The women who were closest to the scuffle began to shriek in alarm and the whole room descended into chaos.
Myra and Estelle were about to make their way over when Tony and Shawn held them back. While there was no harm for Estelle to scope out the melee, Myra was in a far more precarious situation. After all, she was pregnant and it wasn’t ideal for her to risk getting bumped into by someone else.
At the thought that she was now a pregnant woman, Myra sighed in frustration and stood in place obediently.
Meanwhile, Elliot, Philip and the others had sauntered over to the scene of the ruckus. They appeared to be mitigating the fight but from what Myra heard, they sounded as though they were spurring them on backhandedly.
“Come on; aren’t we all friends here? You might even end up as business partners in the future. I’m sure you could talk things out. Besides, Mr. Fuller might just be a good friend of Miss Stark’s and he was probably acting out of instinct when he caught her as she fainted. Don’t read too much into it, Director Walton,” Lucas said, smiling pleasantly as he looked at Hayden and Gideon. He spoke mildly and there was no telling whether he had deliberately emphasized ‘a good friend’ when he spoke up on Hayden’s behalf.
“Exactly! Miss Stark has grown up in Bradfort City, so it’s no surprise that she has a lot of friends in the business circle. I’m sure no one is crossing any lines here, Director Walton,” Elliot chimed in earnestly as he nodded in agreement.
“A good friend of hers?” Gideon repeated this incredulously, his fists clenching tightly at his sides as he glowered at the man who was currently being held back. “Well, then. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask her ‘good friend’ to leave the party. The Walton Family does not welcome you.”
The vein in Hayden’s forehead pulsated and after he heard the conversation between Gideon and the other man, the rage he had been repressing finally exploded. He was the younger son of the Fuller Family and on paper, that meant he could live the rest of his life carefree. However, he knew deep down that he could never have any authority over Fuller Corporation because he was not Madam Fuller’s biological son and instead belonged to his father’s secret lover. The latter had only given birth to him so she could dethrone Madam Fuller but having failed to do so, she ended up losing Hayden as well and eventually her depression rendered her into a shell of a person. He gritted his teeth as he thought bitterly, I can give up Fuller Corporation but why should I have to hide my relationship with Kris like it’s some dirty secret?
Hatred burned in his eyes when he heard that he was being described as ‘a good friend of Kris’ while Gideon could call himself her fiancé. Suddenly, Hayden tore away from the two men who held him back and hurled his fist at Gideon, cracking his knuckles against the latter’s face.
“I’m not just a friend of hers! I’m her boyfriend and her fiancée!” he roared and the guests around them caught every word.
A hush descended upon the crowd as his words lingered in the air, but it wasn’t long before frenzied whispering began among the guests.
“So Hayden has been Kris’ boyfriend all along! Isn’t he the younger son of the Fuller Family? Oh, my! I thought she’s engaged to Director Walton. I even heard her say that she was the reason why the Walton Family are willing to make up the losses for the Green Palms Project! My goodness; this is—”
“There’s nothing surprising about this. She’s been with Hayden since before Director Walton showed up. It wasn’t that long ago when I saw them together, so who knows if they ever truly broke up?”
“But what about the Walton Family? How could Kris do something like this?”
Everyone around them might be muttering under their breaths, but Gideon heard them despite having just been punched. Shelly, too, had heard the whispers as she ran toward the scene of the scuffle.
As soon as she heard what the others were saying, a loud ringing sounded in her ears and she felt as if her mind had imploded.
She stared in disbelief at the scene before her.
Her son’s lip had been split where he was punched and instead of lying on the floor, Kris was currently in the arms of another man whom Shelly did not know.
She was starting to piece everything together—as it turned out, Kris was having an affair with another man while dating Gideon. And that man punched my son in front of everybody at our banquet! How dare he humiliate us like this?
“I’d like to see just what tricks this wretched girl has up her sleeve!” Shelly’s rage was at its peak as she disregarded all decorum and bent down to wrap her hand around the unconscious girl’s neck.
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