retrieving some forgotten documents. We had a party hall on the sixth floor, my mother’s brilliant idea for hosting events with clients and suppliers. When we entered. Evelyn’s face lit up with genuine shock. She truly hadn’t suspected anything.
“Same as everyone else, Liam. Each person could bring one guest. Why do you ask?” Owen looked confused.
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