Sham Marriage Quit Real Heiress Strikes Back novel Chapter 81

Richard cleared his throat and shifted the conversation.

Elena's lashes trembled slightly. "I'm not sure. Mr. Kingsley and I only interact through work. I don't know anything about his personal life."

Camille finally found her opening and jumped in, her tone sharp. "Come on, Elena, you and Sophia are that close. She's literally your assistant now. There's no way you don't know. Dad, she just doesn't want to tell us."

Richard clearly had not heard about this before. His expression darkened. "Elena, is what Camille said true?"

"Sophia became my assistant because she was doing her internship and we happened to cross paths," Elena said calmly. "Just because she works with me doesn't mean I'm going to interrogate her about Alexander's relationship status, right?"

She was not trying to hide anything.

Sooner or later, they would all find out anyway.

"Alexander doesn't like people digging into his private life," she added, then looked at Richard. "You just found out about this today?"

Richard was momentarily speechless. "I was just asking... if you don't know, then fine. Nathan, have you met his fiancée?"

If they could figure out who she was and build a connection ahead of time, it might open another path.

Nathan's mind flickered back to that night at the auction.

That silhouette.

More than once, it had overlapped with Elena in his memory.

He glanced at her now.

She was calmly sipping her soup, completely unfazed, like the topic had nothing to do with her.

Maybe he really was overthinking it.

No matter how he looked at it, Elena did not seem like Alexander's type.

"I saw her once at the auction," Nathan said. "Didn't see her face. Probably some socialite. I'll look into it."

"You should," Richard said, nodding. "Alexander is impossible to crack. If the Hawthorne family and the Hart family want to work with the Kingsleys, we need to be smarter about it. I heard Hawthorne Group is moving into AI. Right now, Pinnacle Group is the only one with the resources to make that work. If we can connect with Alexander, it's a huge win."

Elena lowered her gaze, her expression dimming slightly.

She had overheard Nathan and Victor discussing this before.

Hawthorne Group wanted to pivot industries, riding the rapid growth of AI and integrating it into media.

They had approached Alexander multiple times and gotten nowhere.

No wonder they were now targeting his fiancée. The irony almost made her laugh.

The person they were trying so hard to find was sitting right in front of them.

On the fourth day, Nathan picked Elena up after work. The moment she got into the car, he handed her a bouquet.

"Hey, it's been four days," he said with a soft smile. "Feeling any better?"

"I guess... a little?" Elena replied, watching him carefully.

"So, how about coming with me to an event tonight?" His tone was gentle, almost coaxing.

"No. I'm exhausted."

She shut it down immediately. The past few days had been nothing but a show for Camille. There was no way she was going to keep playing along in public.

"It's Arthur's eightieth birthday," Nathan said, still smiling. "Grandpa will be there too. If I show up with someone else, he'll worry. Just come with me, okay?"

He brought up Charles.

That made it harder to refuse.

After a brief pause, Elena nodded reluctantly and reached for her seatbelt, missing the flicker of calculation in Nathan's eyes.

He had already tried digging into Alexander's recent connections.

But no matter how much he looked, there was no clear link between Alexander and any socialite in Grayhaven.